No, your VMO would not get more stimulas carrying groceries up the stairs.
8 reps is fine becuase the quad has great postural and power benefits to your athletics.
You actually haven’t done these hack lifts before loopfitt, so you wouldn’t know. I’ve done hacklifts before and they are the best VMO exercise and 1 set is all that is needed. If a sprinter did them too much they would have more vmo development than what is needed in proportion to the other thigh muscles, and this is why I recomend very low volume of hack lifts.
If you think 1 set is not enough, understand that other exercises are also getting the VMO in a “lighter” way, so by the time a set of hacklists is done after the main squats then the vmo has had enough to induce a strength gain.
DrSquat.com check the article on squatting - ‘I may not know Diddley’, I went over this again yesterday, good info. Hack squats not recommended for most, but adding them in low volume isn’t going to do harm.
I don’t understand what makes them so different that the VMO is activated more. The torso is going to be more upright, but then you have a similar vertical position in front squats.
In my rehabilitation of the knee, after mini squats, progression is made to step ups/step downs, then hopping on to knee. Proprioception exercises are done along side (using cushions no wobble board sillyness). This combination certainly got my VMO switched on. You might like to try something similar, although they aren’t going to help if activation is already high.
A set of hack lifts with a narrow stance. Try them. Infact, use bands which would be easy with this lift. The band goes under your feet and to the bar either side of feet with your hands steady over the band.
Nothing like it. Try them. They will give you too much vmo developement in comparison to your other quad and thigh muscles, so yuo’d have to stop doing them anyway.
What makes you say that I haven’t done these before? Foolish assumption. I would never comment on something I have no experience with myself. Don’t make assumptions without knowing anything about the individual you speak of.
Then don’t let your ego get so involved in the first place by claiming that carryin groceries up stairs will do more for your vastus medialis. All becuase I burst your bubble (unintentially) on the quad V Ham’s thread. Pathetic.
I didn’t say the exercise itself is useless. Besides the fact that it is an awkward movement for most, the exercise does work well. My statement centered around the notion of 8r/week at a submaximal weight will be enough and anymore will make the VMO overdevelop.
I was being sarcastic with that statement. You think I’m holding a grudge against you? LOL. I didn’t even know it was you who posted that message, and besides I don’t know how you bursted my bubble. I still stand by my statement on that topic and this one.
The bar will slide along your calves which is fine and inevitable, especially when using a heavy weight. Don’t underestimate the amount of weight you can use on this exercise. It’s a pretty safe exercise that will not need an extensive warmup. In-fact, if you do it after your regular set/s of squats or other exercise you won’t need a warm up set. Use a weight that is comparable to either your conventional deadlift (if u do them), or your back squat. Just a little lighter than what you’d use for those lifts.
“…Hack squats not recomended for most.”
Jimbo, I think you may have confused Hack lifts for Hack squats. They are not the same thing. Hack squats are a machine exercise that give many people knee pain. Hacklifts on the other hand are deadlifts with bar behind legs instead of in front and with a narrower stance than conventional deadlifts.
“In the trenches” experiance, AND gains with this one, let me know it’s the best V.M.O exercise bar none. However, I can only hazard a guess as to WHY the VMO is activated more than in say, front squats, step ups etc…
First of all, an interesting point is that the highest VMO intensity I’ve ever felt have come from the above exercise and from sprint cycling up a hill in hard gears. The two give VERY similar leg positions. This would make it the perfect strength exercise for a cyclist for starters and hell, they should pay me for that info.
Also, I’ll guess that, becuase there is no great upper hamstring stretch in hack lifts, I think that will allow the quads to use more of there power without cuasing a threat to the hamstrings. “Safety survival mechanisms” which can hinder development in some exercises (but are of great use for development in others) may not need to be so switched on in this exercise by comparison. For this exercise, that is good.