How you train your muscles (and even the muscles you didn't know you had) is the key to success. A good indicator that my body was less reliant on my quads & my posterior chain more active in my running was that my shin splints went away after a year of having them. Straightforward and great for quad development. In sports, athletes often must switch between hip-dominant and quad-dominant movements. He is an avid CrossFitter and loves film, music and travel, thanks to having grown up across Europe. –Bulgarian Split Squats It could entail having a two-week training cycle that emphasizes the squat, followed by a two-week training cycle that emphasizes the deadlift. You can generate more than three times your bodyweight in landing impact each time you strike the ground, and all that tension and force trickles up through the ground into the muscles of your legs.

The more angled the torso is, the more hip dominant the exercise will be. How long did it take to notice a difference? The idea is to look at the bigger picture—your workout design over several months—and make sure there is a balance between quad-dominant and hip-dominant exercises.

Bread is often vilified when it comes to reducing fat, building muscle and overall health, but is bread really all that... What is Flow? If you enjoy running really fast, this is the place for you. Strengthening the quads For example, in a 100-meter sprint the start is more quad dominant, and as the athlete moves into the upright “sprint” posture, the action becomes more hip dominant. The closer your front foot is to the bench or box, the greater tension is placed on the quads.

We need them to move through a full range of motion during exercise. However, if we never stretch them they’ll become short and tight. The vastus muscles originate on the femur (the thigh bone) and attach to your kneecap. Keep your chest up and back flat—you may need to hold on to a PVC pipe for stability.

Quadricep anatomy 101 Editor’s note: Charles Poliquin is recognized as one of the world’s most suc-cessful strength coaches, having coached Olympic med-alists in 12 different sports, including the U.S. women’s track-and-field team for the 2000 Olympics. Kneel with one knee on the floor and the other foot in front of you to the side.

For more on his books, seminars and methods, visit www.CharlesPoliquin.com.

Hold in this position, ensuring the knee is fully flexed and that you extend your hips by thrusting them towards the floor. Bulgarian split squats are a great unilateral exercise that highlight muscular imbalances between your quads, but also help to correct them. All in all, sprinting gives you big quads—just look at any top 100m sprinter, speed skater or sprint cyclist and you’ll have no doubt that’s the case. Yeah those sore quads def means your sprinting form needs correction. In my experience, athletes are often quad dominant due to improperly performed exercises and poorly designed workout programs that create structural imbalances. While gripping a set of dumbbells or kettlebells by your side, place one foot on a box in front of you, drive through the foot (feeling your quads pop as they help to extend your knee) and bring your other leg to a standing position on the box.