Ryan, here is what I've said in the OP re this point:
Ryan, I re read what I wrote and nowhere did I find myself saying that the quads will do the work, hence I re posted what I wrote re this particular point above. What I did say is this: I want to shift the balance of strength from the gluteus and onto the quads. Now that does not mean the quads will be doing the work, but it does mean that the quads would be left in a fresher/stronger state than the pre-exhausted gluteus which would mean the weak link now is not the quads but the gluteus. So what does that achieve? What that achieves is that since the weakest link always gives out first, we would have made sure that the reason that squat set is terminated would be due to the failure of the gluteus and not the quads.
The above is not different form seeing someone with big triceps and front delts with not much chest development despite all the bench pressing movement he does. Search for that weakest link and do what you have to in order to keep it fresher/stronger than the muscles you’re aiming to hit. Here the weakest link that would be preventing a top and productive chest pressing workout would be the triceps. So we would want to keep the triceps momentarily stronger/fresher than our chest muscles. We do that by pre-exhausting the stronger muscle, here it would be our chest (there it would be our gluteus), and shifting the balance of strength onto the weaker link, i.e. the triceps (or the quads) as the case may be. Just for the record, we pre-exhaust our chest by performing flys instead of any pressing type of a movement. Triceps come in when pressing. Pressing has been eliminated by performing the flys instead; therefore the triceps would remain fresher than the now temporarily weaker/ pre-exhausted chest. Outcome? Failure on bench press would come due to chest and not triceps which would mean more stimulation for the chest muscle which = bigger chest muscles and a more balanced physique.
What we need to understand here is really simple and that is the weakest link is going to give out first. During the squats, the legs and not the gluteus would go first. But I want the gluteus to go first; hence the pre-exhaustion that is coupled with the GVT to make sure the job of “frying” is done properly.
You said:That is not the way I see it Sir. Having the gluteus pre-fatigued would mean a lifter would be in no need to push the same weights he would have originally pushed to achieve some gluteus muscle stimulation.
Don't take my word for what I'm saying here, please try it for yourself and see what effect it has on you. Only then would you be 100% certain whether the pre-exhaustion principle is for you or not.
I thank you for your observation Ryan.
Fadi.
