Weak Links Question

[Rafael David]

I saw in Ido's facebook a post that he mention the principal weak links in the athletic world, so are these: "Ext Rotators, VMO, Trap-3, Scap retractors, Grip strength, Hams, Brachialis, Glutes, Lower Back."

Can anyone help me with the exercises of each one?

1. Ext Rotators Cuban Press

2. VMO Leg Extension (?)

3. Trap-3 ?

4. Scap retractors Ido's Scapula Mobilization Routine (?)

5. Grip strenght Fat Grip (?)

6. Hams ?

7. Brachialis Reverse/Hammer/Zottman curls (?)

8. Glutes ?

9. Lower Back Jefferson curl / Rounded Back Deadlift (?)

[Joshua Naterman]

There are so many examples... VMO primarily performs leg extension for the last 30-45 degrees. Basically the top 1/4 of a squat. That's the ROM for VMO. Heavy 1/4 squats are not practical at home unless you are in a power rack and have tons of weights, which is really unusual if you aren't me. Read the edit below for more practical suggestions! If you use 1/4 squats I suggest that you do them at the gym in a smith machine, once again this is one of the few things that a smith is good for. Many of you are simply not strong enough in the back yet to really use the weight you need. Having said that, you can alsu just build up. I do NOT suggest doing this more than twice a week, and once a week is really ideal if you are working to failure. Use less intense work the rest of the week unless you slowly build up, but keep in mind this can be hard on the joints if you have bad movement.

EDIT: You will also get excellent results with using the bottom 1/4 of the squat if this position does not bother you or cause pain. You may need to perform soleus stretches (bent leg calf stretch) to keep your feet from turning out. If this position bothers you, you can also try sissy squats with a hand assist. Use the assist for balance, not to do the work, and you should be fine. Foot position (pointing out, neutral, or in) can affect muscle activation so play with that and get what you need.

trap-3 is lower traps and does depression + some retraction, and there are dozens of ways to do this. Proper pull ups do a good job as do proper cable rows and proper lateral raises in the plane of the scapula.

Ext rotators are more than just cuban press, but that's a start.

Grip = fat grips, rope climbs, deadlifts, etc.

Hamstrings = deadlifts, straight leg deadlifts, NLC, GHR, etc.

scap retraction should be self-explanatory. This can be tough to actually use your traps with sometimes, so make sure you feel it in your traps.

Brachialis: ROPE CLIMBING! What you listed is ok, but the ropes are where the real work is done. OAC and OAPull up as well.

GLutes = deadlifts, straight leg deads, squats, etc.

Lower back = deadlifts, squats, arch ups, back extensions, etc.

As you can see, deadlifts + squats (front or back) + rope climbs actually cover the VAST majority of this.

[Nick Van Bockxmeer]

VMO is leg extension for the last 30-45 degrees. Basically the top 1/4 of a squat. That's the ROM for VMO.

As someone who has had a tonne of experience here, i will respectfully disagree and say that leg extensions are not the solution.

Yes the VMO is supposed to activate in the end ROM of extension, but in my experience performing leg extensions with inactive VMOs only further enhances your reliance on lateral quads. Poliquin has done some good posts on this recently and suggests the opposite: perform squats only in the bottom 1/4.

Here is what I have found to be quite effectively:

full ROM squats on an inclined surface (30 degrees) with a fairly narrow stance. Start with bodyweight and do many reps. Dont worry about rounding the lowerback a little bit at the bottom, but do focus on firing the glutes simultaneously.

Pretty much the only thing that can give me a burn in the VMOs.

Shoulders is all about scapula position has been covered many times.

[John Sapinoso]

CP's 3/4 squats are awesome, saw that article and adapted a SLS variation, absolutely love them.

[Alessandro Mainente]

some exercises are better than other the problem is if you consider yourself a beginner / intermediatiate or advanced...

this beacause the best thing to achieve strength is generally the multiarthicular exercises...but on the other side for some exercises you need more stabilization and coordination..

from my opinion the leg extension is not a multhiarticolar exercise, simply to dofferentiate them look at the trajecory of the weigth...in the leg ext is an arch..in the squat is straigth line..in the gym where i usually teach now i tell to the beginner that the leg extension is not optimal because let the patella to shift forward, i prefer teach them a depth squat in a 100% perfect execution for a great number of reps and without weigth, when the tecnique is perfect they can increase the overweigth, for who has a medium experience in a gym i teach the SLS and if there is a great foundation os strength i find that is possible teach it in one hour to a person who never did it!!

for the scapula you can also do every exercise for the serratus wich is very involved in it stabilization as the swedish bar support of IDO and the serratus push up

for the extrarotator you have to consider wich hare the biggest muscles extra rotator and the smallest..

