Most bodybuilders believe that they have to prioritize barbell squats for the best and fastest thigh development. Not true…
In fact, the barbell squat is inferior to some other more biomechanically correct exercises, which trigger maximum loading and growth stimulation in all the muscles of the front thigh.
Why are barbell squats not so great at putting maximum size on your thighs?
1) You’re dividing the load between multiple muscles: quads, glutes, and spinal erectors.
2) The more weight on your back the more you lean forward, which puts the majority of load onto your glutes and lower back.
3) The line of force is not great for the thighs—it’s pushing straight down. That has the operating lever, the lower leg, moving only slightly forward of vertical when it should get closer to horizontal, as in a sissy squat (ideal exercise)…
That means more than 60 percent of the weight is NOT loading the quads during a barbell squat, but is on the erectors and glutes. You only get about 30 percent on your front thighs while compressing your spine.
So horizontal to resistance is optimal loading, vertical to resistance (black dotted line in left illustration) is zero resistance. You can see that the barbell squat is less than halfway forward of zero resistance.
4) During a barbell squat, you’re involving your glutes, a hip extension muscle; however, the big rectus femoris that beefs up the middle of your thigh, is a hip flexion muscle. So it cannot fire during barbell squats. In other words, you miss growth stimulation in more than a quarter of your quad mass doing barbell squats.
From biomechanics expert and Drug Free Mr. Universe Doug Brignole: “During barbell squats, leg presses, lunges—[quad] exercises that also load the glutes and the other hip extension muscles, the rectus femoris (the one quadriceps head that crosses the hip joint) is compromised. Hip extension [glutes] is the opposite of hip flexion [rectus femoris].”
A recent study confirmed that: Kubo, K., et al. Effects of squat training with different depths on lower limb muscle volumes. Eur J App Physiol. 2019.
One finding by the researchers was that the rectus femoris and the hamstrings, hip flexion muscles, didn’t grow regardless of squat depth.
Sissy squats are more of an ideal front-thigh exercise because they neutralize the glutes and put the entire load on the front thighs, including the big rectus femoris.
If you still want to do barbell squats—I prefer dumbbells so there’s no spine compression—put them with your glute training after quads. And go deep for more backend beef, as well as some extra quad work.
Your Efficient Mass-Building Handbook: For complete mass workouts that include Speed Sets, the ideal exercise for each muscle, and the best stretch and contracted add-on moves, get your copy of Old Man, Young Muscle.
And you still get The Muscle-On, Belly-Gone “Diet” ebook FREE for a limited time when you add Old Man, Young Muscle to your mass-building library. Go HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
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