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Build Bigger Legs: Best Exercises
Workouts to Become a Quad God
By Ron Harris
Tell me this. When it’s time to put some shorts on either for the gym, beach, or pool party, how long are those bad boys? Do they go down below the knees, effectively obscuring your thighs from view? Or do you own shorts that are cut higher and put your quads proudly on display? Granted, some of you may be the modest type, but for the most part we bodybuilders have an exhibitionistic streak. We live by the motto “if you got it, flaunt it.” Nine times out of 10 when a bodybuilder constantly wears baggy pants or shorts it’s because he feels ashamed or insecure about his poor leg development. MD is here to help. There’s no need to go on living life with chicken legs if you’re willing to put in work on leg days. With 35 years of leg training under my belt, I’ve learned a lot about the most effective exercises and how to get the most out of them for quadriceps growth. Let’s run those down now.
Squats
No single leg movement could ever possibly challenge the barbell squat for its well-earned title, “The King of Lower Body Exercises,” even today when we have so many effective machines to choose from on leg day. That being said, body mechanics and technique will impact which areas of your lower body are targeted more or less. For the purposes of making the quads do a larger percentage of the work, the foot stance shouldn’t be too far beyond shoulder width and the forward torso lean should be minimal. A wider stance will bring the glutes and leg adductors further into play, and leaning forward from the waist involves more of the lower back. This is fantastic if your primary goal is merely to squat a heavier weight, but it will rob your quads of the required stimulation for optimal growth. As far as depth, it’s a controversial topic. I always squatted ass to grass, but many have claimed there is no need to descend below the point where your femur bones are parallel to the ground. Try both styles and go with what feels right for you. Not everyone has the mechanics and ankle flexibility to squat below parallel. For those with lower back issues, you may find a Smith machine is a friendlier alternative.
Front Squats
Front squats are a far more difficult variation for most people to perform, yet they also guarantee better quad stimulation. Because the bar is in front of you across your clavicles, you have no choice but to maintain an upright torso lest the bar rolls right off you. They take a while for most people to figure out proper form on, so be patient and don’t give up if they feel incredibly awkward at first. Also, you won’t be able to handle as much weight as in a standard back squat, but don’t let that discourage you either. It’s because you don’t have as much help from the glutes and lower back, and the quads are taking more of the load. This is a good thing for our purposes. For most guys who can squat 315 for 10 good reps, 225 for 10 is about right on the front squat. Another option to front squats is the safety bar squat, in which the bar features a yoke that goes around and across your shoulders, removing the need to keep the bar pinned tightly across your clavicles in front of you.
Hack Squats
I actually rank hack squats as a better movement for the quadriceps than the leg press, for many of the same reasons the front squat hits the quads better than the back squat. The body position of the hack squat machine in which you are upright yet tilted back at an angle makes it much easier for most people to feel their quads doing the work more so than their glutes. Hacks have gotten a bad rap over the years as being dangerous to the knees, but that’s only the case if you fail to adjust your foot stance and the machine itself to better fit your body mechanics. Most platforms can be adjusted for the angle relative to the ground. I recommend setting the feet closer than shoulder width and lower on the platform to focus more on the vastus lateralis/outer thigh for more “sweep,” but I am also fully aware that this foot position will cause knee pain and eventual tendinitis for certain people. If that’s you, try a more traditional shoulder-width stance smack-dab in the middle of the platform, or keep tweaking your feet until you find that sweet spot that lets you blast the quads but doesn’t kill your knees. The great Golden Eagle, Tom Platz, had a unique style of hack squats in which his feet were so low down on the platform that it looked like he was doing sissy squats. I’ve done them and they seriously torch the quads with almost zero glute activation. You certainly would not go as heavy in that style.
Leg Press
The leg press is by far the most commonly used piece of equipment around the world for the lower body. It’s both more comfortable and safer in some aspects than squats. You’re lying down with solid back support and there is no balancing of a bar required. It’s also a nice ego boost because anyone can pile on more plates on a leg press than they could ever dream of squatting with a bar. The most common form error we witness on the leg press is a shortened range of motion, nearly always the result of using more weight than one is capable of doing full reps with. It sure does look cool to put every plate the machine holds on it, but wouldn’t it be cooler to get bigger thighs from your efforts? Setting your feet lower and closer together on the platform, as with the hacks, will effectively target the quads better if your knees are OK with it. If not, center platform and shoulder width foot stance is fine too. Just avoid shifting your feet wider and higher up as this will work more glutes and hams than quads. As a side note, there are some who will go the other way and use an exaggerated range of motion where their tailbone curls up as they lower too far back. This can be lead to injury over time, so stop short if you feel that happening.
