Read Kirk’s opinion on Why back squats are not necessary…
… if your are already strong.
- It’s simply easier to teach than the back squats.
- The loading of a front squat, is very central.
- You can use less load, for more returns
Western methodology, suggests that using more load, recruits more muscle fibers, thus the back squats are superior because you can use load more. The Chinese, jump for the exact opposite. EVEN Russians. I know this, because I’ve Russian friends who say they don’t squat less than triples, and go up to even 10 repetitions (not regular). They choose to squat for more repetitions, because it uses less load but produces the loading, alike using more weight.
The rationale behind this
The reason there’s so many more reps, within the Chinese trainees is because coaches have found that PROPER muscular recruitment is NOT determined by load alone. Muscular recruitment is determined by many many other factors such as time under tempo, complexity of movement, rest time, repetitions, fatigue levels.
The heavier the weight is, the less likely you are to use tiny muscles which are weak, because your better developed prime movers are so strong. These fellows automatically work, disallowing weaker muscle fibers to work. You don’t think so? Well, that’s your problem. HARHAR!!!
What this causes, is an over development of prime movers, with nothing done to fix weaker muscles. Repetitions, however exhaust the prime movers and FORCE the supplementary muscles to come into play. What happens is, you get to wire more of the weaker muscle fibers instead of relying purely on the already strong muscles.
