@@eawavy2316 Wouldn't consider them big, but not that small either, only been lifting for 2 years. Only been doing hypertrophy training for a couple months now, used to focus on powerlifting before that.
This is interesting, I’ve just started fixing my squat technique to be able to lift more weight (powerlifting style) and I’m loving that because the technique feels very efficient. But I am getting less DOMs the next day, would you say that a powerlifting stance doesn’t help you build muscle? Surely that which helps you lift the most weight will help you build the most muscle if you start training that specific technique for hypertrophy? I.e., slow eccentric, high volume? I.e., with the powerlifting technique you can move more weight so if you can move more weight for higher volume wouldn’t that be best? Literally just asking as I’ve notice more weight, more efficiency, but less doms which I found interesting
To find the perfect foot position for your particular build, I remember reading this tip, which I have applied since and it works great: just jump in place 4 -5 times: your feet will automatically align to the most naturally comfortable position for your body.
Your quads are working more than you think, but your quads may actually fatigue in the set before you think as well. Your hips, glutes, etc. have a lot to do with the movement as well. Don't worry too much about mind muscle connection until later on.
I love these, but also how Dr. Mike’s demeanor is completely professional. We all enjoy the jokes and analogies in the other videos, but this straight up info with demonstrations/ no bullshit approach is also greatly appreciated.
This comment is long overdue. Doing legs today. This channel has changed my workouts. I simplified the hell out of my daily workouts and am feeling the muscles more than ever. Awesome work by the RP team. Dr. Mike rants and workout critiques are my go to entertainment. Lastly no homo but I can see and hear dr Mike doing his death laugh during the last few tough reps
For quads I'll usually put 5lb plates under my heels, shoulder width feet. Allows me to go past 90 and keep my chest up more. That little heel lift helps me keep pressure on my heels too.
@@Hopie-n-Ginger no other squat kills the quads like this. Mostly it's an alternative for those who don't have toddler-esque mobility and cant do it flat foot.
I find doing a slight hip flexion prior to the movement helps much to prevent excessive anterior pelvic tilt and as consequence my quads are more engaged.
Thank you so much. I've been getting back into lifting after breaking my back a few years ago. My squat muscle memory is gone. My glutes are getting massive but my quads are soft and weak. Your explanation was perfect. This is just what I needed!
Great break down of the squat. You just gave me a totally new way to perform a supposedly basic squat. These little technique and style recommendations are HUGE. Thanks!!!
Started squatting the way Dr. Mike recommends them for quads growth and I’ve to say that I’m never looking back. This is a far superior way to squat for muscle growth for quads and the SFR is just great as you’ve to use less weight. It also looks beautiful aesthetically to go all the way down while keeping a upright posture and it feels amazing!
As a road cyclist transitioning to sprint. This is my bread and butter and i look forward to it every single time. It was brutal in the beginning doing even 25 bidy weight squats. Now doing 10 really heavy to failure is walk in the park. Erector spinae gives up. Quads have still juice in them. In Feb onwards i would be focused to strength only
Hey Mike, Thanks for this video. It gave me some nice points to think about on my next leg day. I am super fortunate to have a Transformer bar in my garage gym. Maybe sometime in the future you could do a little tutorial on how you use the different settings on this bar. I enjoy it in the goblet squat position to keep me in more of an upright/quad focused position. Thanks again !
So I want to say thank you! Ive been trying for the last year to get my squats deep without having to use the hack squat machine. The tip about keeping your chest up, let me hit my fuckin squats deep and really punish my quads today. Thank you and keep up the good work!
Dr Mike, I bought one of your templates and the results have been out of this world and wanted to thank you for it. Now for the question. I'm lifter with a REALLY long femur and I find it impossible to stay upright without falling on my butt, even with squat shoes. Is it a technique problem or am I really biomechanically disadvantaged? Thank you for what you re doing.
