Performing regular weightlifting training is an effective way to build muscle, increase your strength levels and burn body fat, but when performed incorrectly, weightlifting can also cause sore joints. There are many potential reasons why you suffer from sore joints, but it may be due to the lockout portion of your exercises. While locking out should be perfectly safe and pain-free, there are certain circumstances where it may cause you pain.
Locking Out
Locking out refers to what your joints do in the final phase of an exercise. Take the squat for example -- before you begin your descent, your knees are straight, or locked out. When you begin the movement, your knees unlock and move through a smooth range of motion. As you rise up to a standing position again, your knees straighten and lock out to help take the stress away from your quadriceps and hamstrings and place it onto your joints. This same process also happens during other exercises, such as military presses and bench presses.
Safety
Provided that you use perfect technique, you should lock your joints out when exercising, especially on exercises like the overhead press, according to strength coach Jason Ferruggia. In powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting competitions, it is not considered a completed lift until you lock out. Your joints are built to handle a heavy load in a locked out position; the problem arises when you confuse locking out with hyperextension.
Hyperextension
Hyperextension occurs when a joint is forced past its usual straightened position and begins to bend back on itself. Dr Edward Laskowski of the Mayo Clinic advises that hyperextension can lead to some serious injuries to the ligaments, cartilage and other structures around your joints. It is possible to hyperextend any of your joints when weight training, particularly when performing explosive exercises such as jump squats or snatches.
Pre-Existing Conditions
While locking out without hyperextending should not cause you any pain, there are certain conditions that may cause your joints to be sore when locking out. Hypermobility, or "double-jointedness", where your joints have a much larger range of motion than they should, can cause you pain when locking out, as it's easier to hyperextend. Likewise, a repetitive strain injury such as tendonitis -- an inflammation of the tissue around a joint -- may also lead to pain and discomfort when locking out.
Considerations
Whether or not you decide to lock out your joints when exercising depends on a number of factors. If you are competing in powerlifting, Olympic lifting or strongman events, then you will need to learn how to lock out your exercises safely, in order for your lifts to stand in competition. If, however, you are looking to build muscle, then not locking your joints out can be a benefit, as it keeps more tension on your muscles. You may consider including shortened range-of-motion exercises in your program, such as half bench presses or non-lockout squats. Ultimately, you should aim to train in a way that is pain-free for your body.
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