I recently just started a program after a 2-week hiatus and for a change (and I guess to spice it up), I decided to play around a bit with the grip width for Bench Press, Barbell Shoulder Press, Lat Pulldowns and Barbell Curls, and stances for my Squats. What I do is that I make the grips for the BP etc and the squat stance get wider PER SET (as conservatively as possible) so it hits all angles. I was a bit hesitant because I was thinking, a narrower squat stance tends to hit the outer thighs more while a wider squat stance tends to his the inner thighs more—while if I pick something in between and sticking to that every set, I might be able to hit the whole quads better?
What do you think about this? Is this counterproductive? Should I keep this for my next programs or should I just stick to one grip width (perhaps the most middle one?)?
Your strategy is acceptable, especially for dynamic-effort speed training, as you would see in the conjugate training method
However, especially for heavier loads, it may be more appropriate to either:
rotate your stance/grip for your heavy moment every 1-3 weeks, as you would for maximum effort training in the conjugate model, or
keep one “primary” stance/grip pretty much year round, and rotate your “accessory” stance/grip every 2-6 weeks as you would in a more conventional strength & hypertrophy training plan
In terms of how stance affects muscle loading for squats and deadlifts
Quadriceps work will be determined by how deeply the knee bends, and how far forward your shin goes in the squat. A squat to 90 degrees with a vertical shin will therefore have minimum quad load
Assuming the knee bend and forward shin motion are the same, a wider stance recruits more adductor (inner thigh) and a narrower stance demands more glute
For bench press and overhead press, a wider grip will shift more load to deltoids and a narrow grip shifts more to the triceps. Pecs are best loaded somewhere near the middle
For rows and pulldowns, a wider grip targets more teres major and upper back, whilst a narrower grip recruits more lats and lower traps
Exactly what I was thinking. At the end of the day, do whatever works. But if you’re getting closer to max loads, it’s safer to keep your hands and feet where they were the previous set. Lighter weight and pump work, have at it.
IME for both hypertrophy and strength progress, I find this approach to not be all that productive. Our body morphology greatly dictates an optimal pathway for each of the main movement types, and I think deviating from it can lead to neuromuscular deficiencies overtime.
For hypertrophy, I have found much better results from using a variety of exercises, i.e. barbell, KB, landmine, DB variations of pressing.
For strength, I have found much better results by varying up the rep type, i.e. slow negatives, isometric pauses, 1 1/4 reps, shorted ROM through weak points (like Spoto press).