Squat narrow or wide:
Can this help you target specific muscles?
Researched and composed by Veeraj Goyaram
with inputs from Bodybuilding Mauritius members
Squat narrow for sweep?
It is a long-held belief
that by changing squat stance you can target specific muscles in the
legs. For example, bodybuilders willing to emphasize and develop their vastus lateralis
muscle (a great contributor to the much sought-after outer leg sweep) have
always been advised to squat with a close stance, as in the picture above. Sometimes they are advised to squat with feet
together and for reasons of stability these are often advised to be performed
in a Smith machine. Furthermore, it is not uncommon to see people leg pressing
while keeping feet together. I have myself believed in such a practice for a
long time and dedicated countless sets of squats and presses with a close
stance in the hope of improving my quadriceps sweep.
What does the lab say?
EMG studies disprove
narrow stance squats for "outer sweep"
EMG stands for
Electromyography and is a technique used to measure electrical activity in
muscles when become activated by nerve impulses. When a muscle is
contracting there is an electric signal going into it which can be captured by
the EMG machine. When you perform a barbell curl there will be higher EMG
activity in your biceps than in your triceps, for example. EMG
analysis has revolutionised exercise science because muscle activation
patterns can be detected in order to analyse muscle recruitment during human
movement and exercises. EMG analysis has told us for example how the glutes and hamstrings
become more active as you put your feet higher on the leg pressing platform
(Click for our leg press article). Therefore, EMG data to tell you how muscles are
differentially activated during certain exercises or when variations of
exercises are performed.
Several studies using the
EMG have shown that squatting with a narrow stance alas does not recruit the
outer leg (vastus lateralis) to a greater degree. The good news is that close stance squats stresses all the muscles making up the quadriceps to more or less the same extent. Mr.
Doug Brignole, renowned Biomechanics of resistance exercise expert, writer for
Ironman Magazine USA and my trusted source of no-nonsense exercise information states that:
“The knee is a single movement joint - very similar to a hinge.
Like a hinge, the knee only does one thing - bend and straighten. This movement
is caused by the quadriceps, in its entirety. There is no way to activate one
part of the quadriceps more than another part, without being able change what
the knee does - and one can't. All parts of the quadriceps become activated, if
the knee extends at all - either by way of leg extension, squat, leg press,
etc.”
Mr Doug Brignole at age
22. Now at 53 he is still going strong.
http://www.ironmanmagazine.com/blogs/dougbrignole/
|
Our Strength and
Conditioning specialist, Omar Patel, quoted a study in which “the
EMG analysis showed that the percentages of IEMG max for the vastus medialis
wide stance and close stance is not significantly different at 75.3 and 73.8,
respectively; and those for the vastus lateralis wide stance and close stance,
at 75.8 and 78.4, is also not dramatically”. This means again that the close
stance does not work the vastus medialis (teardrop) nor the quad sweep more than when you would perform squats with a normal stance.
The merits of wide
stance squats
However, when squats are
performed using a wide foot stance, there are other muscles which also come
into play, namely the adductors (inner legs) and the glutes. When you rotate
your hips externally, that is, bringing your legs out in a wide stance squat
you work the glutes, adductors as well as the quadriceps muscle. For example, in a
study conducted at the University of Rio de Janeiro (Pereira et al., 2010) muscle activity of the hip
adductors was significantly greater with the rotation of the hips from neutral
to 30° and from 30° and to 50°. Similar results were obtained with stance
widths of 40% wider or even twice than shoulder width (Paoli et al.,
2009).
Adductors contribute massively to
overall leg mass and bodybuilders known for outstanding leg mass like Tom Platz
and Kai Greene always have well developed adductor muscles. Adductors also
contribute to knee stability which is very important in preventing tears in
your knee ligaments like the common ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) tear.
Finally, weak adductors are also an important cause of groin strain. So make
sure you perform your wide stance (sumo) squats as per the guidelines below. I
forgot to mention that a sign of weak adductors is when your knees rotate
slightly inwards when you are squatting.
Tom Platz shows stellar adductor development. How many of you have legs that touch in the middle? |
How to develop the quad sweep then?
We leave this to Charles Glass to explain. Please see the video below. Briefly, he advises going deep in squats and leg presses, feet slightly pointed outwards and doing reps slowly in the 12-15 range.
Other considerations
a. Be careful when
performing wide stance squats. After reading this don’t rush to the gym and
start pumping countless heavy sets of wide stance squats. Proceed with caution
and experiment with the degree of outward hip rotation which is more
comfortable for you. Seek help from someone knowledgeable if necessary.
b. Studies
have shown that activation of quadriceps muscles is highest in the last phase
of the descent to parallel and the first phase of the ascent. This means that
partial or quarter squats will result in reduced muscle activation of the quads
therefore may be inferior compared to parallel or full squats. So beware those
who like to load the bar with more than they can squat one full unassisted rep
with and perform quarter or “millimetre” squats.
c. I
have also seen that it is important to make sure that during squats the
vertical path of the bar should be kept close to a perpendicular line emanating
from the middle of the foot throughout the range of movement (see picture below). That is why we don’t advocate Smith machine squats with
both feet below the body or forward.
More proof to squat with a
free barbell:
The vertical path of the
bar should be as close to the red line
|
References:
1. Pereira GR, Leporace G,
Chagas DV, Furtado LF, Praxedes J, Batista LA. Influence of hip external
rotation on hip adductor and rectus femoris myoelectric activity during a
dynamic parallel squat. J Strength Cond Res 24: 2749–2754, 2010
2. Paoli A, Marcolin G,
Petrone N. The effect of stance width on the electromyographical activity of
eight superficial thigh muscles during back squat with different bar loads. J
Strength Cond Res 23: 246–250, 2009
3. Schwanbeck S, Chilibeck
PD, Binsted G. A comparison of free weight squat to Smith machine squat using
electromyography. J Strength Cond Res 23: 2588–2591, 2009.
Here's an old-school shot for you: Makkawy, Fox and Zane Courtesy: STARS OF BODYBUILDING FACEBOOK PAGE |
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Self explanatory article, no bullshit only the real shit!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for the kind comments Tayyab
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