What Muscles Are Used For Concentric Squats?

When track or football teams perform squats, athletes stand with their feet about a foot and a half apart. Keeping their backs straight, they bend their knees and descend vertically as far as their knee joints permit. They then begin the concentric squat, also called the bottom up squat, in which they raise themselves to their original position. As the athletes rise, several of their muscles undergo concentric contraction, a contraction in which the muscles become shorter.

Quadriceps Femoris

“Quadriceps” means “four heads,” so the quadriceps femoris begins at four different places: one on the hipbone and three on the upper femur, or thighbone. The quadriceps is a set of four muscles that descend from their points of origin along the front and sides of the femur and come together at the quadriceps tendon to which they are attached. This tendon then passes over the kneecap and inserts into one of the two lower leg bones called the tibia. In the concentric squat, the quadriceps femoris straightens the knee joint, thus causing the athlete to rise.

The Hamstring Muscles

The biceps femoris, the semitendinosus and the semimembranosus also take part in the concentric squat. Collectively, they are called the hamstring muscles. The semitendinosus, the semimembranosus and one of the two heads of the biceps femoris originate on the hip bone. They descend along the back and sides of the femur. With the help of tendons, they reach tibia and fibula, the bones of the lower leg. They sometimes bend the knee, but their function in the concentric squat is straightening the angle between the thigh and the femur.

Gluteus Maximus

The two gluteus maximus muscles are the chief components of the buttocks. They connect the hipbone with the femur. The gluteus maximus is a powerful muscle and is primarily responsible for straightening the angle between the hipbone and the femur when athletes execute the concentric squat.

Other Muscles

Other muscles play a role when athletes execute the concentric squat. As the thigh and hip muscles raise the body from a squatting position, plantar flexion occurs, and the toes tend to flex. The gastrocnemius and the soleus, or the calf muscles, are primarily responsible for plantar flexion, in which the angle between the leg and the foot increases. The muscles that flex the toes have names that describe their characteristic activity. “Flexor hallucis longus” means “the long flexor of the big toe,” and “flexor digitorum” means “the flexor of the toes.”