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Shrimp Squats for Mass?


Guest SuperBru
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Guest SuperBru

A shrimp squat is a lot harder than a single leg squat. I'm not sure if it works the glutes as much as a single leg squat but it definitely works the quads. Do any of you guys think it can build mass in the legs? 

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Samuli Jyrkinen

I don't think so. Surely it builds mass up to some point but the benefits mostly lie in increased mobility and coordination. 

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Philip Chubb

Maybe if you are small now. But don't expect to look like an Olympic lifter from just these. It would be like trying to look like a gymnast just from doing push-ups.

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The shrimp squats are a type of single leg squat. They work the quads way too much compared to the glutes. I find them to be a pretty useless exercise because of that unless you want to work mainly the quads.

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Guest SuperBru

Great posts guys. I never expected great things to come from the shrimp squat to be honest. There are some female gymnasts like Shawn Johnson who have thick legs but i'm assuming thats all genetics. I wonder why bodyweight exercises can't build up the legs like the upper body?

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Alexander Svensson

You should try single leg squats on the rings, that might be fun.

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Guest SuperBru

You should try single leg squats on the rings, that might be fun.

You know what I thought about this the other day. If rings are the single greatest tool for upper body strength then why not use it for lower body strength as well. :)   

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Alexander Svensson

You know what I thought about this the other day. If rings are the single greatest tool for upper body strength then why not use it for lower body strength as well. :)   

Exactly, I thought about doing squats on them for a long time, but never got around to try them  :P

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 1. We use our legs always (unless you cannot use your legs). It's one of the same reasons that increasing calves and working them isn't really that easy.

 

 2. Since we are no longer treeborn or walking on all fours, we don't really our upper body nearly as much as your lower body.

 

 3. I'm not sure if Shawn Johnson ever did any weight training when she was an Elite. She is genetically predisposed to being short, stocky and powerful though. Throw in 25 hours a week of lots of BB, tumbling, and vaulting and voila (besides UB).

 

 4. A shrimp squat may help build some mass. But this will all get down to how they are programmed. In volume or intensity (which is only really gonna happen weighted). Ido has some thick legs but he has also tumbled and done capoeira for years and he is known to BackSquat a bit as well.

 

 So if you do them twice a week, I'm sure legs will grow more than if you don't do them at all. This is where frequency comes to play. Any kind of SLS is going to do more for strength development than just squatting on both legs (unweighted).

 

 To note some martial artists may never do weighted squats but build thick legs by simply doing lots of lower body work. Imagine doing leg work 5-6 days a week for lots of repetitions and volume. Shaolin Kung Fu and Sumoh come to mind as they do a mix of BW bilateral and unilateral leg work.

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Guest SuperBru

Hahaha, do some middle split pulls on the rings.

I recall seing a video of Epke Zonderland performing these on the rings.

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Jon Douglas

Hahaha, do some middle split pulls on the rings.

I like these, but man do you get some weird looks doing them at the beach.

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Alexander Svensson

I like these, but man do you get some weird looks doing them at the beach.

You bring your rings to the beach? :P

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Jon Douglas

You bring your rings to the beach? :P

One of the best things about living in country WA. Best beaches in the world. Used to surf everyday before school.

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Joshua Naterman

Volume and food, my friends, volume and food.

 

You can build the same mass with bodyweight squat versions that you can build by squatting your bodyweight on the bar for a similar volume (sets and reps), but probably not much more than that. The reason is simple: Your body can't really get heavier to the same degree that the bar can :)

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Connor Davies

Your body can't really get heavier to the same degree that the bar can :)

The worlds fattest man might disagree with you....

 

What about explosive leg work.  I remember in BtGB after SLS were mastered, they moved on to jumping SLS.

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The worlds fattest man might disagree with you....

 

What about explosive leg work.  I remember in BtGB after SLS were mastered, they moved on to jumping SLS.

Explosive exercises like plyometrics are not good mass builders.

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Connor Davies

Explosive exercises like plyometrics are not good mass builders.

Concentric contractions, done explosively, will utilize more muscle fibers than if they were done at a slower pace.  The reverse is true for eccentrics, which are recommended to be done at a slower pace, to create more microscopic tears in the muscle fibers.  Stands to reason that jumping out of the bottom of a pistol, which will require a stronger contraction of the muscle, would generate more hypertrophy for the same volume than moving at a relaxed pace.

 

Plyometrics specifically (depth jumps and shock drops) are useless for pretty much anything expect priming the central nervous system, which they do remarkably well.

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Joshua Naterman

Concentric contractions, done explosively, will utilize more muscle fibers than if they were done at a slower pace.  The reverse is true for eccentrics, which are recommended to be done at a slower pace, to create more microscopic tears in the muscle fibers.  Stands to reason that jumping out of the bottom of a pistol, which will require a stronger contraction of the muscle, would generate more hypertrophy for the same volume than moving at a relaxed pace.

 

Plyometrics specifically (depth jumps and shock drops) are useless for pretty much anything expect priming the central nervous system, which they do remarkably well.

Not entirely true for the eccentrics, but not worth talking about here.

 

Explosive movements are very high force, but are very VERY short duration. If they weren't, they wouldn't be explosive :)

Because of this, you'd need 30 or 40 reps of an explosive movement (assuming it's 3-4 times faster) to get the same time under tension. You run the risk of damaging your tissues too much this way, particularly if you're using a countermovement, because of the high volume + much higher forces.

 

Explosive movements, for a variety of reasons that include the above partial explanation, are really used to teach your nervous system HOW to use the muscle that you already have.

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Connor Davies
Explosive movements are very high force, but are very VERY short duration. If they weren't, they wouldn't be explosive :)

Because of this, you'd need 30 or 40 reps of an explosive movement (assuming it's 3-4 times faster) to get the same time under tension.

Huh.  I.... never considered that. :facepalm:   You know that moment when you discover something that is not only very obvious, but that thousands of people have discovered before you?   I always just assumed that higher load = more strength = more mass.

 

If you don't mind, could you PM me about the eccentrics?  I love finding out I'm wrong, it means I get to learn new things. :lol:

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