The quads come along for the ride

[Sunflower]

Skiing season is nearing an end and for the 2nd year I've seen hypertrophy in my legs and hips in places that the deadlift and squat don't seem to work.

That's not a surprise but the amount of hypertrophy is surprising to me. I ski hard, as often as possible, and don't have the recovery power (56) to squat or deadlift during ski season but my legs and butt have become quite a bit larger in the last 45 days.

I understand the prioritization of those two lifts, but as we slide down the scale of muscle recruitment and useful range of motion, what lifts are the most useful for recruiting areas of the legs and hips that are relatively neglected by the squat and deadlift?

The vastus lateralis and gluteus medius are the two places where the hypertrophy and tone are the most noticeable.

I am in the "getting better at not dying" phase of training so sacrificing 6 or 8 weeks of emphasis on squat or deadlift next fall isn't going to ruin anyone's dreams of world domination. It might make me a little faster on the race course, especially early in the season.

And yes, I have read the 3 questions and its always a struggle to keep on the right side of the sleep issue but my skiing lives within those parameters as well. I'm getting stronger under the bar, for sure.

Clarke

[Mark Rippetoe]

If, somehow, you have correctly identified two minor components of the knee extension/hip external rotation complex as lacking in hypertrophy, your squat stance is incorrect. Refer to the book.