Comments on: Why You Should Not Lock Your Joints During Exercise

By: Michael Kim

Michael Kim — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:28:35 +0000

Thank you for the post. I have always wondered what "elbow lock" means. Now I understand what it means. As a beginner, this will help me a lot.

By: Colin Wee

Colin Wee — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:54:54 +0000

That’s a fantastic … and interesting post.

I have been training and instructing martial arts for the past 25+ years. As in the nature of our program, we create huge forces through our arms and legs … and the rule is simple – never lock out your joints.

For legs, we focus a lot on the ’snap’ or the return motion, making both the extension as well as the retraction equal in motion, smoothness and speed. At no time should the joint be held in a hyperextended position, but should be allowed to recoil naturally.

For arms, we make sure that the arm is ’straightened’ only to the way it is as it hangs by your side. So a straight punch is really when the bones come into alignment, not anywhere close to the joint being fully opened and ‘locked’ as you say.

We do have a position of ‘kime’ or focused lock out. This happens when we try to transmit force into a particular target. The lockout however never occurs at the joint (whichever joint in the limb), but is done using muscle tension, body structure, and the right tool to transmit force into the opponent. This means that the force flows out of your body rather than stopping at any single ‘point of leverage’ or ‘joint’ in your body.

Good post!

Colin

By: Tom Parker - Free Fitness Tips

Tom Parker - Free Fitness Tips — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 06:40:42 +0000

The leg press is a classic for this. Almost everytime I go to the gym I see someone doing the exercise far too fast and locking out their joints with each rep – kind of like they’re bouncing up and down. I think part of the reason is that some people don’t know not to lock out their joints BUT also a lot of people like to kid themselves into thinking they are stronger than they actually are. If they slowed down and performed the proper technique they would have to drop the weight. Anyway, thanks for sharing. Hopefully, a lot of people who have been doing the wrong technique will learn from this post.