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4. “Forget about the more specific quarter squats and half squats. Many strength coaches falsely believe that quarter squats have more transfer to improving the vertical jump, because the load is greater and the range of motion resembles the motion to preload for jumping. Actually the opposite is true, A high vertical jump is highly correlated to a full range squat not to a quarter squat. Why? Because full range squats strengthen the VMO, while quarter squats and half squats do not do it. A strong VMO prevents the knees from buckling in during pre-loads and landings”.

Well Joe, though I grow tired of correcting and clarifying issues that seem to me to be so glaringly obvious- I’ll do it again here because Poliquin, or who ever said this, might very well mislead anyone who reads it.

I won’t waste anyone’s time by offering solely my opinion, however.

I’ll speak from the empirical results I’ve obtained from my own training (see my training log if anyone is curious as to whether I actually practice what I preach because I Olympic squat double bodyweight and parallel box squat 2.3x bodyweight at 110kg bodyweight), my coaching of D-1 American footballers, my previous coaching of high school American footballers and PE students, (all of which totals in the hundreds of athletes) and paraphrase the work of Bosco, Colli, Bonomi, Duvillard, and Viru.

I will then allow the readers to decide who to believe because I would be selfish, despite the amusement it brings me, to discredit and annihilate the work of others here on the Q&A.

1. why do coaches repeatedly assume that a reduced amplitude exercise automatically indicates that a greater load is being lifted? while the reduced amplitude facilitates greater mechanical advantage to lift greater loads are the athletes being held at gunpoint to lift greater loads?

2. the shorter the amplitude of movement the greater the facilitation of higher rates of movement

3. Higher movement rates equate to higher training intensity via higher power output

4. Higher movement rates recruit the high threshold motor units and corresponding white fiber- the same fiber that is recruited via explosive VJ efforts

4. The full squat, while a fantastic strengthener of the leg extensors is inherently a slower movement to execute (load being equal).

5. The slower the movement the greater the likelihood of lower threshold MU activation and corresponding red fiber

6. The mechanical likeness of the half or quarter squat transfers much more positively to the VJ

So, in term of dynamic correspondence the half or quarter squat far eclipses the full squat in terms of number of criteria satisfied relative to VJ performance; however, in any regard the programming and organization of training must be optimized in order to yield meaningful outcomes and it is the complex of and sequence of means utilized that deserves far more attention than any single means in abstract.

Perhaps most importantly, the role of the VMO must be clarified via meaningful research:

E. Taşkıran1, Z. Dinedurga1, A. Yağiz2, B. Uludağ3, C. Ertekin3 and V. Lök1
(1) Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Ege University School of Medicine, TR-35100 Bornova, İzmir, Turkey e-mail: Taskiran@med.ege.edu.tr Fax: +90-232-374 6597, TR
(2) Department of Physical Therapy, Ege University School of Medicine, Bornova, İzmir, Turkey, TR
(3) Department of Neurology, Ege University School of Medicine, Bornova, İzmir, Turkey, TR
Abstract In this study, the effect of dynamic stabilizers on the patellofemoral (PF) joint was investigated in normal volunteers (group I) and in patients with patellar pain (group II) or instability (group III) by using computed tomography (CT) analysis and integrated electromyography (iEMG) of the quadriceps muscle. Nine subjects (16 knees) from group I, 10 patients (12 knees) from group II and 8 patients (12 knees) from group III were included in the study. CT scans of the PF joint with quadriceps contracted (QC) and uncontracted (QU) and iEMG of vastus medialis obliquus (VMO), vastus lateralis (VL) and rectus femoris (RF) were obtained with the aid of a specially designed jig at 0°, 15°, 30° and 45° of knee flexion. The same muscle contraction pattern simulating closed kinetic chain exercise was used for both CT and iEMG. The difference between the congruence angles (CA) and tilt angles (PTA) in QC and QU positions and VMO:VL ratio from the iEMG were calculated separately for each flexion angle. CA was increased in all groups with quadriceps contraction at 0° and 15° of flexion. PTA was decreased in group I and increased in groups II and III with quadriceps contraction at the same flexion angles. This difference was statistically significant in group III at 0° and 15° of flexion. Quadriceps contraction did not affect the patellar position significantly even in the instability group at 45° of flexion. In all flexion angles the balanced VMO:VL activity ratio was observed only in group I. In the other goups, VL activity was higher than VMO activity except at 45° of flexion. These findings do not support the hypothesis of dominant centralizing effect of VMO on the patella in extension, but the effect of the VMO may be more clearly demonstrated by measuring PTA in both QC and QU positions.

Also review:
http://www.jbjs.org.uk/cgi/reprint/79-B/1/13.pdf

while the VMO is found to support against lateral patellar shift between 0 and 15 degrees knee flexion(http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0268003399000893) and 0 and 30 degrees of knee flexion (http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=20292159)/’patellar centralization’ as well as prevent against patellar subluxation, there are certainly far more less demanding means of training it other than Olympic style squats- SUCH AS EXERCISES PERFORMED OVER THE AMPLITUDES OF MOVEMENT THAT THE VMO HAS BEEN PROVEN TO BE MOST ACTIVE.

Weightlifting full squats demand a degree of mobility far beyond that which is required during the execution of most sport acts and certainly far beyond the working range of many athletes who might otherwise enjoy a full sporting career never having been cut short because they do not possess the requisite flexibility to squat like a weightlifter with limit loads.

The majority of non-weightlifters, in fact, would be foolish to risk the possible structural trauma that is presented as part of a cumulative result of squatting maximal loads through the entire amplitude concurrently with varied gradations of sport practice.

Anyone who states the contrary cannot possibly understand the training problems inherent to working with athletes year round whose practice of SPP yields a high structural demand to the legs and knees specifically.
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Pedestrian Explanation

Why squat deeper than half way down if it’s not necessary to support all aspects of heightening sport results, including VJ score?
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This will likely be the last of me responding to subject matter like this, no offense intended to you Joe, because the information is available to anyone and I just don’t enjoy this enough to warrant spending anymore volunteer efforts on it.

What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away,
The Thinker

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