Pendulum Squats
The pendulum squat, also known as the swing squat, is a fairly new type of machine in the leg-training toolbox. It’s essentially a shoulder yoke and back support similar to a hack squat attached to a lever, in which you squat down on a platform set at roughly a 45-degree angle to the ground. Pendulum squats feel different from either hacks or leg presses, and many feel they are comparable to barbell squats. They certainly have a different feel from other types of squat machines.
Belt Squat
To my knowledge, the first commercially produced belt squat machine was made by John Parrillo from Cincinnati in the mid-‘90s, and it was an enormous contraption that usually required at least one if not two spotters to use correctly. That belt squat was a platform with a “trench” in the middle where the plates that hung from a belt around your waist would travel. Since then, there have been numerous evolutions of this piece to make them smoother and more user-friendly. The Pit Shark is probably the gold standard at present. The main benefit of belt squats is that there is absolutely no spinal compression since the weight isn’t across your back or shoulders but is distributed around your waist. For anyone with lower back pain or injuries, this and the leg press are often the only viable options for a compound movement on leg day.
Squat Machines
There are also a wide variety of squat machines available today, with a plethora of designs to choose from. Some look like perfectly vertical hack squats, while others are lower to the ground. All attempt to simulate the motion of squats, and it’s debatable if they succeed in this aspect. Still, I urge everyone to try all the leg machines in their gym. Some won’t feel right, while you are bound to find at least one that feels perfectly suited to your structure and body mechanics, allowing you to work your quads hard and heavy with only the right type of pain, the agony of momentary muscular failure.
Walking Lunges
Until Ronnie Coleman famously lunged across a dusty parking lot in Texas with 315 pounds on his back in blazing heat in his training DVD, most men considered lunges a “girlie” exercise. Since then, millions of bodybuilders have used them to build up their thighs. They are not easy, particularly if you challenge yourself with resistance and keep moving rather than pause after each step. If putting a bar on your back doesn’t work for you, you can alternatively hold a pair of dumbbells. Slightly shorter steps will ensure the quads don’t get eclipsed by the glutes in terms of muscle activation.
Leg Extensions
Finally, we come to the only “pure” quadriceps movement, the leg extension. This is the only exercise that isolates the quads, as any compound pressing movement inevitably involves the hams, glutes and even the calves to some extent. In my younger years I found I was exceptionally strong on leg extensions and would routinely pin extra plates on to the weight stack to add resistance. Looking back, I now realize this was a big mistake. Extensions are a single-joint movement, and our knees are not designed to move extremely heavy loads in that movement pattern. Over time the patellar tendon will become chronically inflamed, and can eventually snap, resulting in a full quadriceps tear. I usually advocate either using extensions as a warm-up to get blood flowing in the muscle and around the knees, or going a bit heavier later on in the workout when your strength should be somewhat diminished.
Quad-Building Workouts
The following routines are focused on quadriceps, and thus do not include work for the hamstrings or calves. I strongly suggest hitting those areas in a different workout as these routines are meant to produce rapid results in quadriceps growth and are quite demanding. All three routines should be preceded with a 10-minute cardio warm-up to increase core temperature and blood flow in the lower body. Do not skip this critical step in preparing your legs for battle!
Routine A
Leg Extensions
Sets: 3 x 25 (light)
Warm-ups: 2 x 20, 15
Sets: 4 x 12, 12, 10, 10
Leg Press
Sets: 4 x 20, 15, 15, 12
Leg Extensions: 3 x 12
Superset with
Walking Lunges: 3 x 15 steps, each leg
Routine B
Front Squats
Warm-ups: 3 x 20, 15, 12
Sets: 4 x 10-12
Belt Squats or Squat Machine
Warm-up: 1 x 20
Sets: 4 x 15
Leg Extensions
Sets: 4 x 10 + 10
(First 10 reps from stretch to halfway up, second 10 reps from halfway up to full contraction)
Leg Press
Sets: 3 x 20
(Use a very slow negative, then burst out of the bottom of the rep)
Routine C
Leg Press (warm-up): 2 x 20
Leg Extensions: 4 x 20, 15, 15, 12
Superset with
Leg Press: 4 x 15, 15, 12, 10
Warm-up: 1 x 20
Sets: 3 x 12, 2 x 15*
*Come to a complete stop at the bottom of each rep, then burst up.
