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Individual and region-specific hamstring muscles use during a novel Flywheel

Russian belt Deadlift exercise

Article in Apunts Sports Medicine · July 2024

DOI: 10.1016/j.apunsm.2024.100454

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 Apunts Sports Medicine 59 (2024) 100454

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Apunts Sports Medicine

journal homepage: www.apunts/org

Original Article

Individual and region-specific hamstring muscles use during a novel

Flywheel Russian belt Deadlift exercise

b, Xavier Padullesa,
Pedro Luis Cosioa, Lia Moreno-Simoneta, Sandra Mecho
a a,c,
Josep Maria Padulles , Joan Aureli Cadefau *
a

Física de Catalunya (INEFC), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), 08038 Barcelona, Spain
Institut Nacional d’Educacio
b
Department of Radiology, Hospital of Barcelona, SCIAS, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
c
Department of Biomedicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), 08036 Barcelona, Spain

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article History: Background: Despite the implementation of specific exercises to reduce hamstrings strain injuries (HSI) risk,
Received 24 May 2024 the incidence has remained unchanged over the past 30 years. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to ana-
Accepted 8 June 2024 lyze hamstrings muscle activation induced by a novel Flywheel Russian belt Deadlift (FRD) exercise, together
Available online 27 July 2024
with individual muscle-, region- and limb-specific differences.
Methods: The activation of hamstring muscles before and immediately after a 10 £ 10 FRD training session
Keywords:
was assessed by the T2 shift technique through functional magnetic resonance imaging, in one international-
Eccentric overload
level filed hockey male player. The individual use of the biceps femoris long head (BFLH) and short head
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
Inertial training
(BFSH), semitendinosus (ST), and semimembranosus (SM) were analyzed, together with the region-specific
Hamstring strains activation for each muscle.
Sprint-based team sports Results: T2 values significantly increased immediately after exercise in all regions of the hamstring muscles in
both dominant and non-dominant lower limb. However, the SM muscle showed a lesser activation, com-
pared to BFLH, BFSH and ST muscles [F(3,106) = 9.557, p < 0.001]. Overall, the most activated muscle by the
FRD training session was the biceps femoris (short head +13.8 %, long head, +12.7 %), followed by the ST
(+11.3 %), and lastly the SM (+6.9 %).
Conclusion: The novel FRD exercise triggers a homogeneous and consistent activation of hamstring muscles.
Particularly, the lateral positioning muscles (i.e., BFLH and BFSH) were more activated than the medial posi-
tioning muscles (i.e., ST and SM). Therefore, the FRD exercise could enhance training programs to strengthen
and activate the hamstring muscles, and specifically, the BFLH, in order to reduce HSI risk.
© 2024 Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. on behalf of Consell Català de l'Esport. This is an open access arti-
cle under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Introduction Concurrently, the hamstrings undergo an active, eccentric lengthen-

ing contraction.4 Overall, repeated hamstrings eccentric contractions
Hamstring strains injuries (HSI) are among the most common during repeated late swing phases of the running gait cycle are the
musculotendinous injuries in team sports in both males and females, main mechanism contributing to HSI.5 In particular, the biceps femo-
by increasing the burden and financial cost, and decreasing the per- ris long head (BFLH) has been found to be most important hamstring
formance and quality of life of athletes.1 Predominantly, repeated muscle to decelerate the shaft during the late swing phase.6,7 The rea-
sprints are one of the most frequently high-intensity actions in team son is that the lower limbs positioning during the late swing phase
sports, leading to a higher HSI risk.2 During sprinting, the horizontal causes a greater BFLH stretching, and moment arm, compared to the
ground reaction force is predicted by the hamstrings electromyo- semitendinosus (ST) or semimembranosus (SM) muscles,4 and
graphic activity and eccentric torque during the late swing phase of explains why biceps femoris strains are the most common HSI in
the running gait cycle.3 The late swing phase is a key point of the sprint-based team sports in both males and female athletes.2
sprint, involving two simultaneous and damaging events. First, the Focusing on prepare the hamstrings for the repeated eccentric
maximum length of the hamstrings muscle-tendon unit is reached. contraction-derived muscle strains during repeated late swing
phases of the running gait cycle is therefore essential to both reduce
the HSI risk and improve performance.8,9 Although resistance-based

