A quads workout should be tough work. But most of the “build big quads” workouts I’ve seen online are pure fake hustle.
Many of these “workouts” revolve around some combination of these weak movements:
• Half or quarter squats
• Half or quarter leg presses
• Half or quarter hack slides
• Leg extensions
I’ve got some news for you: unless you are juiced to the gills, these movements are not going to get you residency in Quadville.
What’s Wrong With Those Moves?
What’s wrong with that quads “workout” is that it represents taking the easy way out.
Half and quarter reps are significantly easier to do than using a full range of motion while training. Deciding to take the easy way out is not how you will build a great body.
Also, trying to impress the commercial gym crowd or tricking yourself into thinking you are stronger than you really are plays a part in this too.
For many men, stacking mad plates on the leg press to do partial reps strokes their ego like a professional streetwalker.
It’s dramatically easier to do a half squat than it is to get your butt down to the bucket.
Many people will make a ton of hollow excuses about why they can’t get down to the bucket. And some of the excuses or reasons are actually valid.
Some lifters don’t have a body structure conducive to great squatting. Everybody can improve their squatting form and depth, but not everybody can become an elite squatter.
Now if you have bum knees, serious back issues, or an Achilles tendon that is tighter than skinny jeans on a fat man, squatting to the bucket may not be an option for you today. You would need to address these issues to improve your squat.
But the excuses that most lifters come up with are really rooted in the fear of having to squat less weight and then possibly looking bad during the workout.
Most of these lame excuses are all truly just a revelation of the character of the lifter.
If you aren’t willing to fail or look bad, you can kiss your chances of ever building your dream body and being successful goodbye.
You have to fail in order to succeed.
Old School, Archaic, and Effective
Two exercises that you rarely see (one you’ll never see) on social media when it comes to building the quads is the barbell hack squat and the roman chair squat.
The barbell hack squat was created by George Hackenschmidt.
Hackenschmidt was a world-class athlete and strongman.
Squat racks were not commonplace in the early days of the iron game. In order to do a barbell squat, you had to clean and press a barbell from the floor in order to get it on your back.
This is a bad strategy for squatting because the clean and press limits the amount of weight you can squat.
If you can squat 300lbs, but you can only clean and press 185lbs, you will only be squatting 185lbs.
Hackenschmidt found a way around this by lifting the barbell from the floor while it was behind him.
The barbell hack squat looks like a reverse deadlift, but it does not hit the hamstrings, glutes, or low back like the deadlift does. But it absolutely smokes and builds the quads.
You can learn all about the barbell hack squat in this article below:
• How To Do Barbell Hack Squats
Roman Chair Squats Are NOT Sissy Squats
Most of today’s lifters think that the roman chair is an abdominal or a lower back apparatus. They are completely wrong, but it is not their fault.
Most of today’s lifters also think that the true roman chair squat is the sissy squat. They are also wrong, but again it is not their fault.
Sissy squats are a great move for the quads, but they involve you holding onto a squat rack or doing them without holding on to anything (very hard).
Sissy squats do not use a special apparatus. They never have.
The fault for the spread of the misinformation lies with the manufacturers of the roman chair apparatus.
Almost all of the roman chair apparatuses are now called sissy squats. I don’t know why this happened.
Nevertheless, the roman chair squat apparatus is designed for building the quads.
The Iron Guru, Vince Gironda used to use it in his gym for bodybuilders to build their quads up to epic levels.
Of all the quad moves that you can do, none will isolate and incinerate your quads worse than the roman chair.
When you do them correctly, your quads will feel like they are about to explode out of your skin.
The other part of this equation is that it will not take a lot of weight to get folded on roman chair squats.
I’ve seen men who could squat 300lbs get their quads reduced to ash with just a few sets of bodyweight roman chair squats.
Roman chair squats are not only fantastic for building stallion quads, but also a lesson in pain tolerance and toughness.
Any lifter who does roman chair squats with the proper form will feel their quads working in a way they did not think was possible.
[bctt tweet=”Of all the quad moves that you can do, none will isolate and incinerate your quads worse than the roman chair. When you do them correctly your quads will feel like they are about to explode out of your skin.” username=”fitman83″]Big Quads Workout
1) Warm-Up
2) Roman Chair Squats SS Barbell Hack Squat 4 x 8
Notes:
• You will warm up by doing a dynamic warm up or/and by doing multiple sets of roman chair squats and barbell hack squats.
• For example, if you are going to use 15lbs in the roman chair and 185lbs in the barbell hack squat, you could do 3-5 x 3-5 for the warm-up sets.
• You would do these warm-ups sets with a lighter weight than what you will use during your work set. Ascend up in weight on each set during the warm-ups.
• Because this is a pre-exhaust superset you will not need as much rest. Rest 15-45 seconds between moves.
• The amount of weight you use will determine your rest period.
• The heavier the weight you use, the more rest you will need.
• Rest 2 to 3 minutes between rounds.
• Use constant tension reps to maximize the pump. This means you will try to avoid locking out as much as possible.
• Don’t use weights that make the big quads workout embarrassingly easy. Put some healthy weight on the bar and challenge yourself.
Conclusion
Thick thighs save lives.
I’ll holla at you next time.
The People’s Trainer,
Fitman
