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My hamstrings are the strongest muscles in my body, I'd like to improve quads more. However my lower back is not so impressive - Should I aim for both?
Front squats! Targets these areas most an less with hamstrings. Just make sure your stance isn't wide.
+1Hacks also work well for more Quad involvement. Just ensure you contract your Quads during the movement, and really emphasize them.People really need to learn to contract and feel muscles working, otherwise they are just wasting their time lifting.Cory
What is the point of a hack squat? The only time I have ever done them is when I didn't have a squat rack. I find it to be a very difficult exercise. I am talking about doing it with a barbell.
Yeah, "Old School Hacks", as they are called. I use the plate-load machine for Hacks. Hits my Quads better than both Back Squats and Leg Press (in standard foot placement), in my opinion.Cory
I use the hack squat machine for really burning out the quads. I dont take a very wide stance, hit rock bottom and never lock out. Its great for the lower portion of the quad. Usually throw them in after squats. To each their own.
+1I use Tom Platz's foot placement -- heels together, toes pointed outward at ~45-degrees.I also do them after Squats, and sometimes in conjuction with Leg Pressing, and then I kill Quads with Leg Extensions.Cory
Do highbar/oly squats for ultimative vastus medialis gains + knee health (Yes, knee health. Also don't worry about your knee moving over your toes or whatever. It's broscience.). Legcurls/glute ham raises + shit ton of deadlifts for your backside./Thread
/Thread
Thats awfully authoritative. I hope you have the results to back that up! 😛Personally I think this argument is incredibly individualised and the answers should depend on 1. Your goals 2. Your strengths/weaknesses 3. Your body's leverages.
Just look at certain olympic weightlifters 😛And yeah, it ALWAYS depends. But as this is the "Muscle Building" section I guess we're not only talking about maximum muscle quantity but also about aesthetics and therefore I would recommend doing highbar squats since they are more quad dominant.If you're having trouble getting good hamstrings and you already have a good quad then you should indeed do lowbar squas (I'd rather do more deadlifting stuff though).
Do highbar/oly squats for ultimative vastus medialis gains + knee health (Yes, knee health. Also don't worry about your knee moving over your toes or whatever. It's broscience.). Legcurls/glute ham raises + shit ton of deadlifts for your backside./Thread
Not a chance. There is no absolute measurable spot your knees shouldn't go past, but I've seen bad patellar tendonitis and even Osgood-Schlatters caused by exactly this.
Do highbar/oly squats for ultimative vastus medialis gains + knee health (Yes, knee health. Also don't worry about your knee moving over your toes or whatever. It's broscience.). Legcurls/glute ham raises + shit ton of deadlifts for your backside./Thread
Not a chance. There is no absolute measurable spot your knees shouldn't go past, but I've seen bad patellar tendonitis and even Osgood-Schlatters caused by exactly this.
It was more meant like: just squat and don't worry about your knees moving somewhere.See this study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14636100 why restricing your form to something like that is actually bad for you.Patellar tendonitis? Are you sure that they kept the weight on their heels? It is usually a common issue that the people who tend to get patellar tendonitis are putting the pressure/weight on their toes instead of their heels.At least that is what I know and what I've been told. (Training in an oly lifting club)
Aching knee pain after sets @ bodyweight on bb back squats when moving knee through range of motion.Weight is on heels during the lift.Any thoughts anyone?Squats are not my forte only been doing them for a couple months and so 235(a little over bodyweight) is the heaviest I have gone. I rest the bar on my rear delts rather than my traps so low bar I guess. My mid-lower back is of utmost importance to me and lower bars squats feel safer. Another reason I've been wary of pushing hard on the weight is I've already injured my back once. But now that I'm starting to make "safe" progress my knees are starting to hurt. No sharp pain and nothing during the lift but after a set over 200 I get an aching pain from the bottom to the top of the knee under the knee cap. That's what it feels like anyway.Today was legs day and 235 was my new record for squat but my knees bothered me enough that I didn't go past 315 on deads when I had planned to work up to 405 today and only did 2 sets of light leg presses before calling it a day. Any help would be appreciated!My shoes have a somewhat inclined heal so I do all leg exercises barefoot. Supposedly helps with muscle activation like clenching your fists to snap the bar in half when you bench so I'm told.Just to reiterate it only aches going through a range of motion after the set not at rest. And also I have never had knee pain doing deads.
Plaque: If your weight is on your heels, generally nothing to worry about. The issue is that if your knees are too far forward, your weight won't be on your heels because it'd be difficult to have that much ankle ROM. I suppose we just made different assumptions that led to our conclusions.
Go Heavy. What does your warmup and ramping up sets look like before you get to the uncomfortable/painful weights?
Warm ups consist of arm wheeling basically to the point of rational flailing lol loosens my chest and shoulders. Then Kettle bell swings, one arm swings and cleans. Usually 3 sets with the 35lb kbell or until I don't feel “cold”. 1-2 minute rest in between sets. I do this before any workout regardless of the focus that day. I do front high kicks as a warm up and as a gauge of my posterior flexibility each week. It's sort of a dynamic stretch. Every leg day I start with just the bar because I have to find where to put the safteys lol so I go through the full range of motion around ten times with the bar. I hate hitting the safteys coming down. I only want them high enough to save me if I for some reason can't get the weight up. I squat to parallel. Usually I'm sweating by the second working set(today was no different) ..if my body temp is that high I should be warmed up right?135x12 felt strong225x5 felt a strong but knee felt like it needed to "pop"235x2 ache after set when walking185x7 ache did not worsen but did not lessen eitherIs what I did for squats today.2 minute rest periods.Then deads... but I couldn't focus I was too concerned with the bar brushing my right knee especially(which it has to..the bar has to slide up along the legs right?) and my form was deffinately suffering because of it.. by the fourth set I just gave up on them for today before I did seriously hurt myself.Sets 1 and 2: fat gripz 225x5Sets 3 and 4: regular alt hand grip 315 x 5 I didn't even finish the fourth set though.Was supposed to be 6 sets progressing to a 405 single with straps. During the actual excercise the pain is nonexistent or negligible enough that I don't notice it at all during the actual lift. It aches after the lift when I'm resting or walking in between sets.Leg presses were the same as squat though I didn't feel like they further agitated the problem. I called it a day after that where usually have leg extentions and leg curls as a finisher.
My hamstrings are the strongest muscles in my body, I'd like to improve quads more. However my lower back is not so impressive - Should I aim for both?
Front squats! Targets these areas most an less with hamstrings. Just make sure your stance isn't wide.
+1Hacks also work well for more Quad involvement. Just ensure you contract your Quads during the movement, and really emphasize them.People really need to learn to contract and feel muscles working, otherwise they are just wasting their time lifting.Cory
What is the point of a hack squat? The only time I have ever done them is when I didn't have a squat rack. I find it to be a very difficult exercise. I am talking about doing it with a barbell.
Hack squat machines tend to work well for some people and horrible for other people. Just depends on it's overall setup, and where the weight is placed upon the machine.In the case of free weight hack squat, putting a small plate below your heels will enable you to go down through a fuller range of motion w/o impacting your form terribly and causing the 'drag' up the hamstring and glutes. Hack squat are fairly unnecessary unless you're just looking for variety in your routine. If you have a cambered bar, those are ideal free weight versions as they will shift the load onto the quadriceps more; however, the lower back is also stimulated a great deal with a cambered bar.Front squats are the best options for increasing quadricep size, while limiting stress on the lower back. People with shoulder issues; however sometimes find these uncomfortable. Using wrist wraps on the bar to hold onto in safer position of the arms-shoulder (in front of the body).High back squats vs low back squats...I would say whichever one suits your body length. If you have a long torso your leverage for squats will be better for low bar squats, versus if you have a short torso, and short legs a high bar squat will be prefered for optimal performance. Not to say you can't do both, but you'll have a better increase in your strength levels with one versus the other.
Go Heavy,I sometimes experience a similar pain and I have had success with two things.1. Make sure you are forcing you knees out during the squat. This takes pressure off the quad and forces the hamstrings and glutes to fire.2. Foam roll/stretch the living shit out of your IT band. These are what have helped me. Also, I don't generally recommend squatting barefoot unless you have some wicked ankle mobility or you squat super wide and have good hip mobility. Start squatting with a shoe that has a raised heel and that alone might help.
I may have to invest in some better shoes then. I went up almost 50lbs on the deadlift shortly after switching to barefoot and I never looked back. I just feel much more stable without them but on the other hand I've never used a weight lifting shoe either. But on the other hand the squat is a different excercise. I'll try the foam roller and a wider stance first and see how that feels for me. Knees out to the side do you mean? I'm wary of having my heels raised though as it was my understanding that moving the weight on your toes increases the stress on the knees. =/ We'll see how it goes next leg day.
I may have to invest in some better shoes then. I went up almost 50lbs on the deadlift shortly after switching to barefoot and I never looked back. I just feel much more stable without them but on the other hand I've never used a weight lifting shoe either. But on the other hand the squat is a different excercise. I'll try the foam roller and a wider stance first and see how that feels for me. Knees out to the side do you mean? I'm wary of having my heels raised though as it was my understanding that moving the weight on your toes increases the stress on the knees. =/ We'll see how it goes next leg day.
On the deadlift your want to be as close to the ground as possible so it makes sense that switching to barefoot helped you. Unless you squat super wide (Westside style) then it probably won't help your squat at all. Play around with your stance a bit and see what happens.Raising your heels (as far as I know, maybe Dmunee or one of the more science literate folks will chime in) doesn't put more stress on your knees. Stopping above parallel and not spreading your knees will do that. Raising your heel just helps with your ankle mobility.The best way I've found to teach people "knees out" is to do the following:1. Double up a band and step in to it so the band is placed above the knees2. Squat down and force the band apartYou'll know what I mean then.
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