Do any of you guys use olympic shoes for squatting? How do you like them?
I feel like squats don’t do shit for my quads, it feels like mostly a glute/lower back exercise. I’m thinking getting these shoes may help shift some of the emphasis onto my quads.
[quote]punkguitarist wrote:
Do any of you guys use olympic shoes for squatting? How do you like them?
I feel like squats don’t do shit for my quads, it feels like mostly a glute/lower back exercise. I’m thinking getting these shoes may help shift some of the emphasis onto my quads. [/quote]
Unnecessary in my eyes. it you want more quad focus, turn the squats into Front squats. If you want to elevate your feet for even greater quad emphasis, just put some 35lb plates under your heels. Bam.
Olympic shoes are significantly safer than a plater under your foot. The arch support you get from olympic shoes is impossible to get while putting a plate under your feet.
Before you buy them you may want to try squatting with heels elevated with some light weight to see how your knees react. Elevated heels is not for everyone. Most people can be trained to squat that way but for many the technique needs to be adjusted.
There are more variables involved than heels elveated or not. For the record. Have you tried adjusting foot placement or doing front squats, as mentioned ?
Eh, he does have a good point. plates were never great for arch support- one of the big reasons they didnt take off as footwear =(
But yea, straight front squats would be a good starter point.
As a person whose glutes tend to take over on just about all variations of squats, my quads always sucked. When I started squatting with weightlifting shoes and to full compression, I finally started to get growth in my quads.
I didn’t take measurements, but when I put my legs completely together my VMOs used to be about 3 inches apart. Now they touch.
I have tried front squats a couple of times and they feel akward as hell. Maybe I just need to get used to them.
I squat with a stance slightly wider than shoulder width. This is the only stance I can squat with that doesn’t aggrivate a torn labrum I have in my right hip. Good idea about testing it out with the plates. I’ll give that a try and see how it feels before I buy the shoes.