Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the lower extremity muscle activity and knee joint load according to movement speed conditions during the barbell back squat. Method: Nine males with resistance training experience participated in this study. Participants performed the barbell back squat in three conditions (Standard, Fast, and Slow) differing movement speed. During the barbell back squat, muscle activity of the rectus femoris (RF), vastus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis (VM), biceps femoris long head (BFL), semitendinosus (ST), gluteus maximus (GM), gastrocnemius (GCN), and tibialis anterior (TA) was collected using an 8 channel wireless EMG system. The peak flexion angle of the lower extremity joints and the peak resultant joint force in each direction of the knee joint were calculated using eight motion capture cameras and ground reaction force plates. This study was to used the Friedman test and the Wilcoxon signed rank test, to compare lower extremity muscle activity and peak resultant joint force at knee joint according to movement speed conditions during the barbell back squat, and the statistical significance level was set at .01. Results: In the downward phase of the barbell back squat, the RF and TA showed the higher muscle activity in the fast condition, and in the upward phase, RF, VL, VM, BFL, ST, GM, and TA showed the higher muscle activity in the fast condition. As a results, analyzing of the load on the knee joint, in the downward phase, and in the upward phase, the higher peak compressive force of the knee joint was showed in the fast condition. Conclusion: The barbell back squat with fast movement speed was more effective due to increased muscle activity of lower extremity, but one must be careful of knee joint injuries because the load on the knee joint may increase during the barbell back squat with fast movement speed.
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