The largest muscle in the legs is the quadriceps femoris (quadriceps), which consists of four bundles. Often it is she who takes the main load during various exercises. The level of physical fitness of the whole organism, its endurance and strength depend on the degree of training of these muscles.
The quadriceps is the quadriceps femoris muscle.
The quadriceps femoris muscle performs important functions in stabilizing the body during standing, walking, running and jumping. It is involved in flexion and extension of the legs, reducing the risk of injuries to the knee and hip joints.
Important: To quickly and evenly pump up your quadriceps in the gym, it is better to use the help of an experienced trainer. He will suggest a set of exercises for an effective workout and explain how to perform them correctly.
Exercises and nuances of quadriceps training
The knee joint is the most injured joint in our body. After all, it is constantly at work, experiences shock loads, and in sedentary people it suffers from a lack of nutrients.
It is precisely because of its special importance that strict rules must be followed if you want to maintain the health of your knees for a long time.
Now about the exercises and nuances:
- One of the most effective exercises for the quadriceps is squats. Stretching plays an important role in this.
Therefore, before you start squats, make sure that your muscles in your legs, buttocks and back are flexible enough. Otherwise, you won't be able to squat with proper form!
What tests can you use to determine your stretch marks? Watch the video:
- The type of squats determines the load on the quadriceps. The extensors receive the greatest load in squats with a barbell on the chest. Then with the barbell on your back, but with a relatively vertical back. Use them in your programs.
- Many people don't know how deep to squat. There is no definite answer, since the amplitude depends both on the flexibility of the joints and the elasticity of the muscles, and on the condition of the knee and hip joints.
If you are healthy and have no problems with stretching, then do deep squats. If there are problems with the joints and their mobility is limited, then half squats are suitable. But we'll talk about problems later.
- Since we are for the full development of the quadriceps femoris muscle, in addition to squats, it is effective to perform extensions in a sitting machine. It is this exercise that evenly distributes the load between the four quadriceps muscles (lateral, intermediate, medial and rectus)
- Lunges are a variation of squats. They differ only in that the entire load in the repetition falls on one leg, and the quadriceps of the other thigh experiences a stretch. This exercise is an effective way to complete your front thigh workout.
- At the end of your workout, perform a set of stretching exercises. It can consist of elements that you pick up from the video. But don’t try to repeat everything exactly like in this video. Start with the simplest exercises and small range of motion.
Anatomical features of the quadriceps femoris muscle
The quadriceps femoris muscle is located on the front of the thigh. It is attached to the tibia through the patella ligament. In accordance with the name, it consists of 4 muscle bundles:
- rectus muscle;
- intermediate;
- lateral (outer);
- medial (internal).
The structure of the quadriceps femoris muscle.
The quadriceps is a large and strong muscle group. They are the main extensors of the knee joint and perform the following main functions:
- static (prevents bending of the knee joint in a standing position);
- dynamic (provides stability of the knee joints during movement).
Video covers quadriceps anatomy, exercises and stretches
The anatomy of the quadriceps involves the presence of slow and fast muscle fibers. Slow ones are responsible for the static function. Fast fibers provide elasticity.
Important! To achieve the desired results, you need to know what your ratio of slow-twitch fibers to fast-twitch fibers is. The nature and intensity of the exercises depends on this.
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Exercises for health problems
Not all sports are safe and allow you to control your body every second to avoid injury. For example, team sports, especially contact sports: hockey, football, rugby. Yes, this also happens in fitness, but, as a rule, due to violation of the basic rules of training!
Having damaged the knee joint, people are forced to give up their usual loads and undergo a rehabilitation course. And if the injury was serious, then undergo surgical treatment, and then engage in the already mentioned rehabilitation.
To speed up the postoperative recovery process, a surgical procedure with minimal tissue trauma - arthroscopy - is often performed. After it, the patient can perform physical therapy the very next day. Then the patient is discharged, and further rehabilitation actions fall on his shoulders.
And this is where the main thing is not to harm yourself! It is necessary to return to training gradually, dividing the entire recovery phase into several parts.
Stage No. 1
As a rule, it can be done at home, but it is better to contact experienced rehabilitators! The goal of the stage is to return the joint to its usual mobility.
The exercises are performed slowly, without weights, and often while sitting or lying down. The stage can be considered complete when joint mobility is restored by more than 60%.
Stage No. 2
Here the emphasis is on strengthening muscles and ligaments that may have been significantly weakened after injury and surgery. The exercises can still be done at home, but with light weights. You can use rubber bands or tubular expanders as weights.
Exercises for two stages are presented in the video.
Basic functions of the quadriceps
What function does the quadriceps femoris muscle perform in terms of human motor activity? The main task of the “quadriceps” is to ensure the extension of our legs at the knee joints. In addition, together with other muscles and ligaments, it partly contributes to the bending of the legs, and to a lesser extent, to maintaining balance when bending forward in the pelvic region.
Obviously, pumping up the quadriceps will make the hips more powerful (both physically and visually), and will also allow a girl or guy to squat and straighten the body if necessary, even with a significant load.
