3 Essential Exercises for Your Leg Workout
How can variations of these exercises allow you to emphasize certain muscles?
When I initially started going to the gym, I definitely prioritized my lower body workouts over my upper body ones. As time went on, I gained a lot of enjoyment in doing upper body workouts as well, but my love for working legs has never gone away. The barbell squat, deadlifts, and barbell hip thrust are the major leg movements that I perform on my leg days. I believe these exercises are the ones that have given me the most results, and by rotating in/out different variations of these exercises, I’ll never get bored of them.
I’ll be giving an overview of the specific muscles that each of these exercises target, and how variations of these exercises can allow you to emphasize the activation of specific muscles.
Deadlift
The deadlift is my personal favourite exercise to do at the gym and is one that I have been able to progress quicker than other compound lifts. It’s an exercise that targets muscles of both the upper and lower body, hitting muscles such as the erector spinae (deep back muscles), quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes.
How do sumo and conventional deadlifts compare?
A study recruiting 13 college football players compared muscle activation of the sumo versus conventional deadlift. The primary difference between these two deadlifts is feet placement, with the feet being placed further apart and being externally rotated with the sumo style compared to the conventional form. Based on this study the sumo form induced greater muscle activity in the vastus lateralis and medialis (both are quadriceps muscles).
How do different deadlift variations compare?
A systematic review compared different deadlift variations such as the conventional, Romanian, hex-bar, and stiff leg deadlifts. The results showed that the stiff leg deadlift seemed to have the greatest activation of the erector spinae (deep back) muscles. As well, generally, the erector spinae is activated more than the gluteus maximus and biceps femoris (a hamstring muscle) when performing different deadlift variations. One exception was shown, as a study did indicate that the Romanian deadlift activated the semitendinosus and biceps femoris (both are hamstring muscles) more than the erector spinae. It appears that the gluteus maximus was activated more than the biceps femoris in all deadlift forms except the conventional deadlift (where this is more controversial).
Overall, it seems that the sumo deadlift recruits the quadriceps more than the conventional form. All forms of deadlifts activate the erector spinae muscles heavily, and the gluteus maximus seems to be recruited more than the hamstrings muscles during most deadlift variations. However, it is important to note that this study is comparing different deadlifts with each other and that regardless of the variation you’re performing, it will strongly activate your back, hamstrings, and glutes.
Barbell Squat
The barbell squat is an exercise that has consistently been used to target the quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus maximus, gastrocnemius (a calf muscle), and also the abdomen and spinal erector muscles to a lesser degree. Its purpose is to train the muscles surrounding your knee and hip joints and to develop your lower back strength.
How does squat depth influence muscle activation?
Some previous studies have shown that increasing squat depth, should increase the activation of the gluteus maximus. However, a study with 13 healthy women performing the parallel back squat, full back squat, and front squat showed no differences in activation of the gluteus maximus, biceps femoris, or vastus lateralis. This indicates that all of these squat forms can activate these muscles to a similar degree. However, it is recommended to perform a full squat (as long as you can do so safely) since many other studies indicate that it has favourable training adaptations towards muscle activation.
How do the front squat and back squat compare?
The main difference between these variations is the placement of the barbell. The back squat (high bar) involves placing the barbell across your posterior deltoids (shoulders) on your trapezius, while the front squat involves placing the barbell across your anterior deltoids and clavicle while fully flexing your elbows (positions the upper arm to be parallel to the floor). This difference in bar placement results in greater loads being lifted with the back squat.
A study recruiting 15 healthy trained individuals showed despite using less weight with the front squat, it was shown to be equally effective in muscle recruitment, while putting less stress on the knee. This means that front squatting is a great alternative for those with knee problems and for long-term joint health.
Hip Thrust
The barbell hip thrust is an exercise that has gained popularity at the gym over the past several years. In terms of muscle activation, it goes as follows from greatest to least: gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, biceps femoris, semitendinosus, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, and rectus femoris. Evidently, the hip thrust primarily targets the glutes and hamstrings, with comparably lower activation of the quadriceps.
By making adjustments to the positioning of your feet when performing the barbell hip thrust, you can emphasize the activation of specific muscles. In a study where 7 personal trainers performed several variations of the barbell hip thrust (original hip thrust, placing the feet further away from the bench, externally rotating feet), differences in muscle activity were seen. With placing the feet further away from the bench, it increased the activity of the biceps femoris and semitendinosus (greater hamstring activation) but decreased the activity of the vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, and rectus femoris (lower quadriceps activity) compared to the original hip thrust. With externally rotating the feet, it increased gluteus maximus activity compared to the original hip thrust.
As great as it is to know all this information, how can you use these exercises to maximize your muscle/strength goals?
Increasing glute activation:
In comparison to the back squat and deadlift, the hip thrust induces greater gluteus maximus activation. By externally rotating your feet while doing the hip thrust, you can enhance its activation even further. With the back squat, increasing the distance between your feet (with a wider stance or externally rotating your feet) can increase the activation of your gluteus maximus. As well, despite not activating the gluteus maximus to the degree of the hip thrust, deadlifts still target the glutes to a great extent. Overall, the back squat, deadlift, and hip thrust are all great exercises for the glutes.
Increasing hamstring activation:
The conventional deadlift has been shown to recruit the biceps femoris (a hamstring muscle) more than the hip thrust and back squat. This is due to the deadlift movement allowing for a greater stretch of the hamstring muscles (more muscle activation). The greater hip extension seen in the hip thrust allows it to activate the biceps femoris more than the back squat, but less than the deadlift. Evidently, the deadlift and hip thrust are both strong hamstring activators.
On the contrary, several studies have shown that the back squat doesn’t strongly activate the hamstrings, due to the nature of the movement. As the back squat involves both hip extension and knee extension, it limits the degree at which the hamstrings can stretch, reducing its activation. Therefore, it would be beneficial if a hamstring isolation movement were to be incorporated into a workout routine that involves the back squat as the main compound lift.
Increasing quadriceps activation:
It is well known that the back squat targets the quadriceps heavily. Employing either a front or back squat are both equally effective in hitting your quad muscles. When performing deadlifts, doing sumo style has been shown to increase the recruitment of your quadriceps compared to the conventional form. On the contrary, the barbell hip thrust predominantly activates the hip extensors (hamstrings and glutes), while activating the quadriceps to a much lesser degree.
Take-Away Points:
The barbell squat, deadlift and barbell hip thrust are all essential exercises to maximize your lower body muscle and strength gains. There are many variations of these exercises that you can experiment with depending on your personal goals. I also like to incorporate at least one unilateral leg movement such as lunges or Bulgarian split squats, since it allows me to isolate each leg to prevent muscular imbalances.
