Squats:

Squats are often called the "King of Exercises" because of the large amounts of muscle groups it activates.  Michael Jocson, P.T., M.S., O.C.S., C.S.C.S., owner of Jocson Strength & Conditioning, in Howard Beach, N.Y. commented that, "The squat is perhaps the most effective weight-training exercise for total-body development. The legs may be moving the body, but it takes a stable trunk and strong upper body to provide a foundation in which the legs can produce force. This is especially true when you start adding weights to your squats. Whether it be a back squat, front squat, split squat or overhead squat, many muscles of your whole body work in concert in order to lower and raise your center of gravity." Most people will choose leg press or leg extensions as they are no doubt easier to perform, but if you are not squatting, you may be missing out on some serious gains in strength and size.

Squats Increase Total Body Strength

Research does support that acute increases in anabolic hormones (GH & Testosterone) can enhance strength gains.  Protocols using moderate to heavy resistance, but multiple sets of 10–12 repetition maximum, and shorter rest periods (1–2 min of rest between sets and exercise) have been shown to produce higher concentrations of both anabolic hormones than during heavier resistance (1–5 RM), longer rest periods (±3 min), and fewer sets (1–3). Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the increases in anabolic hormone response is proportional to the size of the muscle being exercised (i.e. Squats will always result in greater acute anabolic hormone responses than leg extensions)^13,14.   Researchers from Denmark questioned whether the acute anabolic hormone response had any effect on increasing muscle strength.  They had young males perform a rather unusual training routine.

• One group trained only performing bicep curls.  They performed 4 sets of seated biceps curl at 60% of 1 RM were followed by 4 sets of standing biceps curl at 60% of 1-RM.  A total of 8–12 repetitions were performed in each set with a minute and a half rest between sets.
• The other group trained both arms and legs. They performed the exact same arm protocol but they included legs at the end of their routine.  Four sets of seated leg press at a 10 repetition maximum were followed at the end of the routine.

The subjects performed the routine for nine weeks and had isometric arm strength testing performed at the end of the study. Resting hormone levels remained unchanged for both groups at the end of nine weeks. Plasma testosterone as well as plasma cortisol increased significantly in the group training arms and legs but not in group who just trained arms. Plasma GH rose in all exercise tests, however plasma GH increased significantly more in the legs and arms group. The main finding of the study is that there is a larger relative increase in isometric strength when anabolic hormonal responses (GH and testosterone) are enhanced by training a larger muscle group additional to strength training of the arms¹⁵. This indicates a link between the magnitude of hormonal responses and strength improvement, occurring within hormonal levels that can be activated physiologically.

Be a Man: Ditch the Smith Machine

Free weights squats are generally preferred over machines by body builders and strength-trained athletes because they are thought to provide a more unstable exercise, requiring a greater recruitment of trunk musculature. Go into any college or hardcore gym and you will find loads of squat racks and very few Smith Machines.  Machines, however, are easier to use by beginners and require spotters less often than free weight exercise.  You may think you are getting a good leg workout on a smith machine but scientists will disagree with you.  Researchers from Canada hooked of sensors all over men's legs and had them perform free weight squats or smith machine squats.  They found a 43% higher muscle activation during the free weight squat compared to the Smith machine squat. Activation of the knee extensors and hamstrings were higher during free weight squat, whereas activation of the trunk stabilizers was similar across the 2 exercises. This indicates that the free weight squat may be superior to the Smith machine squat for training the major muscle groups of the legs and possibly would result in greater strength development and hypertrophy of these muscle groups with long-term training¹⁶.

Become Plastic Man for Better Squats!

I am referring to the use of plastic bands of course for better squat strength.  Another reason linear variable resistance, as provided by elastic resistance, is beneficial is due to what is known as the strength curve of muscles. The linear variable resistance provided by elastic tubing better mimics the strength curves of most muscles.  A strength curve refers to the way a muscle’s or muscle group’s strength changes over a range of motion. Because of their anatomy, most muscles increase in strength over the range of motion until a certain point. Again using the squats as an example, as squat from the seated position, the muscle gets stronger up until about the halfway point of the range of motion. Thus, the leg muscle's is weakest at the start of the exercise and strongest at the halfway point of the exercise. When doing a squat with a free weight, the individual is limited to how much resistance he can use by how strong the squats are at the beginning of the exercise (its weakest point). That means that during the squats, the muscle is not receiving adequate resistance when the muscle is in its strongest point in the range of motion. When performing a squats with elastic tubing, however, the resistance increases as the range of motion increases. This means the muscle is receiving greater resistance at its strongest point in the range of motion and therefore is receiving more adequate resistance to better stimulate strength adaptations. One study reported in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, that when athletes used elastic band training in addition to free-weight training they had significantly more leg power than when they only utilized free-weight training¹⁷. A recent study also reported in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research reported that bands kick ass for increasing strength!  Athletes were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 training groups: heavy resistance/slow movement, lighter resistance and fast movements, or fast movements with accommodated resistance which consisted of incorporating bands. Three weeks of accustomization (12 training sessions) were included prior to testing, during which time exercise technique was taught and basic fitness trained. The results of this study demonstrate a definitive advantage to training with faster movement speeds with the inclusion of bands for the development of lower-body power among collegiate athletes. These results support the notion that squats can be improved through the use of variable resistance training with elastic bands. It appears, based on the fact that those athletes training with bands increased both strength and power¹⁸.