Walking Lunges: 3 x 20 steps, each leg
(You probably won’t need extra weight here)
Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram
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Build Bigger Legs: Best Exercises
Workouts to Become a Quad God
By Ron Harris
Tell me this. When it’s time to put some shorts on either for the gym, beach, or pool party, how long are those bad boys? Do they go down below the knees, effectively obscuring your thighs from view? Or do you own shorts that are cut higher and put your quads proudly on display? Granted, some of you may be the modest type, but for the most part we bodybuilders have an exhibitionistic streak. We live by the motto “if you got it, flaunt it.” Nine times out of 10 when a bodybuilder constantly wears baggy pants or shorts it’s because he feels ashamed or insecure about his poor leg development. MD is here to help. There’s no need to go on living life with chicken legs if you’re willing to put in work on leg days. With 35 years of leg training under my belt, I’ve learned a lot about the most effective exercises and how to get the most out of them for quadriceps growth. Let’s run those down now.
Squats
No single leg movement could ever possibly challenge the barbell squat for its well-earned title, “The King of Lower Body Exercises,” even today when we have so many effective machines to choose from on leg day. That being said, body mechanics and technique will impact which areas of your lower body are targeted more or less. For the purposes of making the quads do a larger percentage of the work, the foot stance shouldn’t be too far beyond shoulder width and the forward torso lean should be minimal. A wider stance will bring the glutes and leg adductors further into play, and leaning forward from the waist involves more of the lower back. This is fantastic if your primary goal is merely to squat a heavier weight, but it will rob your quads of the required stimulation for optimal growth. As far as depth, it’s a controversial topic. I always squatted ass to grass, but many have claimed there is no need to descend below the point where your femur bones are parallel to the ground. Try both styles and go with what feels right for you. Not everyone has the mechanics and ankle flexibility to squat below parallel. For those with lower back issues, you may find a Smith machine is a friendlier alternative.
Front Squats
Front squats are a far more difficult variation for most people to perform, yet they also guarantee better quad stimulation. Because the bar is in front of you across your clavicles, you have no choice but to maintain an upright torso lest the bar rolls right off you. They take a while for most people to figure out proper form on, so be patient and don’t give up if they feel incredibly awkward at first. Also, you won’t be able to handle as much weight as in a standard back squat, but don’t let that discourage you either. It’s because you don’t have as much help from the glutes and lower back, and the quads are taking more of the load. This is a good thing for our purposes. For most guys who can squat 315 for 10 good reps, 225 for 10 is about right on the front squat. Another option to front squats is the safety bar squat, in which the bar features a yoke that goes around and across your shoulders, removing the need to keep the bar pinned tightly across your clavicles in front of you.
Hack Squats
I actually rank hack squats as a better movement for the quadriceps than the leg press, for many of the same reasons the front squat hits the quads better than the back squat. The body position of the hack squat machine in which you are upright yet tilted back at an angle makes it much easier for most people to feel their quads doing the work more so than their glutes. Hacks have gotten a bad rap over the years as being dangerous to the knees, but that’s only the case if you fail to adjust your foot stance and the machine itself to better fit your body mechanics. Most platforms can be adjusted for the angle relative to the ground. I recommend setting the feet closer than shoulder width and lower on the platform to focus more on the vastus lateralis/outer thigh for more “sweep,” but I am also fully aware that this foot position will cause knee pain and eventual tendinitis for certain people. If that’s you, try a more traditional shoulder-width stance smack-dab in the middle of the platform, or keep tweaking your feet until you find that sweet spot that lets you blast the quads but doesn’t kill your knees. The great Golden Eagle, Tom Platz, had a unique style of hack squats in which his feet were so low down on the platform that it looked like he was doing sissy squats. I’ve done them and they seriously torch the quads with almost zero glute activation. You certainly would not go as heavy in that style.
Leg Press
The leg press is by far the most commonly used piece of equipment around the world for the lower body. It’s both more comfortable and safer in some aspects than squats. You’re lying down with solid back support and there is no balancing of a bar required. It’s also a nice ego boost because anyone can pile on more plates on a leg press than they could ever dream of squatting with a bar. The most common form error we witness on the leg press is a shortened range of motion, nearly always the result of using more weight than one is capable of doing full reps with. It sure does look cool to put every plate the machine holds on it, but wouldn’t it be cooler to get bigger thighs from your efforts? Setting your feet lower and closer together on the platform, as with the hacks, will effectively target the quads better if your knees are OK with it. If not, center platform and shoulder width foot stance is fine too. Just avoid shifting your feet wider and higher up as this will work more glutes and hams than quads. As a side note, there are some who will go the other way and use an exaggerated range of motion where their tailbone curls up as they lower too far back. This can be lead to injury over time, so stop short if you feel that happening.
