Quads and Powerlifting

[BendtheBar]

Carl asked a question so I thought I would elaborate:

Originally Posted by Carl

dont want to thread Jack, but could you elaborate on that Steve, how do strength athletes neglect the quads if they are squatting, or do you mean they neglect assistance exercises for the quads ??

Very rarely do you see powerlifters do any direct work for quads. Most assistance work if for hamstrings, abs and lower back. This is the Westside style template:

Westside Barbell Template

I am not implying that quad work is necessarily needed for all lifters, but I have read several articles recently by powerlifters who have talked about adding quad work to their assistance exercises.

[Carl1174]

Steve do you think the squat stance would have anything to do with it. A lot of lifters tend to exaggerate the stance for the very high poundages as there is a smaller rom and it is more beneficial when geared, obviously the wider the stance the more the hams and posterior chain come in to account. I have never lifted like that, but its almost as if the quads are being used secondary.

Personally I love front squats for the quads and with a shoulder width stance and getting right down it really hits the quads well. Those, regular back squats and deads seem to work fine with a bit of hammie work, but then Im NO powerlifter.

at the end of the day, the quad straighten the leg, so i would have thought it was prudent to train that muscle, even if it is just assisting the posterior chain for powerlifters.

Carl.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Carl1174

Steve do you think the squat stance would have anything to do with it. A lot of lifters tend to exaggerate the stance for the very high poundages as there is a smaller rom and it is more beneficial when geared, obviously the wider the stance the more the hams and posterior chain come in to account. I have never lifted like that, but its almost as if the quads are being used secondary.

Personally I love front squats for the quads and with a shoulder width stance and getting right down it really hits the quads well. Those, regular back squats and deads seem to work fine with a bit of hammie work, but then Im NO powerlifter.

at the end of the day, the quad straighten the leg, so i would have thought it was prudent to train that muscle, even if it is just assisting the posterior chain for powerlifters.

Carl.

Good point.

I have never trained in a suit, or sumo stance, so I can't speak from personal experience.

During sumo deadlifts I use more of my quads but again, this is raw. Once the bar is slightly off the ground it's all about hip drive for me.

Maybe someone like JB or Isaku will chime in.

[LtL]

Whilst I do believe that posterior chain work is important for RAW lifters as well, I agree that there should be more balance with quad work. RAW squatting invves a lot less lower back, glute and hamstring than geared squatting. I think this is more pronounced when talking about multiply gear. From what I've seen of guys in my gym in single ply, it seems to be a bit of a middle ground between the two.

I personally have been trying to get some single leg dumbell quad' assistance in to get some hypertrophy without massively loading the joints. Seems to do ok so far. Only one will tell.

LtL

[Fazc]

There has been a tremendous amount of rhetoric about WSB passed around in recent years, in fact in some circles "doing a powerlifting routine" equates to WSB and only WSB. Which is madness, frankly. All this nonsense, and it is nonsense for most people, about rotating exercises and the exaggerated importance of assistance exercises is not new. Olympic lifters have been doing essentially this for decades now. However what is new is aspiring powerlifters attempting to perform this 'conjugate' approach while they are still squatting and deadllifting 400.

A lifter squatting 400 does not need additional isolation hamstring work or to rotate exercises, they need additional squat work. There is nothing, absolutely nothing which additional GHRs could accomplish, that can not be accomplished by doing a few hard sets of squats as often as recovery allows and repeating that untill strong(er).

However like any good internet phenomenom it'll take for a few years, rational people will learn some stuff, bb.com (or equivalent) nutswingers will over exaggerate the importance of it and then it will gradually wane in popularity untill a new internet phenomenom sweeps through online forums. At which point the younger teens embrace that and declare everything their older peers are doing as outdated. It is the law of the world(wide web).

(The above paragraph can be applied to any clique lifting system, from HG to HIT to XFit to Dino Training, you name it).

Powerlifting existed before WSB and will do long after people come to their senses and regain a more traditional approach which is ability approriate and meant for raw trainees.

[J_Byrd]

In a short answer...dont forget your Quads!!!! Lots of people will tell you that its a secondary muscle, but I dont feel thats true. I think the closer your stance is, the more quad you use. You dont see many big squaters with little quads do you?

[gaspers04]

I like to work them directly...300lbs extensions are cool, just because....

[5kgLifter]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

Good point.

I have never trained in a suit, or sumo stance, so I can't speak from personal experience.

During sumo deadlifts I use more of my quads but again, this is raw. Once the bar is slightly off the ground it's all about hip drive for me.

Maybe someone like JB or Isaku will chime in.

I have read that people who favour the normal deadlift stance over the sumo tend to come across the issue of weak inner thigh muscles when attempting sumo stance; one reason why a lifter needs a lighter load when swapping from conventional to sumo stance.

[Off Road]

I like to throw in a little extra quad work. It seems the focus for power lifting and athletics has swung way over to the posterior side. I think there are still some benefits to also focussing on the quads for some balance. My personal favorite is the Bulgarian Split Squat.

[BendtheBar]

I might have to revive donkey squats.