What are the best exercises to grow your quads? top 3 quad exercises!
I’m going to teach you the 3 best exercises for bigger & stronger quads. We’ll cover how many times per week to do them with how many sets & reps you should do them for. (CLICK HERE IF YOU RATHER WATCH ON YOUTUBE WITH VIDEO TUTORIALS)
First, we’ll cover the 4 heads that make up the quads.
Your quads are made up of 4 heads: The Rectus Femoris, Vastus Intermedius, Vastus Lateralis, Vastus Medialis.
Now that you have a clear picture of the 4 heads let’s dive into it.
EXERCISE #1 - BB Back Squat (Heels elevated, knees over toes)
This is an amazing exercise for overall quad growth. Now, why do you have to have your knees over your toes & why elevated heels?
Because both of these will create more knee flexion which will put more stress onto the quads.
Heel Elevated BB Squat w/ knees over toes
walk up to the bar and rest it on your traps/rear-delts
Take 1-2 steps back
Feet about hip or shoulder-width apart
toes pointed outward slightly
squat down to or below parallel
come back up and bang you’re on your way to some massive & strong quads
Frequency: Once per week.
Sets & Reps: 3-5 sets of 3-8 reps.
Rest: 2-3 minutes between each set.
EXERCISE #2 - Quad focused Leg press (or HAck squat/pendulum-squat if you have it)
The leg press is an amazing machine to grow your quads. Just like in the squat we’re going to want to create an environment where we can have our knees travel over our toes for maximum knee flexion. The foot placement for this will be low & close.
Quad-Focused Leg Press
Sit down in the machine
place your feet low & close with your toes pointed outward slightly
Unrack the machine and start the decent
You want to stop before your butt & low back start coming off the pad
so go light your first set and see what the depth is for YOU
Push the weight back up, aim to keep the pressure on your heel to mid foot rather than your toes & you’re set
If you have access to a hack squat or pendulum squat machine, use that instead, I however do not have access to either of those machines but here is what they look like.
Frequency: 1-2 times per week.
Sets & Reps: 3 sets for 8-12 reps.
Rest: 1-2 minutes between each set.
EXERCISE #3 - Leg Extension variations
So just doing regular leg extensions is amazing to grow your quads but let’s go over the several variations you can include to help you destroy those chicken legs.
Regular Leg Extnz
Sit Down in the machine and adjust it so that the pad is not over your ankles but on the bottom of your shins
Extend your knees and squeeze at the top for a quarter to half a second before going back down
Single leg Extnz: To ensure one leg never gets too much stronger than the other.
Double leg Extnz with 3-second negatives: More time under tension as the negative portion of the rep is now 3 seconds long. Different types of stress you’re putting on your quads.
Single-Leg Extnz with 3-second negatives.
Add a pad to your shins for added ROM to any or all of these.
Also, you can turn your feet inward to bias your outer quad more & turn your feet outward to bias your inner quad more.
Frequency: 1-2 times per week.
Sets & Reps: 3 sets for 8 to 15+ reps.
Rest: 1-2 minutes between each set.
What’s Next Week? GLUTES 100% - go vote on insta to make sure another muscle group doesn’t win.
Thank you for reading or watching!
I hope this has helped you and if it has…
Please let me know via email! tedgormanpt@gmail.com
Also, if you have any questions about what we talked about today…
Email me, I’d love to answer your questions and give you some advice 🤝
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Talk soon,
-Ted :)