Pendulum Squats
The pendulum squat, also known as the swing squat, is a fairly new type of machine in the leg-training toolbox. It’s essentially a shoulder yoke and back support similar to a hack squat attached to a lever, in which you squat down on a platform set at roughly a 45-degree angle to the ground. Pendulum squats feel different from either hacks or leg presses, and many feel they are comparable to barbell squats. They certainly have a different feel from other types of squat machines.
Belt Squat
To my knowledge, the first commercially produced belt squat machine was made by John Parrillo from Cincinnati in the mid-‘90s, and it was an enormous contraption that usually required at least one if not two spotters to use correctly. That belt squat was a platform with a “trench” in the middle where the plates that hung from a belt around your waist would travel. Since then, there have been numerous evolutions of this piece to make them smoother and more user-friendly. The Pit Shark is probably the gold standard at present. The main benefit of belt squats is that there is absolutely no spinal compression since the weight isn’t across your back or shoulders but is distributed around your waist. For anyone with lower back pain or injuries, this and the leg press are often the only viable options for a compound movement on leg day.
Squat Machines
There are also a wide variety of squat machines available today, with a plethora of designs to choose from. Some look like perfectly vertical hack squats, while others are lower to the ground. All attempt to simulate the motion of squats, and it’s debatable if they succeed in this aspect. Still, I urge everyone to try all the leg machines in their gym. Some won’t feel right, while you are bound to find at least one that feels perfectly suited to your structure and body mechanics, allowing you to work your quads hard and heavy with only the right type of pain, the agony of momentary muscular failure.
Walking Lunges
Until Ronnie Coleman famously lunged across a dusty parking lot in Texas with 315 pounds on his back in blazing heat in his training DVD, most men considered lunges a “girlie” exercise. Since then, millions of bodybuilders have used them to build up their thighs. They are not easy, particularly if you challenge yourself with resistance and keep moving rather than pause after each step. If putting a bar on your back doesn’t work for you, you can alternatively hold a pair of dumbbells. Slightly shorter steps will ensure the quads don’t get eclipsed by the glutes in terms of muscle activation.
Leg Extensions
Finally, we come to the only “pure” quadriceps movement, the leg extension. This is the only exercise that isolates the quads, as any compound pressing movement inevitably involves the hams, glutes and even the calves to some extent. In my younger years I found I was exceptionally strong on leg extensions and would routinely pin extra plates on to the weight stack to add resistance. Looking back, I now realize this was a big mistake. Extensions are a single-joint movement, and our knees are not designed to move extremely heavy loads in that movement pattern. Over time the patellar tendon will become chronically inflamed, and can eventually snap, resulting in a full quadriceps tear. I usually advocate either using extensions as a warm-up to get blood flowing in the muscle and around the knees, or going a bit heavier later on in the workout when your strength should be somewhat diminished.
Quad-Building Workouts
The following routines are focused on quadriceps, and thus do not include work for the hamstrings or calves. I strongly suggest hitting those areas in a different workout as these routines are meant to produce rapid results in quadriceps growth and are quite demanding. All three routines should be preceded with a 10-minute cardio warm-up to increase core temperature and blood flow in the lower body. Do not skip this critical step in preparing your legs for battle!
Routine A
Leg Extensions
Sets: 3 x 25 (light)
Warm-ups: 2 x 20, 15
Sets: 4 x 12, 12, 10, 10
Leg Press
Sets: 4 x 20, 15, 15, 12
Leg Extensions: 3 x 12
Superset with
Walking Lunges: 3 x 15 steps, each leg
Routine B
Front Squats
Warm-ups: 3 x 20, 15, 12
Sets: 4 x 10-12
Belt Squats or Squat Machine
Warm-up: 1 x 20
Sets: 4 x 15
Leg Extensions
Sets: 4 x 10 + 10
(First 10 reps from stretch to halfway up, second 10 reps from halfway up to full contraction)
Leg Press
Sets: 3 x 20
(Use a very slow negative, then burst out of the bottom of the rep)
Routine C
Leg Press (warm-up): 2 x 20
Leg Extensions: 4 x 20, 15, 15, 12
Superset with
Leg Press: 4 x 15, 15, 12, 10
Warm-up: 1 x 20
Sets: 3 x 12, 2 x 15*
*Come to a complete stop at the bottom of each rep, then burst up.