Exercises for quadriceps
Extend your legs in the exercise machine
Basic exercise. The main load is on the anterior rectus tibialis muscle.
Technique:
- Sit on the machine and fix your legs, the bend in your knees should be 90°.
- Raise your legs with effort until they are fully straightened.
- Return to starting position.
Nuances:
- feet with toes forward - uniform load on all quadriceps muscles;
- legs with toes inward - the maximum load will be on the vastus medialis muscles;
- legs with toes outward - the maximum load will be on the vastus lateralis muscles;
- narrowly set feet - the outer sides of the thighs are mainly loaded;
- wide-set feet - the inner thighs are mainly loaded.
A few important rules:
- make sure that the fit of your thighs to the seat is tight;
- if you want to increase the load a little, lean back a little;
- The angle of flexion/extension of the legs at 90° was not set by chance, since exceeding this amplitude threatens to overstrain the kneecaps;
- if for some reason you train only one leg (for example, the second is injured), the execution rules do not change.
Squats with a barbell
Basic exercise. The main load is on all the muscles of the quadriceps and gluteal muscles.
Technique:
- Take the starting position - standing, with your legs spread shoulder-width apart.
- Lower the barbell onto your shoulders.
- Do a smooth squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
- Straighten up just as smoothly, returning to the starting position.
Nuances:
- legs placed shoulder-width apart - uniform load on all quadriceps muscles;
- legs placed narrowly - the maximum load will be on the vastus lateralis and abductor muscles;
- legs set wide - the inner sides of the thighs are mainly loaded, as well as the adductor and sartorius muscle fibers;
- When performing the exercise, the toes of the feet should be slightly turned outward;
- to emphasize the load specifically on the “quadriceps” and reduce it on the gluteal muscles, you can wear shoes with flat heels or place a special stand about 2–3 cm high under your heels;
- and, on the contrary, to pump up the buttocks, the position of the bar changes to lower and shifted back;
- Instead of shoulders, it is possible to place the barbell on the upper chest, but this will significantly complicate the exercise and will require reducing the weight of the sports equipment.
A few important rules:
- the back should be absolutely straight during squats with a barbell;
- the gaze should be directed strictly forward;
- squatting is done while inhaling, returning to the starting position while exhaling;
- It is safer to perform this exercise on a Smith machine.
Performing leg press
Basic exercise. The main load is on all the muscles of the quadriceps, as well as on the muscle groups of the buttocks and the back of the thighs.
Technique:
- Take the starting position - reclining in the exercise machine, with your feet on the platform.
- Smoothly lower the load until the bend angle of your legs reaches 90°.
- Then reverse the movement until the legs are completely straightened.
Nuances:
- feet placed on the lower edge of the platform - the load is almost exclusively quadriceps;
- feet placed on the upper edge - part of the load will shift to the muscle groups of the buttocks and back of the thighs;
- legs set wide - the medial muscles of the thighs, as well as the adductors and sartorius muscle fibers are mainly loaded;
- legs placed shoulder-width apart - uniform load on all quadriceps muscles;
- legs placed narrowly - the maximum load will be on the vastus lateralis and abductor muscles.
A few important rules:
- to shift the load from the buttocks and back of the thighs almost entirely to the quadriceps, adjust the seat angle so that it is significantly greater than 90°;
- the same effect can be achieved by leaning on the platform only with your toes, without your heel, when bending your legs (in addition, this will reduce the pressure on your knees).
Note! An important advantage of this machine over the barbell is its complete safety for the spine.
Squatting in the gym
Basic exercise. The main load is on all the muscles of the quadriceps, as well as on the muscle groups of the buttocks and the back of the thighs.
Technique:
- Take the starting position - stand on the machine with your legs spread shoulder-width apart, press your back to the back support plane, adjust the pillows with the barbell so that they rest against your shoulders.
- Do a smooth squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
- Straighten up just as smoothly, returning to the starting position.
Nuances:
- legs placed shoulder-width apart - uniform load on all quadriceps muscles;
- legs placed narrowly - the maximum load will be on the vastus lateralis and abductor muscles;
- legs set wide - the inner sides of the thighs are mainly loaded, as well as the adductor and sartorius muscle fibers;
- feet placed closer to the rear edge of the platform - the load is almost exclusively quadriceps;
- feet placed closer to the front edge - part of the load will shift to the muscle groups of the buttocks and back of the thighs.
The toes of the feet should be slightly turned outward when performing the exercise.
Doing lunges with dumbbells
Basic exercise. The only thing that does not require visiting the gym.
Technique:
- Starting position – standing, back straight, arms with dumbbells lowered along the body.
- When lunging, the leg is brought forward so that the upper surface of the thigh is parallel to the floor.
- After returning to the starting position, repeat a similar lunge with the other leg.
These TOP 5 exercises should definitely be considered the most important when working with quadriceps. And yes, before performing the exercises, it won’t hurt to carefully study the corresponding video lessons.