Física de Catalunya, Av. de
* Corresponding author at: Institut Nacional d’Educacio training is the most popular method, different approaches to ham-
l’Estadi, 12-22, 08038 Barcelona, Spain. strings training have been explored, including eccentric training,
E-mail address: [email protected] (J.A. Cadefau).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apunsm.2024.100454
2666-5069/© 2024 Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. on behalf of Consell Català de l'Esport. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
2 P.L. Cosio et al. / Apunts Sports Medicine 59 (2024) 100454

inertial training, knee-dominant or hip-dominant exercises. The Nor- Flywheel Russian belt Deadlift exercise
dic hamstring exercise has become one of the most widely used exer-
cises to train the hamstrings since it provides a large eccentric The training session started with a standardized warm-up, con-
workload. However, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based stud- sisting of dynamic joint mobilization and 2 sets of 8 repetitions of the
ies have demonstrated that this knee-dominant exercise causes great FRD exercise under progressively increasing and submaximal effort.
activations of the ST and biceps femoris short head (BFSH).10-13 On Then, the FRD training session consisted of 10 sets of 10 repetitions
the other hand, flywheel inertial training is a recognized training conducted on a conical flywheel device Proinertial pulley pro C2 (Iner-
method to reach eccentric overload (EO),14 allowing to prepare the tial systems S.L., Barcelona, Spain), with a 3-minute rest period
eccentric phase of a movement. The most commonly used flywheel between sets. The inertia load was set at 0.124 kg¢m2, as greater
exercise to train the hamstrings is the flywheel prone leg curl which, moments of inertia lead to greater EO.21 Given that the first repeti-
similar to the Nordic hamstring exercise, generates a high activation tions of inertial training are used to increase the speed of the flywheel
of the ST and BFSH, but not BFLH.10,11 Contrary to the above-men- and are considered not to be effective repetitions, the first three repe-
tioned knee-dominant exercises, hip-dominant exercises, such as the titions of each set were used to “increase momentum” and were
Russian belt deadlift or the unilateral hip extension conic-pulley, excluded from the data analysis.22 The standardized starting position
seem to provide the most stimulation to the BFLH, compared to the during the novel FRD exercise was with the feet on a 30-degree slop-
other hamstrings muscles, although modest T2 shift were shown (i.e., ing wedge, the lower limbs and the body weight held by a Russian
7 % and 6 % respectively).10 The reason is that hip-dominant exercises belt attached to the wall, self-selected knee flexion between 0 and
activate the lateral hamstrings more than the medial hamstrings, rep- 10°, hip flexion down to 90°, and abdominal bracing together with
resenting a 4-times greater activation of the BFLH compared to the scapular retraction (Fig. 1A). Then, the exercise started conducting a
ST.15 Specifically, the product of the physiological cross-sectional hip extension to 0°, i.e., concentric phase, (Fig. 1B), and back to hip
area and the hip moment arm is higher for the BFLH compared to the flexion to the bottom of the range of motion, i.e., eccentric phase. The
ST muscle,16 so during hip-dominant movements, there is a strong volunteer was verbally encouraged to perform the concentric phase
participation of the BFLH.15,17 as fast as possible, and to brake as hard as possible during the last
Therefore, the actions that shifts the center of gravity forward of part of the eccentric phase in order to increase EO.23
the transverse axis of the hip joints (e.g., forward bending of the
trunk with hip flexion) cause a significant contraction of the lateral Image acquisition and processing
hamstring muscles, particularly the BFLH.18,19 In short, depending on
the selected exercise and technique, there is a selective recruitment The activation of hamstring muscles before and immediately after
of the hamstrings, with the BFLH being preferentially and eccentri- the FRD training session was assessed by the T2 shift technique
cally activated when the hip flexes and/or the knee extends in order through mfMRI.24 To minimize the effects of fluid shifts caused by
