Exercises for the anterior thigh - top best exercises for the leg muscles on Sports.ru

Girls often get hung up on training their buttocks. But to achieve beautiful proportions and full development of the legs, it is also necessary to work on the quadriceps - the front surface of the thigh.

The quadriceps is one of the largest muscle groups in the body. She participates in walking, running and jumping. The same equipment that you use in regular exercise is suitable for training - dumbbells or kettlebells. Trainers Lee Gerson and Lauren del Turco have collected the best exercises with an emphasis on the quadriceps - and we have translated their selection for you. Try different options and create a complex for yourself.

Instructions:

Duration of training: 20 minutes.
Necessary equipment: box or step platform, kettlebell or dumbbells, band expander.
Purpose: quadriceps, lower body.
How to do it: Choose four or five exercises from the suggested ones. Perform the indicated number of repetitions for each, resting 15 seconds between sets. After you have completed the entire complex, rest for one minute. Then repeat the full circle of exercises two more times.

Squats

Stand straight, feet shoulder-width apart, arms at your sides.

Push your hips back as if you were sinking into a chair while extending your arms forward until your palms are clasped at chest level. Keep your torso and back straight, knees slightly outward. The weight between the feet should be distributed evenly. When your thighs are parallel to the floor, press through your heels to return to the starting position. This is one repetition. Do 10.

Some hip anatomy

The quadriceps, or quadriceps muscle, is one of the largest muscles in the human body, and it consists of four bundles (which is why it is named so). This:

The rectus muscle is the longest of the group, sits on top of the others and gives the thigh a beautiful rounded appearance, notable for the fact that it is not attached to the femur
Lateral – shapes the hip from the side, helps to extend the knee
Medial wide - creates an inner part, especially impressive roundness at the knee
Intermediate wide - lies between the lateral and medial, partially hiding under them

The quadriceps muscle is responsible for maintaining the body in a stable vertical position, flexes the leg at the hip joint and is involved in bending the knee, also being an antagonist muscle to the biceps femoris. The quadriceps of the thighs, together with the gluteal muscles, are the source of pride for any girl involved in sports.

Stepping

Stand facing the box with your hands on your hips.

Step on the box with your left foot. Then shift your weight to your left leg to straighten it while bringing your right knee up and forward until you're on top of the box. At the top point, the right thigh is parallel to the floor, the body is straight. Return to the starting position. This is one repetition. Do 10 on each leg.

Features of quadriceps muscle training

To maximally load the muscles of the anterior thighs, we recommend using the following tips:

Add variety. Classic squats work the entire lower body. To prevent your muscles from having time to adapt to them, change the program every 10-12 weeks. Incorporate unusual exercises into your plan, such as front squats.
Increase the number of repetitions. Many professional bodybuilders periodically use the technique of performing 20-30 repetitions per set. This also adds variety to the training and allows you to load the muscle fibers of the thighs in a different way;
Squat “within” the amplitude. At the bottom point, do not sit below the parallel of your thighs with the floor; at the top point, do not straighten your legs to the end. This method of performing squats creates a powerful, long-lasting load on the quadriceps femoris muscles;
Try training with supersets (working antagonist muscles in one approach). For example, do 12 barbell squats. Then immediately, without rest, lie down on the hamstring machine and do 12 calf curls;
Use the regression method. For example, do a set with the maximum weight you can handle for 5-6 reps. With each subsequent approach, increase the number of repetitions and gradually reduce the weight of the projectile;
Don't forget about pumping. At the end of strength training for the anterior thigh muscles, perform 1-2 exercises with light weight for a high number of repetitions. For example, do 3 sets of 25-30 reps on a leg extension machine. Read more about pumping in this article →

Split squats

Stand straight, place your right foot forward and your left foot back, hands on your hips. Keep both legs straight and step up onto the front of your back foot. This is your starting position.