Walking Lunges: 3 x 20 steps, each leg
(You probably won’t need extra weight here)
Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram
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Workouts to Become a Quad God
By Ron Harris
Tell me this. When it’s time to put some shorts on either for the gym, beach, or pool party, how long are those bad boys? Do they go down below the knees, effectively obscuring your thighs from view? Or do you own shorts that are cut higher and put your quads proudly on display? Granted, some of you may be the modest type, but for the most part we bodybuilders have an exhibitionistic streak. We live by the motto “if you got it, flaunt it.” Nine times out of 10 when a bodybuilder constantly wears baggy pants or shorts it’s because he feels ashamed or insecure about his poor leg development. MD is here to help. There’s no need to go on living life with chicken legs if you’re willing to put in work on leg days. With 35 years of leg training under my belt, I’ve learned a lot about the most effective exercises and how to get the most out of them for quadriceps growth. Let’s run those down now.
Squats
No single leg movement could ever possibly challenge the barbell squat for its well-earned title, “The King of Lower Body Exercises,” even today when we have so many effective machines to choose from on leg day. That being said, body mechanics and technique will impact which areas of your lower body are targeted more or less. For the purposes of making the quads do a larger percentage of the work, the foot stance shouldn’t be too far beyond shoulder width and the forward torso lean should be minimal. A wider stance will bring the glutes and leg adductors further into play, and leaning forward from the waist involves more of the lower back. This is fantastic if your primary goal is merely to squat a heavier weight, but it will rob your quads of the required stimulation for optimal growth. As far as depth, it’s a controversial topic. I always squatted ass to grass, but many have claimed there is no need to descend below the point where your femur bones are parallel to the ground. Try both styles and go with what feels right for you. Not everyone has the mechanics and ankle flexibility to squat below parallel. For those with lower back issues, you may find a Smith machine is a friendlier alternative.
Front Squats
Front squats are a far more difficult variation for most people to perform, yet they also guarantee better quad stimulation. Because the bar is in front of you across your clavicles, you have no choice but to maintain an upright torso lest the bar rolls right off you. They take a while for most people to figure out proper form on, so be patient and don’t give up if they feel incredibly awkward at first. Also, you won’t be able to handle as much weight as in a standard back squat, but don’t let that discourage you either. It’s because you don’t have as much help from the glutes and lower back, and the quads are taking more of the load. This is a good thing for our purposes. For most guys who can squat 315 for 10 good reps, 225 for 10 is about right on the front squat. Another option to front squats is the safety bar squat, in which the bar features a yoke that goes around and across your shoulders, removing the need to keep the bar pinned tightly across your clavicles in front of you.
Hack Squats
I actually rank hack squats as a better movement for the quadriceps than the leg press, for many of the same reasons the front squat hits the quads better than the back squat. The body position of the hack squat machine in which you are upright yet tilted back at an angle makes it much easier for most people to feel their quads doing the work more so than their glutes. Hacks have gotten a bad rap over the years as being dangerous to the knees, but that’s only the case if you fail to adjust your foot stance and the machine itself to better fit your body mechanics. Most platforms can be adjusted for the angle relative to the ground. I recommend setting the feet closer than shoulder width and lower on the platform to focus more on the vastus lateralis/outer thigh for more “sweep,” but I am also fully aware that this foot position will cause knee pain and eventual tendinitis for certain people. If that’s you, try a more traditional shoulder-width stance smack-dab in the middle of the platform, or keep tweaking your feet until you find that sweet spot that lets you blast the quads but doesn’t kill your knees. The great Golden Eagle, Tom Platz, had a unique style of hack squats in which his feet were so low down on the platform that it looked like he was doing sissy squats. I’ve done them and they seriously torch the quads with almost zero glute activation. You certainly would not go as heavy in that style.
Leg Press
The leg press is by far the most commonly used piece of equipment around the world for the lower body. It’s both more comfortable and safer in some aspects than squats. You’re lying down with solid back support and there is no balancing of a bar required. It’s also a nice ego boost because anyone can pile on more plates on a leg press than they could ever dream of squatting with a bar. The most common form error we witness on the leg press is a shortened range of motion, nearly always the result of using more weight than one is capable of doing full reps with. It sure does look cool to put every plate the machine holds on it, but wouldn’t it be cooler to get bigger thighs from your efforts? Setting your feet lower and closer together on the platform, as with the hacks, will effectively target the quads better if your knees are OK with it. If not, center platform and shoulder width foot stance is fine too. Just avoid shifting your feet wider and higher up as this will work more glutes and hams than quads. As a side note, there are some who will go the other way and use an exaggerated range of motion where their tailbone curls up as they lower too far back. This can be lead to injury over time, so stop short if you feel that happening.
