Are You a Leg-Extension Warrior?

Big Quads + No Glutes = No Speed or Power

After making some observations of the different body types of “fit” individuals over the past few years I was inspired to post this equation on Facebook.

Now before I point fingers at anyone else, I’ll use myself as a case study.

 

 

When I first started training as a 12 year old fat and pudgy kid I wanted legs like The Ultimate Warrior, Bo Jackson, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton or any of the other “athletes” that I looked up. At a very young age I had been conditioned to believe that the only way I could build my legs like theirs was to become a Leg-Extension Warrior because this is the information I was fed by the “muscle mags”.

So I would blast my legs with leg extensions believing this was the ONLY way that I could make my legs bigger and stronger like some of my heroes. What I didn’t know at the time was that Bo, Barry and Walter were NOT performing leg extensions in their workouts. They ran hill sprints, performed body weight squats and lunges to build monstrous legs that could produce mind boggling feats of speed, agility and explosion. Mastering their bodyweights with free weights, calisthenics, and sprints on both level ground and hills was the norm for them.

 

And while they sought to develop strength organically during the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, Arthur Jones, the inventor and founder of Nautilus equipment, simultaneously started to convince the American public that using machines was safer and more effective for building size and strength compared to using free weights and other methods and exercises that cultivated true Organic Strength Development.

Now if your goal is to move with speed, strength and explosion then it’s time to ditch the leg extensions and start training your legs “organically.” Now you may be thinking, “Can I do leg extensions in addition to doing all of things that Bo, Barry and Walter did?” So I’ll answer that question for you…NO; and this is why.

 

 

When you train your quads in “isolation” you “program” your body to develop strength in one muscle group while neglecting the rest of your body. This is NOT how are bodies were designed to function. Developing control of your center of mass, located just below the umbilical line (your navel), is paramount to building integrated functional strength to move explosively while reinforcing durability.  You must train your body with progressively heavier loads, a variety of exercise that stresses the body in multiple planes and with precision of exercise technique and timing for optimal skill acquisition.

Movement and skill acquisition relies on the precise timing of muscle patterns of motion. If the timing of muscle patterns of motion is altered due to a lack of synchronization between muscles that help to stabilize the spine and pelvis while strength is expressed through the extremities (arms and legs), then dysfunctional movement habits are developed that can reinforce dysfunctional timing of muscle actions resulting in imbalances between core stabilizers and powerful leg action that can adversely affect performance and durability.

The glutes have a hybrid function to contribute to both stabilization and strength expression. But if one continuously trains the quads WITHOUT simultaneously allowing for the glutes to perform it’s hybrid function, then your capacity to produce mind boggling feats of speed, agility and explosion diminishes very quickly while injury risk increases.

I know this from personal experience because back in 2005 when I was performing heavy lunges, with my then inactive glutes, my left knee buckled while lunging with 225lb on my back which led to a torn meniscus, surgery and missed time training.

I’ve even witnessed “inactive glutes” in young adolescent athletes, especially female athletes. The common scenario seemed to be this:

Big Quads + No Glutes = No Power & Higher Injury Risk.

A lack of power and durability has a direct correlation to glute function and quad size. On a neurological level most individuals who are “quad dominant”, meaning their brains give the quads all of the responsibility that their glutes should have, develop deficiencies in both stabilization and strength expression. This showed me Leg Extensions, even when performed with other “organic” movements, can reinforce dysfunctional timing of muscle actions resulting in imbalances between core stabilizers and powerful leg action.

One should train to Spread the load throughout their body. When you learn how to spread the load evenly you become resilient AND strong! ~ Pavel Tsatsouline

If your body doesn’t have the capacity to reflexively spread the load throughout your body, weak links will be exposed and injuries are inevitable. This can lead to decreases in stability around the spine which will have a great impact on how much strength and power you can efficiently express while increasing injury risk.

Stop sitting down and kicking your legs back & forth like a toddler having a tantrum in a high chair.

Ditch the leg extensions! They do NOTHING for your performance, durability or movement capacity. Feed your legs and the rest of your body some real strength developing exercise.

Organic Solutions

Symmetrical Stance

• KB Goblet Squats
• Fronts Squats
• Deadlifts
• RDL’s

Asymmetrical Stance

• Split Squats  then progress to Reverse Lunges then progress to Forward Lunges

Single Leg Stance

• Step-Ups
• Pistol Squats
• 1-Arm 1-Leg RDL’s (video below)

Stop sitting down while you train…

…Stand up and develop your leg strength “organically” like the warriors of the past!