Effect of Body Position on Force Production During the Isometric Midthigh Pull

Beckham, GK, Sato, K, Santana, HAP, Mizuguchi, S, Haff, GG, and Stone, MH. Effect of body position on force production during the isometric midthigh pull. J Strength Cond Res 32(1): 48-56, 2018-Various body positions have been used in the scientific literature when performing the isometric midthigh pull resulting in divergent results. We evaluated force production in the isometric midthigh pull in bent (125° knee and 125° hip angles) and upright (125° knee, 145° hip angle) positions in subjects with (>6 months) and without (<6 months) substantial experience using weightlifting derivatives. A mixed-design ANOVA was used to evaluate the effect of pull position and weightlifting experience on peak force, force at 50, 90, 200, and 250 ms. There were statistically significant main effects for weightlifting experience and pull position for all variables tested, and statistically significant interaction effects for peak force, allometrically scaled peak force, force at 200 ms, and force at 250 ms. Calculated effect sizes were small to large for all variables in subjects with weightlifting experience, and were small to moderate between positions for all variables in subjects without weightlifting experience. A central finding of the study is that the upright body position (125° knee and 145° hip) should be used given that forces generated are highest in that position. Actual joint angles during maximum effort pulling should be measured to ensure body position is close to the position intended.