to decelerate the movement.16 walking, the individual remained recumbent for a minimum of 10
Despite the above-mentioned approaches for hamstrings training, min before basal condition image acquisition, while immediately
the injury incidence has remained unchanged during the last 30 after the exercise the individual was wheelchair-assisted between
years.1 Considering that (i) loading exercises during extensive length- the exercise room and the MRI scanner.24,25 Then, the individual was
ening reduce the time to return to play, and (ii) active trunk stabiliza- placed on the magnetic resonance scan Vantage Galan 3T (Cannon
tion during exercise decreases reinjury rates,20 it is reasonable that Medical Systems, Tochigi, Japan), in supine position with his thighs
hamstrings training, particularly BFLH, should be based on a hip-dom- covered with two overlapped 16-channel Atlas SPEEDER body coils.
inant exercise with special emphasis on working active eccentric A custom-made foot-restraint device was used to maximize the repeat-
lengthening contractions conducted with high loads and long ability of limb placement in the MRI scanner. T2-weighted imaging was
musculotendon lengths.8,9 Consequently, it is proposed to com- acquired with the following parameters: TE 20, 60, 100 and 140 ms; TR
bine the Russian belt deadlift with flywheel training to build a 3200 ms; in-plane resolution 0.25 £ 0.25 mm; slice thickness 3 mm;
new Flywheel Russian belt Deadlift (FRD) exercise. Given that the gap 18 mm. Total acquisition time: 6 min. Pre-exercise acquisitions also
selection of exercises targeting specific muscles in injury preven- included axial fat-supressed proton density-weighted imaging with TE
tion or rehabilitation programs can be conducted by muscle func- 33 ms; TR 2954 ms; in-plane resolution 0.49 £ 0.49 mm; slice thick-
tional MRI (mfMRI),17 the purpose of the study was to determine ness 3 mm; gap 18 mm. The imaging protocol was conducted in two
exercise-induced hamstring muscles activation (T2 shift) immedi- blocks to cover the extension of hamstring muscles from the distal mar-
ately after a FRD training session, together with individual mus- gin of the ischial tuberosity to the tibial plateau.
cle-, region- and limb-specific differences. Subsequently, a parametric image was generated from the T2
mapping sequence using parametric MRI (pMRI) software v.1.3.3-b
(Philadelphia, PA, USA). The MRI data were then evaluated for T2
relaxation time (T2 value) of the hamstring muscles. A circular region
Materials and methods of interest (ROI) was defined for the BFLH, BFSH, ST, and SM muscles in
each of the T2 mapping images where these muscles were visible.
Experimental approach Intramuscular vascular structures, connective tissue and the bound-
aries of the muscles were avoided as the T2 values could be affected.
One international-level filed hockey male player (age = 22.7 ROIs of similar size and anatomical location were placed in the subse-
years, mass = 67.0 kg, height = 1.72 cm) voluntarily accepted to quent image sets to ensure positioning identical to that in the basal
participate in the case study, in order to assess hamstring muscles analysis (Fig. 2).11 A multi-echo 2DFSE T2-weighted was applied to
activation before and immediately after the FRD training session. measure the mean T2 value. Images taken at different TEs were fit to
The volunteer gave their written consent that received informa- a monoexponential time curve to extract the T2 values.26 Region-spe-
tion about the purpose of the study and associated risks. The cific muscle activation for each muscle were computed as the mean
experiment was conducted in accordance with the code of ethics T2 absolute value of the different ROIs containing of the areas at 0
of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) and −30 % (proximal), 30−70 % (middle) and 70−100 % (distal) of thigh
was approved by the Ethics Committee for Clinical Research of length, from the lower border of the ischial tuberosity (0 %) to the
the Catalan Sports Council (Generalitat de Catalunya) (037/ upper border of the tibial plateau (100 %).26 T2 shift was finally calcu-
CEICGC/2021). lated by subtracting T2 baseline values from T2 post-exercise values
 P.L. Cosio et al. / Apunts Sports Medicine 59 (2024) 100454 3

