03-26-11, 10:24 AM | |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Lynchburg,Virginia
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http://exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html
maybe this site can help? i figured the squat worked all muscles/joints in the legs that is why it was referred as compound. but ones you might not recognize as squats might be of help. like the Bulgarian split squat, which is nothing fancy just a stationary lunge with your back foot elevated. i do find plies hit the inner thighs but also the glutes a touch as well. but if i am looking to hit more ham/glutes i usually rely on the split squat aka. the lunge or the single leg squat, in variations in addition to regular squats.
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03-26-11, 12:30 PM | |
Join Date: Dec 2009
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^^I second the exrx.net site, it's a wonderful reference. And I too feel more glute-ham in split squats than regular squats.
Still, it's my understanding that until you get below 90° (ie: deep enough that the crease at your hip drops below your knee) squats remain overwhelmingly quad-dominant. Robert Dos Remedios breaks lower body compound movements into knee-dominant and hip dominant: Knee dominant: Squats, split squats and deadlifts. He says that even though split squats and deadlifts do increase posterior chain involvement, so you're right to think of them as hitting the glutes too, they're still a knee-dominant movement and so are predominantly a quad exercise. Hip dominant: Romanian deadlifts, good mornings, back extensions, supine hip extensions (bridges) and swiss ball glute-ham pull-ins. The hip joint is primary for all of these so the posterior chain does most of the work instead of the quads.I've found this a useful way to think about lower body work. More info in his books, which are worth reading, I think: http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Dos-Remedios/e/B001JP7LAW On a related note, I read somewhere recently that turning your toes out vs. having them forward encouraged more or less glute activation in squats. But I can't find the reference, remember which way it was, if the source was reliable, or even feel the difference myself, but then I tend to have lazy glutes. Anyone know anything? |
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glutes, hamstrings, quads, squat, squats |
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