I got his template too. Man, I put on a lot of size, it’s actually insane. However, I couldn’t sustain the volume on later weeks of the meso. Thus, I’ll only use it if I have a lot of time, or I want to put on mass before the summer. 2 Mesos of this program just slabs on the size.
It could be more technique stuff than you've considered, but yes, biomechanics is definitely a thing, and some folks will benefit by doing leg presses, leg extensions, and hack squats before squats so that they can get more out of squats themselves. - Dr. Mike
I would trade out barbell squat for hacks in that case. The added stability will help you focus on the muscle you’re trying to train, quads. I bet they’ll blow up and you won’t miss barbell squat.
From personal experience it could be muscle imbalance/weakness somewhere along the chain of muscles required for squatting. Balance and more mind muscle connection in the legs helped tremendously.
After a bunch of measurements, I'm apparently built for squats with short femurs and long torso. That's all fine and good until you try shopping for clothes. 😢 If I apply the more quad dominant techniques you've demonstrated, I'll become a true bodybuilder and it'll be 100% more impossible to find something that fits. Thanks Dr Mike.
hello mike could you do one for adductor... i think quads are covered in great detail in your channel and also across yt. love to see a dedicated video for adductors. Also the way you do leg press with legs all the way down feels great on adductors. Also some tips for training vmo which doesn't include leg extensions but rather basic barbell exercises and leg press
Dr. Mike, do you have any tips to keep the chest high at the bottom of the squat when using a regular barbell? I find it way easier to do that with a safety bar, but not with a regular one
I'm on a cut and sticking to hack squat and leg extensions during the cut per Dr. Mike's recos on Stimulus-to-Fatigue ratios. Can't wait to get fat and try these tho
Was wondering if more dumbbell videos would be coming soon? I workout at home for convenience and would love to see more coaching videos with minimal equipment. If this content is already available, would share a link? Thanks, take care!
@@Enyamasparw Because trying to hit a MRV of 25-30 sets of side delts in a peak week with only variations of DB and cable lateral raises is getting a bit boring
I just switched up my squats like this after realising I was using too much glutes, doing far less weight but quads are getting fried like never before
I gave up on squats. I can’t take them close to failure without a lower back pumps and doing good mornings. What works for me is hack squats and leg extensions. For the hack squat I use a heel elevated shoe, with 2 versa lift heel inserts for additional heel elevation. I go full ROM hams to calves and man the stimulus is just beautiful. I used to think my quads were hopeless, not anymore. If you like squatting, do it. However, you don’t need them to develop a nice pair of wheels.
Leg extensions are absolutely legit for quads. My issue with squats was going too heavy. I brought the weight way down and they feel so much better, now slowly adding back up
I used to have this issue, high bar, chest up really helps and also not driving up super hard like a ME PL squat helped me a ton. Now it's hard for me TO do a GM squat and get back pumps. Have this issue even when using the shoes and Versa's on squats?
@@zachlloyd9392 when I wear versa raised Olympic shoes on squats, the front of my left ankle gets impinged and I experience this dull bone ache sensation. I haven’t the slightest clue as to why I don’t have this issue when hack squatting. I rolled my left ankle badly playing basketball many years ago, and ever since then the mobility hasn’t returned. If I remove the versa lifts, the ankle pain goes away, but my squat turns into a good morning, not on the initial reps, but when I get close to failure. Thus, for me, reaching technical failure on squats does not allow me to reach localized muscular failure on quads. So when I squat at RPE 7, I don’t get a quad pump, no muscular perturbation on the quad, and they never get sore. I know you don’t need these to know that you hit your quads sufficiently but they are a good indicator, and the poor results offer anecdotal support.
@@bonkersdonkers7381 That is interesting. Feet are further forward in hacks than they can be in the squat possibly? Maybe due to not having to maintain balance? Well, you don't have to do squats as you said lol. They are pretty high RSM exercise though. I am assuming you tried turning toes out, moving feet in and out etc based on what you have said so far. Hacks kick my butt too so no hate on those, until the days after 🤣
Are visible veins in the legs due to how lean one is and genetics? Even at sub 10% I cannot seem to get the veins popping in the legs, but totally different story for the upper body. Great video.
