The vastus medialis is the “teardrop” shaped quadriceps muscle situated on top of the knee. Generally, bodybuilders that lack development in the vastus medialis also lacked control during the ascent phase in the squat exercise. These bodybuilders tend to lean too far forward and their knees wobble and cave-in as they power clumsily out of the bottom position. Leaning too far forward shifts the overload to the lower back, glutes, and hamstrings and less stress is placed on the quads.
Positioning your toes outwards to stimulate the vastus medialis during squats, presses, or extensions is nonsense. There is no scientific or empirical evidence suggesting this method works. The knee is a hinge joint, it only bends one way. The muscles that cause movement of this joint are activated regardless of the position. To develop the vastus medialis, the quadriceps have to be fully activated in any leg exercise.
Keeping the torso as upright as possible during the squat is crucial to activating the fibers of the quadriceps. You can achieve this by positioning the bar high on your shoulder and neck muscles rather than across your shoulder blades. Also, believe it or not, ankle flexibility is the key to effective squatting.
Good ankle flexibility minimizes forward lean during the descent and maintains the athlete’s center of gravity through the powerful hip musculature and not the lower back. In this upright position a greater load is placed on the quadriceps and more quadriceps muscle fibers are recruited.
As a progression to correct squatting you can try a few sets each session with a slight heel raise. This can be done by placing a small block or plates under your heels. This will shift more emphasis onto your quads and reduce the load on your back. However, never let this method replace the standard flatfoot version of the squat. The idea is to work on your ankle flexibility and gradually reduce the magnitude of the heel elevation. Incorporate both variations into your workout.
In the leg press exercise, lower the position of your feet on platform. This simple strategy shifts the overload to the quads by increasing the range of motion of the knee joint and decreasing the range of motion about the hip joint and therefore, activating more quadriceps muscle fibers.
Quality leg development depends upon the correct execution of the compound exercises (the squat, lunges, dead lifts and presses). The techniques I have described will force you to initially use less weight than you are using now. While overload is the underlying principle of big muscles, correct biomechanics – the position of the limbs and torso during the movement – is also very important. The use of correct biomechanics optimizes the degree of overload placed on the working muscles.
Knowing how to apply the correct biomechanics to an exercise ensures the highest degree of stimulation from the overload used. This is a key aspect of exercise execution that many bodybuilders, even those at the elite level, fail to understand. Keep an eye out for a series of articles on this crucial aspect of training very soon.