Fig. 1. Standardized (A) starting and (B) finishing position of the novel Flywheel Russian belt deadlift exercise.

and expressed as a percentage of the difference.27 Two independent values [F(1106) = 51,838.462, p < 0.001]. T2 values substantially
researchers conducted the MRI scanning and the T2 shift analysis. increased from the basal condition to immediately after exercise in
all regions of all the hamstring muscles in both dominant and non-
dominant lower limb (Table 1).
Statistical analysis
A significant main effect for muscle were observed for T2 shift [F
(3106) = 9.557, p < 0.001]. T2 shift of the SM was significantly
A four-way mixed model [time (pre, post) x muscle (BFSH, BFLH,
smaller after the exercise in both dominant and non-dominant
ST, SM) x limb (dominant, non-dominant) x region (proximal, mid-
limb, compared to BFLH, BFSH and ST (Fig. 4). There were no
dle, distal)] was conducted to determine exercise-induced ham-
between-limbs [F(1106) = 0.403, p = 0.527] nor between-regions [F
string muscles activation (T2 values). Subsequently, a three-way
(2106) = 1.564, p = 0.214] differences in hamstring muscles T2 shift.
mixed model [muscle (BFSH, BFLH, ST, SM) x limb (dominant, non-
There were also no significant muscle-limb [F(3106) = 0.096,
dominant) x region (proximal, middle, distal)] was used to deter-
p = 0.962], muscle-region [F(5106) = 0.670, p = 0.647], limb-region
mine differences in hamstring muscles T2 shift immediately after
[F(2106) = 1.152, p = 0.320], nor muscle-limb-region [F
the FRD exercise. Bonferroni’s corrected post hoc analysis was con-
(5106) = 0.766, p = 0.576] interactions. Therefore, the most acti-
ducted if the model showed statistically significant main effects or
vated muscles by the FRD training session, marked by T2 shift, were
interaction effects. Data are presented as mean § standard devia-
the biceps femoris (short head +13.8 %, long head, +12.7 %), fol-
tion (SD) and the level of significance was set at p < 0.05. Statisti-
lowed by the ST (+11.3 %), and lastly the SM (+6.9 %).
cal analysis was performed with SPSS v.27.0.1.0 (SPSS Statistics,
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).
Discussion
Results
Individual muscle-, region- and limb-specific differences in ham-
Representative T2-weighted magnetic resonance images before string muscles activation (T2 shift) were assessed immediately after a
and immediately after the 10 £ 10 FRD training session are presented novel FRD exercise. The findings of the study highlight that all ham-
in Fig. 3. A significant main effect for time were observed for the T2 string muscles were activated during the FRD training session.

Fig. 2. Selected magnetic resonance images acquired before and immediately after the Flywheel Russian belt deadlift training session, depicting regions of interest (ROIs). 1, m.
biceps femoris short head (BFSH); 2, m. biceps femoris long head (BFLH); 3, m. semitendinosus (ST); 4, m. semimembranosus (SM).
4 P.L. Cosio et al. / Apunts Sports Medicine 59 (2024) 100454

Fig. 3. Representative T2-weighted magnetic resonance images of the proximal region (25 % of thigh length), middle region (50 % of thigh length) and distal region (75 % of the tight
length) before and immediately after the Flywheel Russian belt deadlift training session. BFSH, m. biceps femoris short head; BFLH, m. biceps femoris long head; ST, m. semitendinosus;
SM, m. semimembranosus.

Particularly, the biceps femoris (i.e., BFLH and BFSH) was the most acti- increased the T2 shift of all the hamstring muscles, ranging from
vated hamstring muscle, followed by the ST, while the SM was acti- 6.9 % for the SM to 13.2 % for the biceps femoris. To our knowledge,
vated to a lesser extent. Finally, there were no between-region nor no previous MRI-based study has reported activations of all ham-
between-limb differences in hamstring muscles activation after the string muscles after a single exercise. In fact, a comparative study of
FRD training session. four frequently used hamstring exercises (i.e., Nordic hamstring exer-
The transverse relaxation time (T2 value) of hydrogen protons in cise, flywheel leg curl, Russian belt deadlift and hamstrings kick
skeletal muscle can be quantified by mfMRI. Changes in the T2 value coney-pulley) found that neither exercise was able to significantly
between before and after a single exercise (T2 shift) have been target all hamstring muscles.10 As examples, a 4 £ 8 flywheel leg curl
described as a highly reliable and non-invasive indicator of muscle training session with a moment of inertia of 0.072 kg¢m2 or body-
activation during exercise.24 The proposed FRD exercise significantly weighted Nordic hamstring exercise provided large T2 shifts of the
 P.L. Cosio et al. / Apunts Sports Medicine 59 (2024) 100454 5

Table 1
Region-specific T2 values, mean difference (MD) and percentage of the difference (%D) of hamstring muscles before and immediately after
the Flywheel Russian belt deadlift training session.

Region-specific BFSH BFLH ST SM

Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post

Dominant

Proximal Not applicable 35.2 § 0.8 39.4 § 2.3 37.0 § 1.4 40.7 § 1.4 41.0 § 1.8 42.8 § 2.5
MD = 4.1, %D = 11.8* MD = 3.7, %D = 10.1* MD = 1.9, %D = 4.5*
Middle 33.3 § 1.0 37.0 § 1.5 35.1 § 1.4 39.3 § 1.4 35.1 § 1.8 39.0 § 0.9 39.1 § 2.8 42.7 § 3.4
MD = 3.7, %D = 11.1* MD = 4.2, %D = 12.1* MD = 4.0, %D = 11.5* MD = 3.6, %D = 9.2*
Distal 35.1 § 0.9 41.3 § 1.4 35.3 § 0.9 40.3 § 1.8 35.0 § 0.2 40.5 § 0.4 38.8 § 2.8 41.7 § 2.5
MD = 6.1, %D = 17.6* MD = 5.1, %D = 14.3* MD = 5.6, %D = 15.9* MD = 2.9, %D = 7.5*
Total 34.2 § 1.3 39.1 § 2.6 35.2 § 1.1 39.6 § 1.8 35.8 § 1.8 39.9 § 1.3 39.3 § 2.6 42.4 § 2.8
MD = 4.9, %D = 14.4* MD = 4.5, %D = 12.7* MD = 4.1, %D = 11.5* MD = 3.0, %D = 7.8*