Pendulum Squats
The pendulum squat, also known as the swing squat, is a fairly new type of machine in the leg-training toolbox. It’s essentially a shoulder yoke and back support similar to a hack squat attached to a lever, in which you squat down on a platform set at roughly a 45-degree angle to the ground. Pendulum squats feel different from either hacks or leg presses, and many feel they are comparable to barbell squats. They certainly have a different feel from other types of squat machines.
Belt Squat
To my knowledge, the first commercially produced belt squat machine was made by John Parrillo from Cincinnati in the mid-‘90s, and it was an enormous contraption that usually required at least one if not two spotters to use correctly. That belt squat was a platform with a “trench” in the middle where the plates that hung from a belt around your waist would travel. Since then, there have been numerous evolutions of this piece to make them smoother and more user-friendly. The Pit Shark is probably the gold standard at present. The main benefit of belt squats is that there is absolutely no spinal compression since the weight isn’t across your back or shoulders but is distributed around your waist. For anyone with lower back pain or injuries, this and the leg press are often the only viable options for a compound movement on leg day.
Squat Machines
There are also a wide variety of squat machines available today, with a plethora of designs to choose from. Some look like perfectly vertical hack squats, while others are lower to the ground. All attempt to simulate the motion of squats, and it’s debatable if they succeed in this aspect. Still, I urge everyone to try all the leg machines in their gym. Some won’t feel right, while you are bound to find at least one that feels perfectly suited to your structure and body mechanics, allowing you to work your quads hard and heavy with only the right type of pain, the agony of momentary muscular failure.
Walking Lunges
Until Ronnie Coleman famously lunged across a dusty parking lot in Texas with 315 pounds on his back in blazing heat in his training DVD, most men considered lunges a “girlie” exercise. Since then, millions of bodybuilders have used them to build up their thighs. They are not easy, particularly if you challenge yourself with resistance and keep moving rather than pause after each step. If putting a bar on your back doesn’t work for you, you can alternatively hold a pair of dumbbells. Slightly shorter steps will ensure the quads don’t get eclipsed by the glutes in terms of muscle activation.
Leg Extensions
Finally, we come to the only “pure” quadriceps movement, the leg extension. This is the only exercise that isolates the quads, as any compound pressing movement inevitably involves the hams, glutes and even the calves to some extent. In my younger years I found I was exceptionally strong on leg extensions and would routinely pin extra plates on to the weight stack to add resistance. Looking back, I now realize this was a big mistake. Extensions are a single-joint movement, and our knees are not designed to move extremely heavy loads in that movement pattern. Over time the patellar tendon will become chronically inflamed, and can eventually snap, resulting in a full quadriceps tear. I usually advocate either using extensions as a warm-up to get blood flowing in the muscle and around the knees, or going a bit heavier later on in the workout when your strength should be somewhat diminished.
Quad-Building Workouts
The following routines are focused on quadriceps, and thus do not include work for the hamstrings or calves. I strongly suggest hitting those areas in a different workout as these routines are meant to produce rapid results in quadriceps growth and are quite demanding. All three routines should be preceded with a 10-minute cardio warm-up to increase core temperature and blood flow in the lower body. Do not skip this critical step in preparing your legs for battle!
Routine A
Leg Extensions
Sets: 3 x 25 (light)
Warm-ups: 2 x 20, 15
Sets: 4 x 12, 12, 10, 10
Leg Press
Sets: 4 x 20, 15, 15, 12
Leg Extensions: 3 x 12
Superset with
Walking Lunges: 3 x 15 steps, each leg
Routine B
Front Squats
Warm-ups: 3 x 20, 15, 12
Sets: 4 x 10-12
Belt Squats or Squat Machine
Warm-up: 1 x 20
Sets: 4 x 15
Leg Extensions
Sets: 4 x 10 + 10
(First 10 reps from stretch to halfway up, second 10 reps from halfway up to full contraction)
Leg Press
Sets: 3 x 20
(Use a very slow negative, then burst out of the bottom of the rep)
Routine C
Leg Press (warm-up): 2 x 20
Leg Extensions: 4 x 20, 15, 15, 12
Superset with
Leg Press: 4 x 15, 15, 12, 10
Warm-up: 1 x 20
Sets: 3 x 12, 2 x 15*
*Come to a complete stop at the bottom of each rep, then burst up.
