“Targeting” the Inner/Outer Quads? Possible or MYTH?
Is targeting the Inner/Outer Quad possible? Can different heads of the quadriceps muscle be specifically targeted using variations in an exercise such as in stance width or toe pointing angle or whatever?
Can it be done? Or is it a Myth?
IT’S ABSOLUTELY A COMPLETE MYTH!
And anyone who tells you otherwise simply does not have a clue of basic muscular anatomy and kinesiology!
Now I can bet that you’ve been sold this myth by someone out there. Be it some bro in your gym or your favourite bodybuilder or even your favourite YouTuber which is frankly very upsetting because people look up to these folks for advice and the very least they could do is some basic research before they go out and spew garbage. But alas!
Anyway, with this article, I’m going to take this claim and I’m going to systematically break down and destroy it using ANATOMICAL FACTS.
So let’s examine the claims first. When most people talk about targeting the Inner or Outer quads, they claim to achieve it using two variations:
Change in stance width:
Narrower stance –> Outer Quads;
Wider stance –> Inner QuadsChange in direction of where the toes point:
Toes straight/in –> Outer quads;
Toes out –> Inner Quads.
To understand why both these claims are bogus, you need to first understand the anatomy of the Quadriceps muscle. Now I have already covered this in my Muscle Masterclass on Quads and I hope that if you who have already watched that video, you can figure this answer out yourself.
The Quadriceps muscle has 4 heads as the name suggests – Vastus Lateralis, Vastus Medialis, Vastus Intermedius and Rectus Femoris.
Keeping aside the other heads, what we want to focus on here are the Vastus Lateralis and the Vastus Medialis which are the Outer and Inner heads of the quadriceps muscles respectively.
Now both of these muscles originate at either sides of the top of the FEMUR bone which is the bone of your upper leg. And they both come together and insert into one common point i.e the patella via the Quadriceps tendon along with the other two muscles.
Now lets evaluate those two claims and what actually happens in it…
The first is changing your stance width:
When you make your stance narrow or wide, at WHAT JOINT do you have to move to achieve this? It’s the HIP joint!
To widen my stance, I do what’s called as Hip ABduction which is taking my legs away from the midline of the body.
Conversely to narrow my stance, I do what’s called as Hip ADduction which is bringing my legs closer to the midline of the body.
Now think about this…
Given the fact changing your stance between narrow and wide comes from movement at the HIP joint… HOW ON EARTH DOES VARYING YOUR STANCE AFFECT THE TWO HEADS OF THE QUADS – The VL and the VM? Especially when neither of these muscles even connects to the hip joint!!
Neither of these muscles have ANY connection to the hip. They originate at the femur bone and they end at the knee. So how on earth will adduction or abduction of the hip joint create any kind of influence in these heads? The answer is, IT WONT!
Nothing changes for those muscles when you widen or shorten your stance. Whether you keep your legs out or in, these muscles remain as they are as they’re not involved in that in and out movement.
Heck, even if you consider that one muscle of the quadriceps that DOES connect to the hip joint i.e the Rectus Femoris; that muscle is connected to the hip from the FRONT and is involved in hip FLEXION. Abduction/Adduction does not affect that either!
Don’t you see now how senseless this claim is?
Then there’s the second claim of pointing your toes straight, in or out. How do you achieve this toe in and out position?
Again, its by moving at the HIP joint!
To get my toes in, I have to perform what’s called as Hip Internal Rotation.
And to get the toes out, I have to do Hip External Rotation.
So once again, the movement is at the HIP joint. So how on earth would this affect the VL and VM muscles?
The answer is clear: IT WON’T.
I hope it has now become as obvious to you as it is to me or anyone who understands muscular anatomy.
Now you may say.. “But Suneet, when I do squats with a wide stance, I really feel it in my Inner thighs and when I narrow the stance, I feel it only on the outside. Doesn’t that mean something’s happening?”
Well, there IS something happening but its not what you think.
The reason why you feel it in your inner thighs in a wide stance is because a wide stance, as mentioned before, puts you in a position of hip ABduction. And as you squat in this wide stance position, your hip gets abducted even more as you sit deeper which ultimately causes a DEEP STRETCH in your ADDUCTOR muscles i.e the muscles of your inner thigh.
And when a muscle gets overly stretched like that, you’re obviously going to feel a lot of pain there. And the thing is, a wide stance squat DOES work the adductors more as there’s more range of motion. But that’s your ADDUCTORS. That’s NOT your medial head of the quadriceps.
Conversely, when you keep the stance narrow, you almost negate the range of motion of abduction as you sit down into the squat therefore nearly eliminating the stretch that the adductors feel and therefore you feel relatively inactive there on the inside of your legs compared to a regular or wide stance squat. And that’s why you feel it only on the middle or outer part of your thigh.
IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH QUADRICEPS ACTIVATION. PERIOD.
Same thing with the toes in and out.
Toes in -> knees caved in-> hip adduction -> no adductor stretch
Toes out -> knees flared out -> hip abduction -> more adductor stretch
Make sense now?
So I really hope this article has finally destroyed this myth once and for all for you because frankly, its high time.
A closing thought that I’d like to leave you with is this…
If you’re following someone for advice, be it your local gym trainer or someone on YouTube and you’ve heard them say this bullshit to “target” the inner/Outer quads then please do yourself a favour and NEVER listen to them again.
Because frankly this is literally the BASICS of muscle anatomy and anyone who claims this bullshit clearly doesn’t even have that basic of an understanding of it. So how can you really trust them for any of the advice they give?
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Once again, I hope this article has done its job in opening your eyes. Now please go ahead and share this so together we can finally lay this myth to rest once and for all.
Comment down below and let me know what you think of this article and whether you’ve ever been told about ways you can target your quadriceps head.
Until next time,
Keep Learning, Keep Growing!
Suneet.