Keeping your torso upright, bend both knees until your back knees touch the floor. Press down on your right foot to straighten your legs and return to the starting position. This is one repetition. Do 10 on each leg.

Main functions of the quadriceps:

Maintaining the body in a stable upright position;
Movement of the lower leg in the knee joint;
Participates in tilting the pelvis and pulling the lower extremities towards the abdomen.

As you have already seen, the quadriceps is a large muscle. This means that it will take her longer to recover. It is advisable to organize quadriceps training once a week. Recovery is a prerequisite for muscle growth. Muscle tissue increases in volume during the period of supercompensation. For large muscle areas this period is longer. Therefore, if you plan to have a “leg day” a couple of times a week, just distribute the load evenly. Focus on the quadriceps in one workout, and the hamstrings in another.

For beginners, it is better to start training with basic and multi-joint exercises. When you have developed good technique, built up endurance and muscle strength, you can begin to work out in detail the muscle relief of the quadriceps.

Bulgarian split squats

Stand up straight. The right leg is straight and the left is laid back, with the top of the left foot resting on the box. Hands on hips.

Keeping your torso upright, shift your weight to your front leg and bend both knees until your left knee touches the floor. Press down on your right foot to straighten your legs and return to the starting position. This is one repetition. Do 10 on each leg.

Isolation exercises for quadriceps femoris

This type of exercise is applied to a single muscle to make it look more attractive, but it cannot increase muscle mass or develop strength and endurance.

Leg extension exercises on the machine

If it makes sense to work the front part of the quadriceps, then this is exactly the exercise. Since most of the load is placed on the knees, you should not place too much weight.

The legs are extended until they take a parallel position relative to the floor.
The lower back is supported directly on the seat.
Movements should be carried out at a slow pace, without the appearance of inertia, which will minimize all efforts.
The maximum number of repetitions should be performed.
After the exercise, a burning sensation should appear within the muscle.

Single leg press

To perform an isolated load on the quadriceps, you can perform a single-leg press. When performing this exercise on a machine, one leg is removed.

Bulgarian split squats with jump

Stand up straight. The right leg is straight and the left is laid back, with the top of the left foot resting on the box. Hands clasped in front of the chest.

Lean forward slightly, shift your weight to your right leg, and bend both knees until your left knee is just above the floor. Press down on your right foot to push up and lift your right foot off the floor. Land on your feet and bend your right knee. This is one repetition. Do up to 10 on each leg.

How and where to study?

Let’s note right away: if you are no longer new to sports, and want to know how to pump up your quadriceps and hamstrings as quickly as possible, go to the gym. The gym has equipment that you usually don’t have at home: special platforms, squat machines, and, of course, barbells. For active muscle growth, you need strength exercises with a small number of repetitions, but to the limit. Muscles burn and grow.

But women usually have a different task, and they need not to form a bulging muscle, which looks beautiful on male athletes, but to find a way not to swing their legs, and at the same time tighten their hips, make them elastic and slender. And in this regard, exercises at home are perfect.

To train at home, you will only need dumbbells, but in extreme cases you can do without them, using, for example, 1.5-liter bottles of water. If you are far from sports at all, and have never trained your legs before, you probably won’t even need dumbbells in the first 1-2 months, exercise with your own weight, the muscles will still work and strengthen.

Curtsy lunges with expander

Stand up straight. The expander is under the arch of the right foot, and the ends of the band are in the hands at chest level, the elbows are bent and pressed to the body.

Step back with your left foot, lunging deep to the right. The left knee should touch the floor, the right thigh parallel to the surface. Keep your body straight. Return to the starting position. This is one repetition. Do 10 on each leg.

Sample training program for quadriceps

We recommend training your quadriceps on the same day as your other lower body exercises. Strength training on the legs should not be done more than once a week, as there is a risk of overtraining.

