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Read more within: Muscles Used During Squats For instance, during a squat, the hip adductor and abductor's muscles contract isometrically, exerting equal force at the knee, preventing unnecessary movement, and maintaining stability in the frontal and transverse planes while other muscles move the hips, knee, and ankle in the sagittal plane. Human movements utilize isotonic muscle actions as much as isometric muscle actions (Sutton, 2021). When the body is in motion, isometric muscle actions regularly occur to dynamically stabilize the peripheral joints and spine. In other words, the tension between two sets of muscles is either matched or collectively to match external forces placed on the body.
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Isometric Muscle ActionsĪn isometric muscle action occurs when muscle tension is created without a change in muscle length or visible movement of the joint (Sutton, 2021). This article aims to explore isometric muscle actions and how they are utilized during isometric exercise to produce fitness results. The concentric muscle action is just the opposite in that the muscle develops tension while shortening in response to a lesser external force (Sutton, 2021). The eccentric muscle action occurs when a muscle develops tension while lengthening in response to a greater external force acting on it. Isotonic muscle actions are further subdivided into eccentric and concentric actions. Isotonic muscle actions move a muscle visibly change length while developing tension (Sutton, 2021). As explained in the NASM-CPT 7 course, there are several types of muscle actions which are utilized to produce human movement however, when most people think of exercise, they likely picture isotonic muscle actions.