My daughter and future son-in-law were over and started another weight-training conversation…
“Dad, why do you all of a sudden hate barbell squats?”
“Well, I don’t hate them. In fact, I was always good at them. But I haven’t done barbell squats in over four years. By that time, I was doing them at the end of a quad workout with very moderate weight to keep my torso more upright. I haven’t done heavy barbell squats for about 10 years.”
“Why did you stop doing them heavy? Weren’t they building your quads?”
“I was getting injured too often because the weight was grinding down on my spine, compressing vertebrae. And, no, my quads weren’t all that great, even when I could squat impressive weight. My butt was a shelf, though.”
“That’s why I do them—I want to build my glutes.” (That was my daughter, not my future son-in-law, talking.)
“Well, you can do just as well glute-wise without the risk. Try the hip flexion machine at your gym, the one where you put one leg over a pad set at midsection height and then drive your leg back behind you. That and step-back lunges are safer—no spine compression.”
“But Tom Platz was a big squatter and had humongous quads.” (That was my future son-in-law talking.)
“True, and he also did a lot of sissy squats, a better, more direct quad exercise. He did a lot of leg extensions too—plus, he had incredible quad-centric genetics. In fact, he could never get his upper body to match his lower-body development.”
“So it was the sissy squats that built his quads, not barbell squats?”
“It was a combination. Look, barbell squats can build quads, they’re just inefficient and dangerous. Biomechanically speaking, sissy squats are a better quad activator than barbell squats. I’ve mentioned Doug Brignole’s book The Physics of Resistance Exercise. Check it out if you want the science. And Vince Gironda told me that years ago.”
“So you don’t squat anymore at all?”
“I do sissy squats, low-cable squats, and dumbbells squats. For the last one, I hold dumbbells at the sides of my thighs and rep with a fast cadence for some unique fiber activation. So, yes, I do squats; I just don’t put a bar across my shoulders anymore. And something else I don’t do anymore: throw out my back in the shower.”
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Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
Ripped Muscle Now: Harvard Research
Harvard researcher Dr. Dimitrios Stamou discovered an enzyme that eats bodyfat. It’s helping women and men lose up to 21 pounds on average in less than 28 days.
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Our colleague, the man who owned the gym that Lou Ferrigno trained at in “Pumping Iron,” turned us onto this. He’s using it himself to shed fat faster than ever, and he’s in his 50s. Get the details and see his photo HERE.