Warm-up part: exercise bike, treadmill or jump rope (5-7 minutes);
Calf raises in the simulator (3/20-25);
Barbell squats (4/6-8);
Leg press in the simulator (3/10-12);
Lunges with weights (3/10-12);
Leg extension in the simulator (3/10-12);
Lying leg curls in the simulator (3/10-12).

At the end of your workout, we recommend performing a few simple stretching exercises. Stretching will help relieve muscle tightness and reduce delayed post-workout pain.

Pulsating Squats

Stand straight, feet shoulder-width apart, arms at your sides.

Push your hips back as if you were sinking into a chair, while extending your arms forward until you clasp them at chest level. When your thighs are parallel to the floor, rise slightly and then lower again, as if rocking up and down in the lower position. Then return to the starting position. This is one repetition. Complete 10-12.

Don't ignore warming up!

For a high-quality impact on the quadriceps of the thighs, a good cardio warm-up of the whole body is very important: the muscles will be more obedient, controlled and worked deeper, which, in turn, will pay off with a beautiful shape and powerful functionality.

To warm up your muscles, you can use a treadmill, a jump rope, or regular aerobic movements to suit your taste: the main thing is that the body warms up well and lightly perspires. But don’t overwork yourself - this is just the beginning, and your main strengths will still come in handy.

Supported shrimp squats

Stand facing the back of a chair and place your hands on a support for support. Bend your right knee to a 90-degree angle. This is the starting position.

Keeping your right leg elevated, bend your left knee and push your hips back and down as far as possible without rounding your spine. The right knee almost touches the floor. Press down on your left foot to return to the starting position. This is one repetition. Do 10 on each leg.

2. Reasons

At the cellular level, muscle tissue is designed in such a way that its prolonged inactivity is perceived by the body as a reason for “downsizing,” i.e. to get rid of energy-consuming but unused muscle fibers. Therefore, the most common cause of atrophy of the femoral quadriceps is a long period of forced immobility after injury, major surgery, coma, etc.

However, the range of possible etiologies is by no means limited to what has been said. Such atrophy can also be caused by congenital, genetically determined anomalies and degenerative diseases of muscle tissue, autoimmune diseases, myositis (muscle inflammation), articular pathology, endocrine and/or metabolic disorders, as well as degenerative-dystrophic processes in the conductive structures of the nervous system. In addition, atrophy can begin due to nutritional reasons, i.e. against the background of long-term and deep nutritional deficiency due to starvation (including when using extreme diets “for weight loss”). Some chronic and acute intoxications can also trigger the atrophic process in the muscles. Finally, atrophy may be a consequence of the natural decline in metabolism and activity in old age.

Visit our Traumatology and Orthopedics page

Recommendations from trainers

Girls who are just starting to work with their body naively believe that the more often they practice, the faster the goal will be achieved. This is an erroneous judgment that has no basis.

The quadriceps are large enough muscles, so you don’t need to get carried away with frequent training - one per week is enough, but high-quality and powerful, otherwise the fibers will not be able to fully recover, and therefore will not produce the desired result. If there is no fatigue in the muscles, you are not working hard in training.

All muscle fibers are divided into fast and slow, which is important to take into account when shaping the relief, so you must add cardio loads to strength methods, just do not combine them into one workout (do not confuse a full-fledged workout and warming up).

This way, you will have two thigh workouts per week: for example, Monday is cardio, and Thursday or Friday is strength.

Be feminine!

Unfortunately, in the pursuit of curves, some women get so carried away that in a fit of fanaticism they pump up their bodies, making them masculine. This is especially pronounced in overly muscular arms, trapezius muscles and heavy quadriceps.

Such women in dresses look very unattractive and rude, and thin straps only enhance the impression. Therefore, the exercise process must be approached adequately and moderately so as not to turn into a mountain of muscles. After all, what is beautiful for a man is not always appropriate for a woman. Her true beauty lies in her smooth curves. But just don’t confuse the softness and jelly-like loose state of the bodies of some opponents of the sport. Extremes in working with the body have never done anyone any honor.