Locked knees

Locked knees are mentioned in numerous exercises (stiff-legged windmill, pancake, jefferson curl, pike) but what does this mean? I’ve skimmed across the form and learned that stretching ligaments isn’t necessarily good. So where does that leave the locked knees position?

Hey Nathaniel,

Ligaments are slow adaptive tissues that need time to get stronger and mobile.  It can take several months for full recovery.  As long as you don't push too hard too soon, you won't have any problems (unless you already have some).

Just keep progressing relatively slowly.

Hope it helps

Hey Nathaniel,

Etienne is correct. We want to gently allow joints to express their full range of motion and this requires both patience and sensitivity toward your joints. Keep these mobility drills comfortable and allow your body to adapt slowly.

As best you can, maintain straight knees during those exercises and adjust your range of motion so that they feel like a good stretch and nothing more. 

Nathaniel:

I think you are asking simply, "what does coach mean by 'locked knees'?" right? To give you an example of what this means:  stand up straight, then squeeze/tighten your quads really hard.  The small muscle (vastus medialis, I think) that is above your knee, but closer to the inside of your leg should now be tight.  If you reach down with your hands while you are squeezing your quads and touch those 2 small muscles, they should be rigid/engaged.  

If those muscles are engaged (and thus "locking the knee"), it allows the high hamstring to relax.  I'm not a physiologist/exercise scientist/medical professional, so I don't know why that is so.  But if you do this while you are, for example, doing Jefferson Curls, it will help you gain flexibility/mobility for that exercise.  If you are doing the front split and/or middle split stretch series, you'll need to work on "locking the knees" in this manner.

5 minutes ago, Craig Copeland said:

If those muscles are engaged (and thus "locking the knee"), it allows the high hamstring to relax.  I'm not a physiologist/exercise scientist/medical professional, so I don't know why that is so.  But if you do this while you are, for example, doing Jefferson Curls, it will help you gain flexibility/mobility for that exercise.  If you are doing the front split and/or middle split stretch series, you'll need to work on "locking the knees" in this manner.

That's right! It's called reciprocal inhibition.  It's the action of fully contracting a muscle so the antagonist (opposite muscle) can relax.