asana: dumbbell squats

yogabook / functional exercises / dumbbell squats

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last update: 18.5.2024
Level: A

effects

(812) Strengthening of the quadriceps
(727) Strengthening the short hip extensors such as the gluteus maximus
(642) Strengthening the autochthonous muscles of the lumbar spine

Instructions

  1. Stand in tadasana and hold a dumbbell in each hand.
  2. Start to bend the hip joint and the knee joint at a slow pace.
  3. Move your knees forwards in a straight line along the centre lines of your feet. Keep both heels pressed firmly to the floor.
  4. Maintain the position of the hand and first turn the inner elbow upwards as far as possible (towards the ceiling).
  5. Bend as far as possible so that the thighs are horizontal and only tilt the upper body forwards as far as necessary. Keep the spine stretched.
  6. When you reach the lowest point, approximately the horizontal of the thighs, slowly begin to stretch the knee joints and hip joints again.

Details

  1. Squats are an interesting and valuable full-body exercise. They strengthen the plantar flexors of the ankle, in particular the triceps surae, and the quadriceps, the hip extensors and in particular the gluteus maximus, as well as the autochthonous back muscles, especially in the lumbar spine region.
  2. Once the exercise has been completed, the pelvis must tilt slightly forwards in relation to the initial vertical position, i.e. the hip joints must be more inflected, than corresponds to the flexion of the knee joints. This necessity is of a physical nature and results from the condition that the gravity plumb line of a statically stable posture must lie in the physical support base. If you tried to hold the upper body vertically above the heels, this would have the advantage in terms of the strength to be achieved that the „horizontal lever arm“, i.e. the horizontal component of the lever arm, would move from the centre of mass of the upper body plus the head, arms and external weight to the lever arm, arms and external weight to the axis of rotation in the knee joint would be greater, however, the demand on the dorsiflexion capacity of the ankle joint quickly exceeds any feasible level. If you were to bend to the horizontal of the thighs, the ankles would also have to dorsiflex 90°. Mitigating this requirement by tilting the lower leg less towards the vertical than the upper leg would immediately result in the heavy plumb line moving backwards beyond the heels out of the physical support base and the performer toppling over backwards. Now that the need for additional flexion in the hip joints is clear, the question of its extent arises. Should it be minimal, maximum or is there a „right measure“? If you try to minimise the additional flexion, the resulting larger horizontal lever between the centre of mass of the partial body and the axis of rotation in knee joint to optimise the force demand on the quadriceps, but also to a very wide dorsiflexion of the ankle. Many people who perform squats as part of their athletic training have a pronounced lack of flexibility in the soleus, which limits the available dorsiflexion to a low level. If this is the case, an elevation under the heels must be used, which reduces the requirement for dorsiflexion, or the hip joints must be further flexed, i.e. the upper body must be tilted more towards the vertical, which reduces the horizontal lever from the centre of mass of the partial body to the axes of rotation in the knee joint, but the load in the hip extensors increases. This makes it clear that with these two parameters (elevation of the heel and additional flexion in the hip joint) a certain degree of displacement of the effect between quadriceps and gluteus maximus is possible, but is also forced. However, the greater the additional flexion, the greater the demand on the autochthonous muscles, especially the lumbar spine, all the more so as in most variations of the squat exercise the additional weight either rests on the shoulders or is held by the hands, i.e. very far away from the centre of rotation in the hip joint. The idea of maximising the additional flexion leads to a squat that is more reminiscent of cross lifting and leaves little room for strengthening the quadriceps. The question remains as to whether there is a golden mean that applies to everyone or whether it depends on the resources available, such as the strength of the quadriceps, force of the gluteus maximus, strength and flexibility of the triceps surae, should find its optimal execution with regard to the desired main effect. The biomechanical derivation above should help with this.
  3. In deep knee flexion, it is not only the flexibility of the soleus that plays a role, but also non-muscular limitations of the dorsiflexion of the ankle, which are likely to be mainly ligamentous, but also osseous, especially if anterior ankle impingement (OSG-impingement) is present. The possible hard ventral impact must of course be avoided. Footballers in particular can be affected by this problem. Another difficulty with deep knee flexion is too limited flexion ability in the hip joint with flexed knee joint, as it may be given by short hip extensors such as the gluteus maximus. This would limit the flexion angle and can therefore cause a conxed position of the lumbar spine, which must of course be avoided, especially if the ankle is less flexible and no elevation is used under the heel.
  4. The dumbbell squat described here is a relatively safe exercise, as the dumbbells can be dropped at any time, for example if the grip strength of the hands unexpectedly decreases abruptly or the finger flexors start to cramp. In addition, the overall centre of gravity is lower than when performing the exercise with a barbell in the neck.
  5. The grip strength trainer and the Farmers Walk (dumbbell walk) are recommended for training grip strength.
  6. If you disregard the first degrees of flexion of the knee joints, which are still under the influence of final rotation, the knees should be moved forwards along the centre lines of the feet. This requires balanced work by the abductors and the adductors, some of which are already involved in the posture, such as the abductor gluteus maximus as the upper partial body weight holding hip extensor or adductor magnus pars ischiocondylaris, which also works with it. Because of the large contraction force, with which the gluteus maximus works as a hip extensor and to hold the upper partial body weight, further moments arise in its other dimensions of movement, i.e. abduction and exorotation, which act as punctum fixum synergistically for the outward deviation of the knees in the feet. which are counterbalanced with the help of the adductors. For squat beginners in particular, it is therefore advisable to use visual feedback to ensure that the knees move forwards in a straight line along the centre lines of the feet. This is also important to avoid rotational movements in the knee joint under load and in motion, as they are known to be very difficult for the menisci of the knee joints.
  7. Since the two supporting plantar flexors Soleus and Gastrocnemius are also supinators, there is a tendency for the inner feet to become lighter or the metatarsophalangeal joints to lift off. Because of the symmetry of the exercise, this is not critical for stability, but it does favour the knees moving outwards.
  8. Last but not least, it is important to dispel the myth that the knees should extend beyond the tips of the toes. This is biomechanically untenable and not even possible for deeper squats. The above derivation shows the impossibility if you assume deeper squats and average body proportions. Attempting to bring the knees forwards as far as the toes would lead to such a poor heavy plumb line in most cases that the back would have to be kept much flatter, in order to keep the heavy plumb line still in the physical support base, However, this would often make the lower back the weakest point when squatting and would also limit the possible strengthening of the quadriceps.