I mentioned sissy squats as my ideal quad exercise. Even without weight, it’s given my thighs a solid muscular look at age 62.
But since I recently purchase a cable machine, I’ve been rotating in another ideal move named after the guy who kind of invented it—biomechanics expert and Mr. Universe winner Doug Brignole…
The Brignole squat is a cable squat with the pulleys set low. You hold a handle in each hand and squat, keeping your torso upright. Here’s my friend and colleague Vince McConnell demonstrating…
I will sometimes use that in place of sissy squats or do both—three sets of sissies and one set of cable squats followed by a speed set of dumbbell squats…
That’s my go-to Base Workout quad routine now. In Old Man Young Muscle I had wall squats with a foam roller behind the back in place of cable squats…
I tend to favor the sissies over the Brignole squat as my ideal because sissies are a pure quad move; the glutes are involved in the cable squat….
And the butt is even more engaged with the dumbbell squat due to the line of force. However…
The DB squat helps prep my glutes for the ideal exercise right after, step-back lunges on a riser.
Of course, if I had a hip-flexion machine, I’d use that. But with step-back lunges, my quads get a bit of extra work, which they wouldn’t with the machine.
And because my quads are pre-exhausted, my glutes have to work harder as I drive my lead foot into the riser to lift my body…
You can also do sissy squats on the cable machine with the pulleys set low for direct quad work. It’s like the Brignole squat only on a wedge so that your heels are higher than your toes. You simply squat, leaning back with your torso on the same plane as your thighs.
I haven’t tried that one yet—no wedge. The freehand sissies are working fine for me at this point, so I don’t need the extra weight cables provide.
Incidentally, legendary trainer Vince “Iron Guru” Gironda, one of my mentors, favored the sissy squat. In fact, he didn’t have a single squat rack in his Studio City gym.
Vince is also known for calling Arnold a “fat f*@k” the very first time he met him, but that’s another story.
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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
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