These are goood exercises, but I suspect the reason for an immediate improvement is the familiarization of the athlete with the proper activation of these muscles as extensors of the hip. This is, of course, another good reason for the exercise selection.
KellyB,
Can you give a short-list (1-3 movements) you would include as supplementary lower-body excercises (Squats/ DLs included as primary movements)?
Article at www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=473323 contains descriptions of movemetns mentioned above.
Thanks.
I usually do 2 different single leg exercises (one vertical & one horizontal) each week for 3rd exercise after ME/DE and accessory exercises like RDL or others using 2 legs. That article that you mentioned is a good one. It actually gives me extra choices to choose from. Just go from easiest to hardest as I found out the hard way.
From: http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSingleLegSplitSquat.html
A ‘Barbell Single Leg Split Squat’ seems to be the same as a Bulgarian squat from that t-mag.com article (link above). Are they the same? Just difference in titles?
Tried the Bulgarian squat last night and boy am I in pain today (glutes, adductors). Need to introduce s-l-o-w-l-y!
If you need it- see other post.
http://charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=7005
"Tried the Bulgarian squat last night and boy am I in pain today "
Says it all! You live and learn!
Bulgarian squats (split squats) I’ve loved since I was first introduced to them nearly 10 years ago 
. They work for tall athletes because your back leg is elevated they force you to go below parallel or below which is the main benefit and the reason they trash the glutes. Also the balance aspect can’t be overlooked. The movement can be customized depending upon your stance. You can very easily shift stress to the vastus medialis with a closer stance, to the hams with a deeper stance, and you can kill the glutes (even though they will be killed anyway) by leaning forward at the bottom. The only bad thing is you gotta do twice as many sets to get the same amount of work and this adds up really quick. Also some people tend to get a cramped foot. I never liked step ups too much. I also like side lunges or regular lunge variations always stepping away or back with the non-working leg to avoid stress on the knee. Also pistols or free standing one legged squats. I have a progression I use for them that goes something like this:
Peterson step up
One leg ski squat
High box step down
Split squat
One leg squat on high box (touch and go)
one leg squat on high box (rock back)
one leg squat on low box (touch and go)
one leg squat on low box (rock back)
free standing one leg squat
Hmmm…let’s see what else…I have a glute ham and reverse hyper device so I always use them but for posterior chain development also Russian deadlifts (close stance arched back good morning), pull throughs, 2 handed dumbell swings, Dimel deadlifts and one-legged good mornings are probably my favorites.
Why 2 handed dumbell swings?
That is why full squats with compensatory acceleration is better than doing
regular box squats. As for DE box squats the touch phase takes a split second to think about before you react.
Also the full squat provides a bigger ROM and thus a better SSC reflex action; it also does this because when you do a full squat you know when you hit the bottom of the movement with parallel your never really sure and with box squats you have a momentary pause.
These DE box squats could perhaps be useful for Starts out of the blocks where there is no eccentric loading of the muscle.
That’s why you don’t use knee wraps/suits etc, instead you do exercises like full squats!
If you have to use these aids then you shouldn’t be lifting!
Why on earth would you want to slow the bar down on the concentric phase. It doesn’t matter when using the exercise for resistance or power, the “Motor Unit Recruitment pattern” as changed. Take an defensive lineman in football; for example, the lineman doesn’t want to train his body to have a reduced to fire at half speed. The lineman wants to explode through his opponent and not get in a strength battle with his opponent. When using the elastic bands in your squat, you train your body’s neuromuscular coordination in a horrible way; furthermore, when you squat for strength (1RM) your legs get eccentrically loaded for the SSC and then you explode upwards in the concentric phase firing as many motor units as possible.
HOWEVER, if you use elastic bands, then on the concentric phase the bands make your body recruit these motor units in a different pattern; for example, squatting 225 lbs with bands means recruiting the same amount of motor units in the eccentric portion (as somebody doing free wts without bands) , less motor units in the amortization/reversal phase, and more motor units in the concentric phase. However when squatting with 225lbs free wts without bands the recruitment pattern is as follows; same amount of motor units in the eccentric portion (as somebody with bands), more motor units at the amortization/reversal phase, and less motor units in the concentric phase. The latter of the two firing sequences is the way are bodies are designed to fire by evolution. Towards the end of the lift your body is able to lift more weight doing a quarter squat than a full squat because that is the way it was designed by evolution; therefore, it is useless to recruit more motor units if these mu fire in an inefficient way. This is the main reason why these bands and chains do not serve athletic functions except for powerlifters who might have different sticking points in their lifts.
However in powerlifting I believe the hardest part of the lift in bench press for example is the lower 0-6 inches off the chest after which you just lock out your elbows.
Even in powerlifting I believe using bands is an ineffecient way to train because compensatory acceleration is what you want to learn in order to increase a bench press or squat. So in this regard BANDS HAVE A VERY USEFUL PURPOSE for begginers to intermediated athletes because it trains them to FOCUS on exploding the bar up otherwise, the bar is going downwards at any point of the movement. That being said I still believe that at the elite level bands have no place. Having to constantly focus on COMPENSATORY ACCELERATION is a tedious task for every set but I know the difference its made in my training; as well, unless I constantly remind myself at every set that difference is whether I am going to bench 355 lbs for 1 rep or for 3. When I lift during the MxS phase my goal after each rep is to fire that mfucker from the bottom of the lift to off my shoulders (squats for example) each rep whether I am training at 85% or 100%. This also produces a greater eccentic loading of the muscle on subsequent reps.
From Louie Simmons at WSBC,
One must train at 90% and above for maximum muscle recruitment, but this can only be done for a 6 week period before training efficiency decreases dramatically.
-Supervenomsuperman disagrees with this 6 week period but in accordance with training variety I do agree that DE days are beneficial for powerlifters because it teaches them to increase bar speed.
Think of bar speed! How fast can you throw a barbell upwards if there are chains or bands attached? Not very Fast! 
Were these studies done on bodybuilders? penguins? Giraffes? or all of the above? :rolleyes:
A classic example of this is the BEAR, who can accelerate to a top speed of 45 mph because of its massive RFD; however if the bear was to go on a diet it might hit 50 mph!
Disagree, sprinting before lifting in the same day hypothetically trains the body to move faster (on the concentric portion) and therefore lift heavier; for example, it will be easier for the body to do compensatory acceleration squat because this is what sprinting is, COMPENSATORY ACCELERATION. By lifting heavier you become a better sprinter.
Its all one big MULTIPLIER EFFECT like a ripple in a pond. They both constantly reinforce each other to become better at both events.
I also believe that there is a study showing that doing wts before sprinting leads to better results. This is debateable but I thought I would mention it nonetheless. The source is Sprints and Relays by Jess Jarver.
Joe Defrenco does use WSB methods!
no it really isnt. its the same thing, since speed is the sprinters priority, they sprint first, lift later, and i dont know about you but after a session of sprint i cant hit very high loads. In powerlifting both maximal strength and maximal force(Max Effort and Dynamic Effort) are of equal importance, thus them each having a seperate day to train them equally.
Lifting before sprints do work sometimes, but sometimes they completely trash your running – I’ve felt the sensations both ways. I still think lifting after sprints is the way to go, especially if you’re lifting heavy and especially if you have a bad hamstring history.