Weekly Infographics #16: Front Squats vs Hip Thursts & Leg Curls Before Extensions?

A newsletter dedicated to summarizing interesting strength/hypertrophy related research.

1) Front Squats vs Hip Thrusts Carryover

This study by Contreras et al. found the front squat and hip thrust had a fairly decent strength carryover to one another.

2) Leg Curls Before Leg Extensions

This study by Maia et al. interestingly found that performing leg curls immediately before leg extensions increased the average number of repetitions to failure completed on the leg extension.

This finding potentially suggests antagonistic-agonist supersets (supersetting exercises that train opposite muscles, as is the case with performing leg curls before leg extensions) may increase overall work performance.

The question is whether this increased work performance can enhance adaptations (muscle and strength gains). Unfortunately, limited data exists in this area. Hopefully future research can examine this.

Nonetheless, at the very least, antagonistic-agonist supersets can be an effective way to save time without compromising exercise performance (as indicated, it may increase it).