Walking Lunges: 3 x 20 steps, each leg
(You probably won’t need extra weight here)
Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram
DISCUSS ON OUR FORUMSSUBSCRIBE TO MD TODAY
GET OFFICIAL MD STUFFVISIT OUR STORE
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
ALSO, MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW US ON:
FACEBOOKTWITTERINSTAGRAM YOUTUBE
Build Bigger Legs: Best Exercises
Workouts to Become a Quad God
By Ron Harris
Tell me this. When it’s time to put some shorts on either for the gym, beach, or pool party, how long are those bad boys? Do they go down below the knees, effectively obscuring your thighs from view? Or do you own shorts that are cut higher and put your quads proudly on display? Granted, some of you may be the modest type, but for the most part we bodybuilders have an exhibitionistic streak. We live by the motto “if you got it, flaunt it.” Nine times out of 10 when a bodybuilder constantly wears baggy pants or shorts it’s because he feels ashamed or insecure about his poor leg development. MD is here to help. There’s no need to go on living life with chicken legs if you’re willing to put in work on leg days. With 35 years of leg training under my belt, I’ve learned a lot about the most effective exercises and how to get the most out of them for quadriceps growth. Let’s run those down now.
Squats
No single leg movement could ever possibly challenge the barbell squat for its well-earned title, “The King of Lower Body Exercises,” even today when we have so many effective machines to choose from on leg day. That being said, body mechanics and technique will impact which areas of your lower body are targeted more or less. For the purposes of making the quads do a larger percentage of the work, the foot stance shouldn’t be too far beyond shoulder width and the forward torso lean should be minimal. A wider stance will bring the glutes and leg adductors further into play, and leaning forward from the waist involves more of the lower back. This is fantastic if your primary goal is merely to squat a heavier weight, but it will rob your quads of the required stimulation for optimal growth. As far as depth, it’s a controversial topic. I always squatted ass to grass, but many have claimed there is no need to descend below the point where your femur bones are parallel to the ground. Try both styles and go with what feels right for you. Not everyone has the mechanics and ankle flexibility to squat below parallel. For those with lower back issues, you may find a Smith machine is a friendlier alternative.
Front Squats
Front squats are a far more difficult variation for most people to perform, yet they also guarantee better quad stimulation. Because the bar is in front of you across your clavicles, you have no choice but to maintain an upright torso lest the bar rolls right off you. They take a while for most people to figure out proper form on, so be patient and don’t give up if they feel incredibly awkward at first. Also, you won’t be able to handle as much weight as in a standard back squat, but don’t let that discourage you either. It’s because you don’t have as much help from the glutes and lower back, and the quads are taking more of the load. This is a good thing for our purposes. For most guys who can squat 315 for 10 good reps, 225 for 10 is about right on the front squat. Another option to front squats is the safety bar squat, in which the bar features a yoke that goes around and across your shoulders, removing the need to keep the bar pinned tightly across your clavicles in front of you.
Hack Squats
I actually rank hack squats as a better movement for the quadriceps than the leg press, for many of the same reasons the front squat hits the quads better than the back squat. The body position of the hack squat machine in which you are upright yet tilted back at an angle makes it much easier for most people to feel their quads doing the work more so than their glutes. Hacks have gotten a bad rap over the years as being dangerous to the knees, but that’s only the case if you fail to adjust your foot stance and the machine itself to better fit your body mechanics. Most platforms can be adjusted for the angle relative to the ground. I recommend setting the feet closer than shoulder width and lower on the platform to focus more on the vastus lateralis/outer thigh for more “sweep,” but I am also fully aware that this foot position will cause knee pain and eventual tendinitis for certain people. If that’s you, try a more traditional shoulder-width stance smack-dab in the middle of the platform, or keep tweaking your feet until you find that sweet spot that lets you blast the quads but doesn’t kill your knees. The great Golden Eagle, Tom Platz, had a unique style of hack squats in which his feet were so low down on the platform that it looked like he was doing sissy squats. I’ve done them and they seriously torch the quads with almost zero glute activation. You certainly would not go as heavy in that style.
Leg Press
The leg press is by far the most commonly used piece of equipment around the world for the lower body. It’s both more comfortable and safer in some aspects than squats. You’re lying down with solid back support and there is no balancing of a bar required. It’s also a nice ego boost because anyone can pile on more plates on a leg press than they could ever dream of squatting with a bar. The most common form error we witness on the leg press is a shortened range of motion, nearly always the result of using more weight than one is capable of doing full reps with. It sure does look cool to put every plate the machine holds on it, but wouldn’t it be cooler to get bigger thighs from your efforts? Setting your feet lower and closer together on the platform, as with the hacks, will effectively target the quads better if your knees are OK with it. If not, center platform and shoulder width foot stance is fine too. Just avoid shifting your feet wider and higher up as this will work more glutes and hams than quads. As a side note, there are some who will go the other way and use an exaggerated range of motion where their tailbone curls up as they lower too far back. This can be lead to injury over time, so stop short if you feel that happening.
