2013 in Strength Science: Biomechanics (cheating and hypertrophy, muscle imbalances, unstable surfaces, and squatology)

Summarizing some interesting stuff found in Jonathan Sullivan's "The Year in Strength Science, 2013"  (full text)  Every year, Sully sums up some of the often very silly studies done in the name of exercise science, and his writing is hilarious.  Here are some of the most interesting (to me) bits.

(1)  From Ognjen Arandjelovic's investigation the effect on hypertrophy when "cheating" a dumbbell exercise with momentum.

p. 4

In other words:  Cheating did not affect results one way or another, and in fact, he thinks it might actually be conducive to *increased* hypertrophy; however, he's careful to state clearly that he's only focused on size, not strength, power, or performance.

(2)  From Luke et. al's "comparison of muscle strength imbalance in competitive powerlifters
and Division III field jumpers"

p. 5

In other words:  Powerlifters are stronger and have less asymmetry.  Coaches should have athletes work with barbells to increase force production and correct imbalances.  Duh.

In one section, Sully summarizes three papers that "challenge the whole idea of performing resistance exercises on unstable surfaces."

(3)  "Saeterbakken and Fimland looked at the effect of having bros do bench presses on balance
cushions, Swiss balls, and standard benches."

p. 6

In other words:  Swiss balls suck.  The other two studies find pretty much the same thing: "The authors conclude that increasing muscle activation is best achieved by increasing the load, rather than by making the working surface more squishy."

(4)  My favorite study summarized in the "squatology" section is this one:

p. 7

This is a short, clear explanation of PAP, which I like.  The researchers had rugby players do either 1/4-squats or parallel squats and then measured their jumping ability.  Of course, the parallel squatters had "superior improvements in jump height, impulse, flight time and peak power."

Finally, Sully refers to a study by a German scientist named Hartmann whose "literature review in Sports Medicine, one of the most important papers of the year, demolishes arguments that deep squatting is more injurious to passive structures – namely, the knees and spine."  I should look these papers up: