You Got to Squat

8/13/2019 You Got to Squat

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/you-got-to-squat 1/11

86 AUGUST 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com www.ironmanmagazine.com \ A UGUST

Squat!If You Want to MuscularizeYour Thighs Fastby Greg Zulak Photography by Michael Neveux

You’ve Got to

ll bodybuilders—even those who loathe and fear them—admit that squats are the key exercise for developing mas-sive, muscular thighs. Squats, squats and more squatshave been the main leg exercise of bodybuilding champi-

ons for the past 75 years. Just about every champ you can name,with the exception of a few rare genetically gifted bodybuilders(Vince Taylor and Paul Dillett come to mind), has devoted manyhours to the squat rack.

The reason is simple. The thighs are the body’s largest muscles,and they’re very powerful. It takes heavy weights to build them up,and squats enable you to use very heavy weights. Squats devel-op the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes and lower back. They also

stimulate growth all over the body, not just in the thighs, becauseof what’s known as an “indirect effect.” Arthur Jones, the geniusbehind the Nautilus machines and training principles, first wroteabout it back in the early ’70s in Iron Man.

A

M o d e l : C h r i s C o o k

http://www.ironmanmagazine.com/

http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?homegym+YmRGb3+supersquats.html




http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?homegym+YmRGb3+irmagbacisne.html








http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?homegym+YmRGb3+powracsys.html



You’ve Got to Squat!



squatted heavy at different times intheir careers but retained amazinglynarrow hips, glutes and waistlines

because of their gifted genetics. Ser-gio Oliva had been a weightliftingchampion of Cuba before he defect-ed to the United States. His narrowhips and waistline were actuallyhandicaps when it came to clean-ing, pressing, snatching and jerkingheavy weights, but they made him agenetic freak in bodybuilding. It justgoes to show that a genetic defectin one sport can be a blessing inanother.

Bodybuilders from the 1940s and’50s didn’t have much choice whenit came to exercises for developingtheir thighs. They didn’t have themultitude of leg machines that wehave now. They had crude leg exten-


Free-bar orSmith-machine

squats are yournumber-onemass builders.

Vince Gironda believed

that 15 percent of

upper-body growthcomes from intense

leg training.

http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?homegym+YmRGb3+gmvclascolvo.html








sive thighs we see on today’s champs. When you get right down to it, with

the exception of leg extensions andleg curls, just about every popular leg

exercise is a variation of the squat.That includes lunges—a form ofone-leg squatting—and leg presses.Some bodybuilders still maintainthat squats hurt their knees andlower backs too much. That’s more aproblem of proper exercise form andthe need to warm up properly beforelifting heavy weights. With the multi-

tude of leg machines available today,there’s no reason to avoid leg training.There is no reason to have underde-v eloped thig hs because you’re afraidof injury. With all the variations ofsquats available, you can surely findexercises that will enable you to de-velop your thighs without damaging your knees and lower back.

Off the top of my head I can list at

least a dozen or more kinds of squat-ting exercises, starting with the stan-dard full barbell squat, a.k.a. the backsquat (hamstrings tight against thecalves at the bottom). There are alsoparallel squats, half squats, one quar-ter squats in the power rack, squats inthe top position for a count of 10 sec-


Altering your stance andbar placement can com-

pletely change the exercise.

http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?homegym+YmRGb3+mucocosu.html












e c s q u a t / c a l f m a c h i n e

http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?homegym+YmRGb3+levsquat.html




Sqatting in a Smith machine al-lows you to place less stress on

your hips, glutes and lower back.

Even when y ou’re squatting ina power rack, it’s still good to havea training partner—who, ideally,

is about your size so the safetycatches are set right for both of you. A training partner can give youencouragement and help you do aforced rep by pulling up on the barslightly, enough to get you past thesticking point.

As for Smith-machine squats,some say they are for wimps, but

Dorian Yates preferred them tobarbell squats, and his thighs weremassive beyond belief. Squattingin the Smith machine allows you to place less stress on your hips, glutesand lower back because you canposition your feet forward in frontof the machine and then lean backinto the bar—with the bar high on your shoulders—making it a very

pure thigh exercise (especially if you use a narrow stance—say, with your feet six to 12 inches apart).The machine’s design lends itself todeep, full squats, so take advantageof that. Depending on what part ofthe thigh you want to develop, pushoff at the bottom from either your





http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?homegym+YmRGb3+doryatblooda.html












When you go heavy, squat in a powerrack—and always look straightahead to protect your back.

Barbell Hack Squats

Place a barbell behind your body,

tucked tightly under your glutes. With a two-to-six-inch block under your heels, squat as low as you can,but come up only two-thirds of the way to keep constant tension on your lower thighs, especially theteardrop muscle above the knee.That technique is a favorite of thighmaster Roger Stewart, who prefer

the barbell to the hack squat ma-chine.

Machine Hack Squats

Depending on where you place your feet on the platform, you can work more upper or lower thigh,more outer thigh or middle thigh. Byplacing your feet high and wide on

the platform, with your knees wideapart, and pushing from your heels, you can hit mostly outer thighs andsweep. If you place your feet low onthe platform, with your knees in,and push off from the balls of yourfeet, you work mostly lower thigh.If you place them in the middle of d

e l : A l l e n S a k i s z a d e h \ E q u i p m e n t : P o w

e r t e c p o w e r r a c k

, 1 - 8

0 0 - 4

4 7 - 0

0 0 8








Smith-machine squats, when your legsand body are well warmed up. On yourfirst set of half or bench squats youshould use the weight you used during

your final set of full or parallel squats.

Quarter Squats andSquat Static Holds

These two variations won’t buildmuch thigh mass, but they will make you much stronger, so you can use

heavier weights on your other heavyleg work—which will result in biggerand more muscular legs. They’ll en-able you to use maximum weights,and you should always do them in apower rack. Y ou should also have atraining partner to help you get thebar into position.

Set the safety bars one or two inchesbelow where you’d be in the top posi-

tion of a squat. On quarter squats dosets of four to six reps with your maxi-mum full- or parallel-squat poundageplus at least 50 percent more thanthat. For example, if you squat 200pounds for six reps: 50 percent of 200is 100. So for your first set of quartersquats you’d use 300 pounds.









what you’d use on full or parallelsquats—that strength increases willcome quickly. And it’s kind of fun tosee just how much weight you can

hold for 10 seconds.If you really want to push up the

intensity, you can try a couple ofextra sets on which you reduce thehold time to five seconds and thenan absolute maximum effort of oneto two seconds. You can also experi-ment with holding the weights formore than 10 seconds—say 15 to 20

seconds, then 25 to 30. That’s after you’ve been doing the 10-secondholds for a month or so.

Just because it’s a limited rangeof motion, or no motion in thecase of the static holds, don’t thinkthese are easy. On the contrary, the weights are so heavy that the sets will take all your concentration andstrength. It’s hard stuff—so intense,

difficult and taxing that I suggest you do quarter squats and thestatic-hold squats just once or twicea month.

Those two exercises make yourskeletal frame and the deep, un-derlying back muscles very strong,along with the spinal erectors,



Routine B(Power Program)

Leg Extensions (warmup) 2 x 20

Parallel Squats(warmup) 1 x 20, 1 x 10, 1 x 6(work sets) 5 x 10, 8, 6, 4, 3-4

Bench Squats(start with the

weight used on your last setof parallel squats) 4 x 8, 6, 4, 3optional (in power rack) 1 x 2

Quarter Squats(in power rack, long pins setfour inches below lockout;begin with the weight used on your last set of bench squats) 4 x 6-8, 4-6, 3-4, 2-3

Static Holds for10-Seconds

(Begin with the weight used on your last set of quarter squatsand pyramid the weight) 3 x 10 seconds


Dumbbell deadliftscan be a great, safe legexercise, especially forhome trainees who maynot have a squat rack.

M o d e l : D e r i k F a r n s w o r t h \ E q u i p m

e n t : P o w e r B l o c k s e l e c t o r i z e d d u m b b e l l s

, 1 - 8

0 0 - 4 4 7 - 0

0 0 8




http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?homegym+YmRGb3+powbyin1.html



Keep a training diary of the weights you use and the numberof reps you perform on each setof each exercise. Then try to beat what you did at the previous workout each time you train legs.

If your thighs have stoppedgrowing or you’re cursed withskinny legs, try the all-squatroutines for eight to 10 weeks. If you train with high intensity andincrease your poundages regu-larly, you’ll add mass and sweepto your t highs guaranteed. IM

www.ironmanmagazine.com \ AUGUST 2

ad

You’ve Got to Squat!You’ve Got to Squat!

M u s c u l a r i z e Y o u r T h i g h s F a s t

While half squats miss thequads’ important semis-tretched position, a key spotfor optimal fiber activation,they can help you build morepower.

106 AUGUST 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

Using an all-squat routinefor 10 weekscan bring up

your quadswith slabs of

new muscleand strength.See the 10 x10 routine thatbegins on page108.

IM founderPeary Rader andhis Magic Circle

squat device.

Deep ThoughtsThere’s always been controversy over squats, be they Smith ma-

chine, hacks or free-bar. Some say that going below parallel is a dan-ger to the knees, while others say that stopping when your thighs areparallel to the ground is more dangerous for those fragile joints.

Who’s right? The most recent research seems to confirm that put-ting the brakes on a heavy load at the parallel position throws morestress on the knee joint (although cumulative effects of deep squat-ting may contribute to arthritis of the knee joint). Going a little lowersends some of that stress to the powerful hip area.

But potentia l injury a side, if you’re talking about packing the mostsize on your thighs, just below parallel is the way to go. It has to do

with the max-force point of the powerful quad muscles.Scientists have determined that a muscle can produce the most

force when it’s in a semistretched position—just above a full stretch.That’s where the fibers are perfectly aligned for power-packed action.

A full stretch of the quads occurs at the bottom of a sissy squat, with your torso and quads on the same plane, your knees bent andout in front of your toes and your hamstrings against your calves(imagine doing the limbo).

To hit the semistretched position, bring your torso upright and your hamstrings just off of your calves. That’s it: the low position of asquat. If you stop above parallel, you don’t quite reach that importantmax-force-generation point and y ou don’t achieve maximum quad-fiber recruitment.

If you aren’t built to go low on free-bar squats—long-legged train-ees are usually in tha t category—try Smith-machine squats instead.Or hack squats. Even dumbbell squats or trap-bar deadlifts can help

you reach that below -parallel optimum-fiber-recruitment pointthat’s so important for mass development. You could even do a set ortwo of one of those exercises after a few sets of regular squats if you

just can’t bear to give up the free-bar variety.If you really want to blast the max-force position and flip on the

growth ignition, try X-First stage sets on Smith-machine or hacksquats. Squat down to just below parallel, but come up to just barelyabove the parallel point on each rep. Keep up those partial nonlockreps, dipping below parallel on each one, till you can’t stand the pain,then drive all the way to the top—you may need help getting there—and continue with partials in the top one-third of the stroke, flexing

your quads hard on each lockout. You’ll almost feel your quads crack-ling with new growth after that.

—Steve Holman www.X-Rep.com

Editor’s note: For more innovative training tips, visit www.X-Rep.com.

M o d e l : S k i p L a C o u r










http://www.x-rep.com/xshop.htm












You Got to Squat

Documents

Transcript of You Got to Squat