Real Men Do Sissy Squats
by Ellington Darden, Ph.D.

From the lowest rung of hell comes an exercise that builds
heavenly quads.
Quads cannot grow on squats alone. Not barbell squats, anyway.
While the basic back squat has a reputation as the World's
Best Exercise, it earns that rep by working your posterior-chain
muscles at least as much as your quadriceps. If your quads lag
behind your glutes and hamstrings (or if all-out sets of squats
give you the green-apple splatters in your Underoos), you have to
incorporate something else to close the gap.
Traditionally, the leg extension plays the role of
quad-catcher-upper. But it's probably the least-favorite
exercise of the entire orthopedic profession, and, as a practical
consideration, you can only do it if you belong to a gym that has a
leg-extension machine. Even then you may have to wrestle the
machine away from the grandmother doing sets of 100 with 10 pounds
while reading back issues of Ladies' Home
Journal.
So if you work out at home, or hate waiting in line for a
machine, or belong to the 1 percent of American lifters who
actually pay attention to their orthopedic surgeons, you need a
real exercise for your quads.
And brother, do I ever have one.


Star Trek XII: The Wrath of Quads



Straight Outa Corinth
Let's get the obvious out of the way first: The sissy squat
isn't for sissies. In fact, the name has nothing to do with
the sexual orientation of people who do it, and everything to