When healthy guys push with their legs, they're just as strong sitting or lying down—even though one position stretches the muscle more. That means muscle strength isn’t just about how stretched the muscle is.

When male bodybuilders flex their knees and push without moving their legs, the front thigh muscle feels stiffer than a neighboring muscle — and this difference depends on how much the hip is bent.

When lying down, your leg muscles don't get stronger even if one key muscle gets longer — and that's mostly because your brain isn't fully turning on those muscles, not because opposing muscles are getting in the way.

When male bodybuilders flex their knees at a 30-degree angle, the upper part of a specific thigh muscle gets stiffer if their hips are straighter, suggesting how stretched the hip is can change how the muscle works.

In male bodybuilders, the top part of a big thigh muscle reacts more to hip position than the lower parts when the knee is bent slightly, showing that the muscle doesn't work the same way from top to bottom.

For male bodybuilders, changing the knee bend doesn't really affect a key thigh muscle's stiffness if the hip stays in the same position — but changing the hip position does seem to matter more.