To answer that question, we need to understand how our strength at different
joint angles changes after strength training.
Not exact matches
Isometric exercise is a type of strength training in which the muscle length and
joint angle do not
change during the contraction.
You can't see it, but when you hold a plank or other isometric pose, muscle fibres are pulled from both ends of the contracting muscle — not just one section — meaning your body recruits more muscle fibres than if you were
changing the
joint angle.
This continuous
change of
angles and stresses along the
joint will help make your ankles more resilient and better conditioned for negative stresses down the line.
Those are the kind where your muscles are under tension without
changing length or
joint angle.
This continuous
change of
angles and stresses around the
joint will help make your shoulders more adaptable to strains and forces encountered in all your training and daily activities.
In vivo human gastrocnemius architecture with
changing joint angle at rest and during graded isometric contraction
Planks are an isometric exercise, meaning the
joint angle or length of the muscles you're working doesn't
change throughout the exercise.
On the other hand, people who use an internal focus [
change their
joint angles disproportionally](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19846388)-- some
joints end up moving more than they should, while others are neglected.
Joint angle - specific strength gains at shorter muscle lengths tend to be caused by
changes in neural drive (Noorkõiv et al. 2014).
The purpose of this section is to detail the muscle moment arms of the pectoralis major muscle in each of the sagittal, frontal, and transverse planes, and to explain how they
change with
changing joint angles.
The reason for the difference between the
changes in
joint angle - specific strength and the
changes in
joint angle - specific neural drive is that both peripheral and central factors are operating, and the impact of
joint angle - specific neural drive is greater after training at short muscle lengths, while the impact of peripheral factors (like regional muscle size and / or muscle fascicle length) are greater after training at long muscle lengths.
In one study, Remaud et al. (2010) assessed
joint angle - specific
changes in maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) torque and in neural drive after isotonic and isokinetic types of external load, using knee extension training.
Using eccentric - only knee extension training, Guilhem et al. (2013) assessed the effect of constant load and isokinetic external load types on
joint -
angle specific
changes in torque and EMG amplitude.
Moreover, as Németh et al. (1985) showed, the moment arm length does not
change substantially with hip
joint angle, as is observed for the other major hip extensors, the gluteus maximus and adductor magnus.
The length of the moment arms of each muscle also
changes depending upon the
joint angle.
If this is the case, we should find that the main causes of specificity in strength gains after training with different types of external load are regional hypertrophy and
joint angle - specific
changes in neural drive (especially at end range of motion).
After all, even if we get stronger overall, if the
angle of peak torque
changes, then we will find that some
joint angles increase hugely in strength, while others do not improve strength very much at all.
This is in line with the expected effects of
joint angle - specific
changes in neural drive being most relevant at short muscle lengths.
This specificity is likely attributable to differences in regional hypertrophy (which may be a function of different increases in muscle fascicle length) and
joint angle - specific
changes in neural drive, just like partial and full range of motion training.
While the moment arm length appears to
change relative to the elbow
joint angle, the overall moment arm lengths regardless of
angle joint angle appear to be correlated with the muscle cross-sectional area of the triceps and the dimensions of the bony attachment site of the olecranon (Sugisaki et al. 2010).
On the other hand, regional hypertrophy (but not always muscle fascicle length) seems more important than
changes in
joint angle - specific neural drive for the
joint angle - specific gains in strength after isometric training at long muscle lengths (Alegre et al. 2014; Noorkõiv et al. 2014).
There are few
changes in
joint angle movements during the deadlift, lunge and squat that could explain the
changes in the pattern of net
joint moments.
The factors affecting the perpendicular force can be further subdivided into permanent factors that do not
change substantially from one moment to the next (e.g. muscle size) and temporary factors that can be altered quickly (e.g.
joint angle).
Variations of these movements that
change angle work the muscles differently and in some cases can more beneficial and
joint - friendly — dumbbell floor press, Neutral grip eccentric chin - up, Chest supported neutral grip dumbbell row, steep incline dumbbell press, B - stance deadlift, Bulgarian split squats.
Test of transfer (long - term): no trials have compared strength training using constant load vs. accommodating resistance on
changes in sprinting ability, but if the band or chain resistance was set to produce a peak contract in the half or quarter squat bottom position, it might transfer as well or better than a full squat with constant load if the loading was challenging enough at that
joint angle.
This section provides a summary of the electromyography (EMG) studies into how the EMG amplitude of the gluteus maximus
changes with
joint angle.
Muscle moment arms can often
change with
changing joint angle.
Wear in a non-load-bearing ball
joint will cause a noticeable
change in the camber, caster or toe
angle of a front suspension.
This
changes the manner in which the bones interact with each other, realigning the
angle of the tibial plateau at the stifle
joint, this method uses one of two procedures: TPLO and TTA.
Moving, or «Advancing» the tibial tuberosity
changes the patellar tendon
angle and neutralizes the forces on the
joint.
Having nails that are too long causes a dog to
change the
angle of its paw and leg as it moves, potentially causing or exacerbating trouble in all the
joints, right up to the shoulder or hip.