A COMPARISON OF LOWER BODY ANGLES BETWEEN FREE HIGH PULLS AND A FIXED HIGH PULL APPARATUS

Abstract

The majority of strength and conditioning programs for athletes are based on the Olympic lifting exercises. Olympic lifts generate explosive power through the lower body (Armstrong, 1993). There appears to be a relationship between resistance training exercises and bar path kinematics (Souza, Schimada, & Koontz, 2002). The resistance training program at the university used in this study had a piece of equipment called the Cormax ® Smith Machine Plus. The Cormax® Smith Machine Plus utilizes a barbell that is set in tracks which does not allow any horizontal bar movement. It also has a piston system that allows the athlete to throw and release the barbell. The pistons support the barbell and allows it to slowly drop back to the starting postion. The researchers were interested if the technique using this piece of equipment would be similar to the technique that is used with free weight high pulls. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the lower body joint kinematics between the two methods of completing a high pull.