Non-dominant

Proximal Not applicable 35.6 § 3.1 39.6 § 3.5 35.3 § 3.6 38.8 § 1.6 37.4 § 0.5 40.6 § 0.4
MD = 4.0, %D = 11.6* MD = 3.5, %D = 10.5* MD = 3.2, %D = 8.7*
Middle 38.1 § 2.7 42.4 § 2.3 37.8 § 1.5 43.0 § 3.8 35.4 § 1.5 39.5 § 1.0 35.9 § 0.3 37.6 § 0.8
MD = 4.3, %D = 11.6* MD = 5.2, %D = 13.5* MD = 4.1, %D = 11.6* MD = 1.7, %D = 4.9*
Distal 37.9 § 1.6 43.4 § 1.9 36.3 § 1.4 40.9 § 1.2 34.4 § 0.7 38.0 § 2.0 35.6 § 0.6 37.9 § 1.1
MD = 5.5, %D = 14.7* MD = 4.5, %D = 12.6* MD = 3.6, %D = 10.6* MD = 2.3, %D = 6.5*
Total 38.0 § 2.1 42.9 § 2.0 36.8 § 2.1 41.4 § 3.3 35.2 § 2.3 39.0 § 1.4 36.0 § 0.8 38.2 § 1.4
MD = 4.9, %D = 13.2* MD = 4.7, %D = 12.7* MD = 3.8, %D = 11.1* MD = 2.2, %D = 6.1*

Combined

Proximal Not applicable 35.4 § 2.1 39.5 § 2.8 36.1 § 2.8 39.7 § 1.8 39.2 § 2.3 41.7 § 2.0
MD = 4.1, %D = 11.7* MD = 3.6, %D = 10.3* MD = 2.6, %D = 6.6*
Middle 35.7 § 3.2 39.7 § 3.4 36.4 § 2.0 41.1 § 3.4 35.2 § 1.6 39.3 § 0.9 37.5 § 2.6 40.2 § 3.6
MD = 4.0, %D = 11.4* MD = 4.7, %D = 12.8* MD = 4.0, %D = 11.5* MD = 2.7, %D = 7.0*
Distal 36.5 § 1.9 42.3 § 1.9 35.8 § 1.3 40.6 § 1.5 34.7 § 0.5 39.3 § 1.9 37.2 § 2.6 39.8 § 2.7
MD = 5.8, %D = 16.1* MD = 4.8, %D = 13.4* MD = 4.6, %D = 13.3* MD = 2.6, %D = 7.0*
Total 36.1 § 2.6 41.0 § 3.0 36.0 § 1.8 40.5 § 2.8 35.5 § 2.1 39.4 § 1.4 37.7 § 2.5 40.3 § 3.0
MD = 4.9, %D = 13.8* MD = 4.6, %D = 12.7* MD = 3.9, %D = 11.3* MD = 2.6, %D = 6.9*

() indicates significant post-exercise change from baseline T2 value. %D, percentage of delta change; BFSH, m. biceps femoris short head;
BFLH, m. biceps femoris long head; MD, mean difference; ST, m. semitendinosus; SM, m. semimembranosus.

ST and BFSH,10 and are recommended when the goal is to target knee- 10°), the FRD exercise allowed to achieve a more stretched position-
dominant hamstring muscles.11 Conversely, hip-dominant exercises ing of the hamstrings. Therefore, the stretching of the hamstrings,
such as the Russian belt deadlift or the hamstrings kick conic-pulley together with the large EO workload provided by the flywheel iner-
were effective in triggering the activation of the BFLH (7 % and 6 %, tial device, leads to focusing the exercise on working active eccentric
respectively), although the remaining hamstring muscles were not lengthening contractions conducted with high loads and long muscu-
activated.10 Using a Russian belt to hold the body weight and bend lotendon lengths,8,9 which are HSI risk factors during the late swing
the trunk forward together with small knee flexion (between 0° and phase of the running gait cycle.5