Yes to both. Given all individual differences, physical traits will be expressed differently. Some wont have veiny legs, others will look like Nick Walker 🤷♂️ lottery and what not. Sometimes it can be forced, but you gotta be reeealll dry for that.
I don’t think many natties have veiny legs. Gear increases vascularity. Like guys on gear will have veins all over their thighs whereas that is rare to see naturally.
Leanness, genetics, and training history. Keep training and you'll get more veins while... getting less vain? I'm not sure about the last part! - Dr. Mike
Hi, I'm not Dr. Mike. Using the wedge IME lets my knees travel further forward getting more into the quads, while not letting my janky ankles limit my depth, but you still drive through the whole foot because the heels should be anchored onto the wedge.
If you do squat powerlifitng style, will you still experience decent quad growth and stimulation? Or is it minimal and mostly in the glutes/lower back? Love the videos Dr. Mike!
It's not bad but you will get better quad growth from what I gather from a bodybuilder style squat. My hips don't allow me to do that though. Squating to depth for me is already next to impossible, lol.
@@Madchris8828 try platz squats with heels elevated and fairly close stance. I’m 6’3 so definitely don’t have ideal leverages, combined with subpar ankle mobility from lots of football (soccer) and could never even really squat to parallel. But they’ve been game changing both for quad development and general comfortability with the squad
Don't know if anyone still watching this old a video. But, when I drop my squat down low. I often get issue of my back getting pressured and feeling a sharp pain. Is it simply I'm not keeping myself up right enough. Or, am I just simply going way too low?
I have struggled to understand why my back wanted to take over and fall to far forward. My knees must be trying to go first. I will focus on my hip hinge most Thanks!
Bar path needs to be straight up and down while being over mid foot. The moment it starts to go forward your lower back takes over. Hips and chest need to move at the same time from the hole, as the path of least resistance is hips up (fucks up your lower back) then chest up so you need to focus on preventing that
So toes out is fine for that?? I have always done toes forward and a slight heel raise (due to some mobility issues in my ankles meaning I should probably stretch) But... I have never tried quad dominant squats, toes out... I shall give it a go!!!!!!
That's easy.. Just load up the bar with 200% of your 1RM, unrack and get in position, dive bomb the rep to tear all ligaments in your knees. Ta-da! You've just achieved no quad growth for an extended period of time. Bonus tip; If you want no more growth period (except maybe arms?) Round your back and don't brace during the rep in order to move all the disc's from between your vertebrae to not in between your vertebrae.
I recommend wide stance "squat-mornings" in the 3-6 rep range, preferably with a 5-10 second pause for 2-3 breaths at the top from the very beginning of the set, never taking your eyes away from your feet. It worked great for me - I had very minimal newbie gains, but my systemic fatigue was through the roof! Try it, it works! As an added bonus, it's also a great way to develop your joint pains and bring back old injuries. 💩🙌 Edit: It's ok to take your eyes away from the floor to look around between reps and try to asses who's looking at you for that next rep, it really aids with motivation.
@@shmuckling Great tip! Actually on further consideration I actually recommend training arms considering the probability of a new mode of transportation where strong arms will definitely benefit you.
If your back isn't what limits how much you can front squat sure. Personally my quads far outperform my upper back and fail before my quads, I can still Good morning the hell out of a front squat too. It doesn't magically keep you into the quads IME. High bar has been much better for me dialing in technique and keeping chest up.
For squatting, can I use a heavy back pack filled with rocks? It should be okay, it’s just the load is hanging off my back instead of directly on my shoulders. is it still okay to do it that way?
I'm really trying to get good at squats but my lower back hurts, i've done exams and everything, 0 problems everything is fine with the lower back so i dont understand why it hurts, oh yes and i've already tried every type of squat variation you can imagine, back, front, hack, wide, narrow, etc..