the small are sopraspinatus, subspinatus and the "piccolo rotondo" (i don't know the ensglish transation of it), for these you can work the L open, or the openingg with body at 90°....

for the biggermuscles you can work for trapezius and posterior delts...simply think that every type of pulling muvements where you have a wide grip and where you pull to the sternum you work more these muscle, a great exercise are also the pull to the chin for the shoulder

for the brachialis as you said the xootman curl is fantastic..also i prefer the front lever pulls but it requires a great core strength

for the ham/gluteus i prefer teach the standard deadlift with the same process as the squat for the tecqnique and after a great experience the romanian dead lift, it works very well

for the lower back you can use the hyper extension max at 90°, also reverse leg lift and deadlift...

notice that the deadlift and generally pull movements where you use your body or a bar increase the grip performance

i hope it can help you

[Nic Scheelings]

In my opinion ATG high bar squats the best for VMO. Check out the VMO on Lu Xiaojun (2nd Lifter) it is absolutely insane.And he is not alone in the weightlifting community for having huge VMO development.

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I remember John broz recommended light Squats to full depth then coming up to just below parallell and then returning to a full squat position for building up the VMO. When in doubt Palpate the area and make sure your getting it to fire.

[Joshua Naterman]

Alex87: You were trying to think of teres minor. The little ball, yes?

Nickvb and Donar: Personally, I agree when it comes to re-activation. If you already have very active VMO you have many more options. I was just stating that the main action of the VMO is to extend the leg for the last 30-45 degrees or so, but it performs dynamic stabilization throughout the entire ROM and I have found that sissy squats hit the VMO like nothing else as well!

I also found that bodyweight leg extensions (with feet locked in like you're doing sit ups but lifting the whole body with the quads instead) also hit it extremely hard. I have not done much work with just the bottom 1/4 of the squats, but I don't doubt that it works really well! I guess that since I always go below parallel I am always hitting VMO pretty well and thus never have problems. If you have had consistent success with this, and it seems that you have, then let's add this exercise on as one of the primaries.

You should know that when I say quarter squats I mean high reps and very, very heavy weight. Even now I would use 450-ish lbs for this Back in the day it was more like 600+, because that's all that would fit on the bar without scaring the crap out of me... I didn't want the bar to shatter and I was moving rather quickly. They were more like explosive or phasic 1/4 squats than tonic. For me this worked remarkably well, but may not be good for everyone and certainly won't be practical for anyone at home!

I am going to play with this variation and I am 100% sure that I will feel exactly what you say. Thanks!

[Quick Start Test Smith]

Demus, the squats that you mentioned by John Broz are frequently called "1.5" reps on T-nation. Very hard, too!

[Joshua Naterman]

I edited my earlier post to include the bottom 1/4 squats. I did some with BW and they are neat. Personally I need more weight, but I felt what nick said I would feel.

I also noticed that my soleus is a bit tight and is causing my foot to point out at the very bottom of the squat so I included that warning information as well. You don't want any torque in the knee under load so make sure to stretch your soleus and keep the squat motion clean. Improper motion at the knees is how you end up with osteoarthritis. It usually comes from the ankle or the hip, in this particular case (soleus) the ankle.

[Rafael David]

Thanks a lot to all you guys!

But just one thing, what's the best to do with these exercises? Do each one before the true workout (WOD), do in a separated day, what? :|

[Alessandro Mainente]

ahahah yes slizz, is the teres minor...usualòy is preferrred use the latin root to mean the muscles...i hate latin!!!

[Joshua Naterman]

Good thing I know the meaning of the words you used hahaha!

[Joshua Naterman]

Thanks a lot to all you guys!

But just one thing, what's the best to do with these exercises? Do each one before the true workout (WOD), do in a separated day, what? :|

Squats and deads belong on leg days if you split things like that or follow WODs specifically. I suggest that you do those after the WOD!

I'd do one set of a few trap and external shoulder rotation exercises, including Ido's scapular mobilizations, before the WOD as part of prehab but do several sets as a workout afterwards. Especially on upper body days.

Between those two suggestions that pretty much covers everything I believe. The one thing missing is medial glutes, and a google search will turn up plenty of exercises for this. Single leg deadlifts are one, if done correctly. Volume for these would be on leg days but I'd do a single set of glute medius work most or all workouts in your warm up.

[Uzeeh]

For glutes, I'd do more hip thrust -like movements. Single leg glute bridges with weights, back extensions with bent legs, things like that. There's a good article about it on T-nation, called the glute myth or something like that.