Fig. 4. Mean and standard deviation of the change in the transverse relaxation time (%T2 shift) of the 30 % (proximal), 50 % (middle) and 70 % (distal) regions of thigh length in m.
biceps femoris short head (BFSH), m biceps femoris long head (BFLH), m. semitendinosus (ST), and m. semimembranosus (SM), immediately after the Flywheel Russian belt deadlift
training session. All values are given as a percentage of the pre-value. (*) indicates significant T2 shift and (#) indicates substantial differences in SM muscle, compared to BFSH, BFLH
and ST muscles. D, dominant limb; ND, non-dominant limb.
6 P.L. Cosio et al. / Apunts Sports Medicine 59 (2024) 100454

The biomechanical response of each hamstring muscle is hetero- Conflicts of interest

geneous, given that they display a variety of force-length properties
and angle-specific joint torques.16 The hereby proposed FRD exercise The authors declare that the research was conducted in the
elicited the greatest activation of the biceps femoris. Specifically, the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be
BFLH is more sensitive to hip extension than knee flexion because the construed as a potential conflict of interest.
peak in the length-tension relationship of the BFLH occurs with the
hip at 90° and the knee at 0°, the point at which the greatest BFLH CRediT authorship contribution statement
function is produced.28 Furthermore, lower-limb positioning near to
hip flexion (i.e., 90°) with the knee extended (i.e., 0°) selectively acti- Pedro Luis Cosio: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation,
vates the BFLH.29 Thus, during hip-dominant exercises (e.g., forward Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing − original draft, Writing −
bending of the trunk with hip flexion), the hamstrings are responsi- review & editing. Lia Moreno-Simonet: Conceptualization, Investiga-
ble for driving the movement, with a strong participation of the tion, Data curation, Writing − review & editing. Sandra Mecho
:
BFLH.15 Conversely, the BFLH involvement is restricted in knee-domi- Methodology, Investigation, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing
nant exercises since hip movement is locked, and explains the large − review & editing. Xavier Padulles: Investigation, Writing − review
ST and BFSH activations during knee-dominant exercises.10−13,26,30,31 & editing. Josep Maria Padulles: Investigation, Writing − review &
Region-specific (i.e., proximal, middle, distal) differences in ham- editing. Joan Aureli Cadefau: Conceptualization, Methodology,
string muscles activity during hamstring exercises has been investi- Investigation, Writing − original draft, Writing − review & editing,
gated before. The hamstrings kick conic-pulley has shown greater Project administration.
BFLH proximal and middle activation compared to the other ham-
string muscles, albeit to a small extent.11 In contrast, the Nordic ham- Funding
string exercise and the flywheel leg curl have shown the same ST and
BFSH activation in all muscle regions, while the Russian belt deadlift The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support
seemed to be the unique exercise capable of activate the SM across for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This
muscle regions.11 Given the Russian belt use during the proposed FRD work was supported by the Institut Nacional d’Educacio
Física de Cat-
exercise, SM muscle activation was also effective in all regions of the alunya (INEFC) and Age ncia de Gestio
d’Ajuts Universitaris i de
thigh. Similarly, the FRD exercise resulted in no region-specific differ- Recerca (AGAUR) under Grant [2021 SGR 01190]; PLC was the recipi-
ences in BFLH, BFSH and ST activation. Overall, the FRD exercise ent of a pre-doctoral grant from the Ministry of Universities [FPU20/
appears to provide a significant and homogenous (i.e., all muscle 02747]; LMS was the recipient of a pre-doctoral grant from AGAUR
regions) hamstring muscles activation. [2021 FI_B 00595].
The present study proposes the combination of the Russian belt
deadlift with flywheel training to build a novel Flywheel Russian belt Acknowledgments
Deadlift exercise which significantly increases the activation of the
hamstrings, with special focus on the BFLH due to the injury incidence The participation of the volunteer in the experiment is greatly
in sprint-based team sports. It has been found that the designed FRD appreciated. The authors would also like to thank the Futbol Club Bar-
exercise is a promising training method to produce significant active celona Medical Services for providing the volunteer and the research
eccentric lengthening contractions conducted with high loads and facilities.
long musculotendon lengths in the biceps femoris, followed by the ST,
and lastly the SM. However, the study presents limitations to consider References
when interpreting the results. First, the design of the study provides
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analysis of 5952 injuries from over 7 million exposure hours. Br J Sports
force-generating capacity, perceived soreness) were not monitored,
Med. 2023;57(2):109–116. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2021-104936.
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