Hip and thigh muscular activity in professional soccer players during an isometric squat with andwithout controlled hip contraction

The purpose of the present investigation was twofold 1) To compare the hip and thigh muscular activity of professional soccerplayers when performing the isometric squat with and without controlled hip contraction; 2) To determine the muscular relationshipsthat take place during these methods of execution of the exercise. Methods: 11 healthy male professional soccer players, randomlyperformed three modalities of isometric squat at a 60° knee flexion: conventional squat (SQ), squat with hip abduction contraction (SQ-ABD) and squat with hip adduction contraction (SQ-ADD), controlled at 70% of 1 maximum repetition. The activity of the gluteusmedius (GM), tensor fasciae latae (TFL), vastus medialis (VM), vastus lateralis (VL), semitendinosus (ST) and biceps femoris (BF) wasobtained through surface electromyography. Hip (GM/TFL), quadriceps (VM/VL) hamstrings (ST/BF), and hamstrings/quadriceps (H/Q) ratios were analyzed. Results: GM increases in SQ-ABD and SQ-ADD compared to SQ (p