Pendulum Squats
The pendulum squat, also known as the swing squat, is a fairly new type of machine in the leg-training toolbox. It’s essentially a shoulder yoke and back support similar to a hack squat attached to a lever, in which you squat down on a platform set at roughly a 45-degree angle to the ground. Pendulum squats feel different from either hacks or leg presses, and many feel they are comparable to barbell squats. They certainly have a different feel from other types of squat machines.
Belt Squat
To my knowledge, the first commercially produced belt squat machine was made by John Parrillo from Cincinnati in the mid-‘90s, and it was an enormous contraption that usually required at least one if not two spotters to use correctly. That belt squat was a platform with a “trench” in the middle where the plates that hung from a belt around your waist would travel. Since then, there have been numerous evolutions of this piece to make them smoother and more user-friendly. The Pit Shark is probably the gold standard at present. The main benefit of belt squats is that there is absolutely no spinal compression since the weight isn’t across your back or shoulders but is distributed around your waist. For anyone with lower back pain or injuries, this and the leg press are often the only viable options for a compound movement on leg day.
Squat Machines
There are also a wide variety of squat machines available today, with a plethora of designs to choose from. Some look like perfectly vertical hack squats, while others are lower to the ground. All attempt to simulate the motion of squats, and it’s debatable if they succeed in this aspect. Still, I urge everyone to try all the leg machines in their gym. Some won’t feel right, while you are bound to find at least one that feels perfectly suited to your structure and body mechanics, allowing you to work your quads hard and heavy with only the right type of pain, the agony of momentary muscular failure.
Walking Lunges
Until Ronnie Coleman famously lunged across a dusty parking lot in Texas with 315 pounds on his back in blazing heat in his training DVD, most men considered lunges a “girlie” exercise. Since then, millions of bodybuilders have used them to build up their thighs. They are not easy, particularly if you challenge yourself with resistance and keep moving rather than pause after each step. If putting a bar on your back doesn’t work for you, you can alternatively hold a pair of dumbbells. Slightly shorter steps will ensure the quads don’t get eclipsed by the glutes in terms of muscle activation.
Leg Extensions
Finally, we come to the only “pure” quadriceps movement, the leg extension. This is the only exercise that isolates the quads, as any compound pressing movement inevitably involves the hams, glutes and even the calves to some extent. In my younger years I found I was exceptionally strong on leg extensions and would routinely pin extra plates on to the weight stack to add resistance. Looking back, I now realize this was a big mistake. Extensions are a single-joint movement, and our knees are not designed to move extremely heavy loads in that movement pattern. Over time the patellar tendon will become chronically inflamed, and can eventually snap, resulting in a full quadriceps tear. I usually advocate either using extensions as a warm-up to get blood flowing in the muscle and around the knees, or going a bit heavier later on in the workout when your strength should be somewhat diminished.
Quad-Building Workouts
The following routines are focused on quadriceps, and thus do not include work for the hamstrings or calves. I strongly suggest hitting those areas in a different workout as these routines are meant to produce rapid results in quadriceps growth and are quite demanding. All three routines should be preceded with a 10-minute cardio warm-up to increase core temperature and blood flow in the lower body. Do not skip this critical step in preparing your legs for battle!
Routine A
Leg Extensions
Sets: 3 x 25 (light)
Warm-ups: 2 x 20, 15
Sets: 4 x 12, 12, 10, 10
Leg Press
Sets: 4 x 20, 15, 15, 12
Leg Extensions: 3 x 12
Superset with
Walking Lunges: 3 x 15 steps, each leg
Routine B
Front Squats
Warm-ups: 3 x 20, 15, 12
Sets: 4 x 10-12
Belt Squats or Squat Machine
Warm-up: 1 x 20
Sets: 4 x 15
Leg Extensions
Sets: 4 x 10 + 10
(First 10 reps from stretch to halfway up, second 10 reps from halfway up to full contraction)
Leg Press
Sets: 3 x 20
(Use a very slow negative, then burst out of the bottom of the rep)
Routine C
Leg Press (warm-up): 2 x 20
Leg Extensions: 4 x 20, 15, 15, 12
Superset with
Leg Press: 4 x 15, 15, 12, 10
Warm-up: 1 x 20
Sets: 3 x 12, 2 x 15*
*Come to a complete stop at the bottom of each rep, then burst up.
Walking Lunges: 3 x 20 steps, each leg
(You probably won’t need extra weight here)
Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram
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