On April 14, 2022, Worldwide Federation of Bodybuilding and Health (IFBB) Professional League bodybuilder Hunter Labrada confirmed off his energy and stamina within the squat rack. After attaching resistance bands to his rack and barbell, and elevating his heels on small platforms, Labrada squatted 495 kilos for 17 unbroken reps.
Try the elevate beneath — the place Labrada donned a lifting belt, lifting straps, and knee sleeves — through his Instagram profile.
[Related: Bodybuilder Derek Lunsford Shows Off Endurance By Squatting 315 Pounds For 100 Total Reps]
Attempting to find Extra
Like many IFBB Professional League bodybuilders, Labrada is in the course of his low season. No matter he does to practice and get better has appeared to work out fairly effectively for him all through his profession. Listed here are Labrada’s full competitors outcomes so far, per NPC Information On-line:
- 2016 Nationwide Physique Committee (NPC) Department Warren Basic (Heavyweight) — 1st place
- 2016 NPC San Antonio Extravaganza (Tremendous Heavyweight) — 1st place
- 2017 NPC Europa Dallas (Tremendous Heavyweight) — 1st place
- 2018 NPC Junior USA Championships (Tremendous Heavyweight) — 1st place
- 2018 NPC Nationwide Championships (Tremendous Heavyweight) — 1st place | Earned Professional Card
- 2020 IFBB Tampa Professional (Males’s Open division) — 1st place
- 2020 IFBB Mr. Olympia (Males’s Open division) — eighth place
- 2021 IFBB Chicago Professional (Males’s Open division) — 1st place
- 2021 IFBB Mr. Olympia (Males’s Open division) — 4th place
It’s not laborious to discover a potential motive why Labrada turned an expert bodybuilder. His father is the legendary Lee Labrada — the 1985 Mr. Universe and a member of the IFBB Professional Bodybuilding Corridor of Fame. His mom, Robin, additionally as soon as competed as a bodybuilder.
It seems Labrada determined to comply with in his guardian’s footsteps by changing into one in every of trendy bodybuilding’s extra notable lively athletes.
Advantages of Banded, Heel-Elevated Squats
A standard squat is already a top quality strategy to activate and develop lower-body muscle tissue. If an athlete provides bands into the combination — which, when pulling in opposition to the athlete’s energy, can add extra resistance to reps — they’re often aiming for a stiffer problem. The advantages are much more foundational when using bands throughout a high-repetition set like Labrada’s.
Analysis reveals that utilizing bands in high-repetition weight lifting results in vital enhancements in isokinetic energy — the place the velocity of a motion is constant whereas the resistance stays fixed. Athletes who actively work on their isokinetic energy might rehabilitate a preexisting damage by exerting management over the resistance of their elevate. (1)
Right this moment I used to be nonetheless somewhat gunshy, not going to lie, however there wasn’t any ache like final session, just a bit consciousness within the beforehand injured space.
In Labrada’s case, he wrote in his Instagram caption that he strained his quad frivolously the final time he tried squatting. Using banded squats might have been a way for him to ease again in.
The identical damage prevention rationale can apply to heel-elevated squats, too. One examine confirmed that athletes who sometimes squatted elevated heels noticed higher hip mobility and ankle flexibility over a constant coaching interval. (2)
By utilizing bands and elevating his heels, Labrada’s squat may need been about caring for his quads and making an attempt to enhance features of his decrease physique stability.
Street to 2022 Mr. Olympia
After a fourth-place end within the 2021 Mr. Olympia, Labrada will once more seemingly be one in every of this 12 months’s high contenders for the title. The Open division, specifically, ought to characteristic a stacked area with names like defending champion Mamdouh “Large Ramy” Elssbiay and runner-up Brandon Curry. Offered Labrada stays diligent together with his coaching, he might discover himself supplanting his rivals this time round.
The 2022 Mr. Olympia will happen on December 15-18, 2022, in Las Vegas, NV.
References:
- Jee, YS. (2015). Usefulness of measuring isokinetic torque and stability capability for train rehabilitation. Journal of Train Rehabilitation. 2015 Apr; 11(2): 65–66.
- Sriwarno, A.B., Shimomura, Y., Iwanaga, Okay., Katsuura, T. (2008). The Results of Heel Elevation on Postural Adjustment and Exercise of Decrease-Extremity Muscle groups throughout Deep Squatting-to-Standing Motion in Regular Topics. Journal of Bodily Remedy Science. 2008 Feb; 20(1): 31-38.
Featured picture: @hunterlabrada on Instagram
