What the Squat, Bench Press and Deadlift Actually Train

Overview

Moving more weight in a lift is not the same as working a given muscle harder. Technique choices move the load between muscles. This lecture pulls together kinetic and electromyography (EMG) research on the three competition lifts, to show which muscles each lift and variation leans on.

Squat: stance width and bar position

Trained lifters squatted a 3RM in four versions: high-bar narrow stance, high-bar wide stance, low-bar narrow stance and low-bar wide stance.^[1]

• High-bar, narrow stance: deepest knee bend, the largest knee-extensor share of the total joint moment, and the highest vastus lateralis activity (with less glute activity).
• Low-bar, wide stance: the largest hip contribution.
• Sticking region: in every version, the hard point of the ascent was limited mainly by hip demand.

The authors concluded that a high-bar narrow stance suits training the knee extensors (quads), and a low-bar wide stance suits training the hip extensors. They also noted that shifting demand toward hip extension may let a lifter handle more weight, because the quads are already close to maximally activated at moderate loads.