Okay then . . . if you haven't read those letters in the link above, there's a plan.
Q: I recently read in another magazine that the exercise known as the leg press was no good for developing the biceps of the thigh. How come? Isn't this wrong? All the authorities say it is a wonderful thigh biceps developer.
A: Not this authority. I presume you refer to Tony Terlazzo's article in which he wrote that the leg press did not develop the biceps-femoris.
Let us start at the beginning and examine the types of muscular movements or as they should be called "muscular work." A muscle is capable of working in three different ways, voluntary muscle that is.
1) Concentrically
2) Eccentrically, and
3) Statically
A muscle works concentrically when it brings its insertion closer to the origin.
A muscle works eccentrically when the distance between its origin and insertion increases.
It works statically when it is contracted without any noticeable shortening, just as in a muscle control.
To use a simple illustration of this, the two-hands curl. In performing the actual curl, the muscles are working concentrically. When the weight is lowered to the commencing position of the curl, and particularly when it is lowered against resistance, it is working eccentrically. When someone asks you to make a muscle, and you bend your arm and then force a contraction of the muscle, it is a static working.
Now to go a step further. What is the function of the biceps femoris. The function is one of bending of the thigh at the knee. That is the lower thigh is bent at the knee, backwards to the rear of the thigh. The movement in the leg press is one of extension not flexion. That is, the leg is straightened not bent. The only way the biceps femoris is, or can be worked, is to resist the weight when lowering to the commencing point of the leg press, and this muscle work is eccentric.
The leg press is an excellent quadriceps femoris developer. If you want to obtain a better development of the biceps femoris, then the leg curl with iron boots is your exercise.
Q: I think you wrote an article some time ago in another magazine where you recommend the Press Behind Neck as an excellent movement for developing the deltoids. Yet another author in a following issue decried the use of the press behind neck for developing the deltoids. How do you feel about this?
A: I feel pretty stiff in the whole of the deltoids at the moment, having gone through quite a session of this press behind neck last night.
The week's mail certainly seems to be full of controversial matter. This is good, for too many exercisers labor under false impressions, created by self-styled experts. The would-be strong man can read all the magazines in creation. He can believe in this or that exercise for developing certain muscles, and he can work himself to death but the fact remains that the only way in which he can prove to his satisfaction exactly which muscle an exercise affects, is to use that exercise a sufficient number of reps so that the muscle will show that exercise effect in stiffness or increased size and strength.
The press behind neck not only develops the deltoids but it also builds up the triceps, serratus magnus, and the trapezius. The deltoid movement comes in at the direct commencement of the exercise, when the bar is resting on the shoulders, and ceases when the upper arms form an angle of 90 degrees to the body. Actually, the deltoids are fully contracted from an angle of 85 degrees to 90 degrees. From that point onward, the other muscles take the weight to arms' length overhead. The serratus magnus is a very important muscle in this exercise. In fact, if you didn't have this muscle, I doubt you would be able to get any weight overhead.
Enjoy Your Lifting!
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