Mike Singletary
Member
- Sep 8, 2010
- 92
- 29
Ever see a grown man cry?
We're not talking about a sensitive "modern" guy who's in touch with his inner self, eyes welling up just watching a TV rerun of Titanic or whose football team lost the championship on the final play. (Curse you, Longhorns!) Instead, his lament concerns his legs: They're pretty well-developed overall, but the state of his so-called "teardrop" muscle near the knee makes him downright misty-eyed, and the sweep on his outer quads, well, let's just say the only sweeping he's doing these days involves a broom.
If you can relate, the good news is there's no reason to weep over legs that need work. Instead of accepting such shortcomings, it's time to step up and radically rearrange your leg workout to focus on moves that emphasize the quads, specifically the teardrop and outer sweep (vastus medialis and vastus lateralis, respectively). By changing up the order of your single-joint and compound moves, repositioning your feet on a couple of exercises and doing very heavy half-squats, your quads will beef up in no time. When all is said and done, the only tears you'll see will be the ones that sit just above your knees.
ON TARGET
Multijoint leg exercises hit three large muscle groups: the quadriceps, glutes and hamstrings. But not every exercise hits them equally, which is why you can target a weak spot of your quads, such as the inner and outer portions of the lower quads, by making adjustments in your leg workout. To emphasize the quads over the glutes and hams, change up a number of things in your routine.
>> Stance I Any squatting move in which your feet are directly under your body and your knees travel over your toes more directly hits the quads. The hack squat with your feet low on the platform is an excellent example. Foot position is also important in an exercise such as the Smith machine squat, where you can really shift the muscular stress. The single-joint leg extension also isolates the quads, and that move plays a prominent role in this workout.
>> Stance II How far apart you position your feet affects muscle recruitment. While multijoint movements work the quads, hams and glutes, the leg press in particular shifts some emphasis to the teardrop, and a narrow stance on the hack squat better targets the outer quads (sweep).
>> Foot Position On a single-joint move such as the leg extension, turning your feet inward more strongly activates the muscle fibers of the outer quads. Turn your feet outward to focus on the teardrop (inner quad).
>> Pre-Exhaust Start the workout with a single-joint pre-exhaust move for the quads before doing a multijoint exercise. This allows you to fatigue the target area (quads) with the leg extension so it can be further fatigued on the compound exercise, turning it into the weak link: When you reach muscle failure, it will be the quads that have failed, not another contributing muscle group. Ultimately, this method forces your quads to work overtime while reducing the emphasis on the other major muscle groups involved in the compound exercise.
>> Partial Reps Doing very heavy half-squats in which you descend only halfway instead of using a full range of motion, in this case on the hack squat, puts more stress on the quads (which are more active over the top half of the movement). Because you're limiting your training to an area that's particularly strong over the range of motion (well above the so-called sticking point), you can really overload the area where you have the greatest strength. And since you're doing sets of just six reps for this exercise, you can pile on the weight.
You undoubtedly focus some chest workouts on the upper or lower pecs for optimal overall development, and it should be no different with your leg workouts. Get in the habit of making a few subtle changes to your leg routine to fine-tune areas you want to build or bring up. Bringing up your lower quads will have you seeing tears of joy.
BY BILL GEIGER, MA
PHOTOS BY PAVEL YTHJALL
RELATED ARTICLE
LEG EXTENSION
>> To put extra emphasis on the inner quad (vastus medialis, or teardrop), turn your feet outward; to target the outer quad sweep (vastus lateralis), turn your feet inward. Do not use such extreme foot positioning when your feet are planted against a stable surface that you push against, as when doing squats, leg presses and hack squats. This single-joint move is done as a pre-exhaust to more strongly tax the lower quads before the compound exercises that follow.
START | Adjust the seat so your knees are just off the edge and bent 90 degrees. Sit squarely on the seat with your back supported and feet under the pad; turn both feet outward (or inward). To reduce knee torque, slightly rotate your legs in the direction your feet are facing.
MOVEMENT | Contract your quads to straighten your legs, holding the peak-contracted position momentarily before releasing slowly. The weight stack shouldn't touch down between reps.
SETS REPS | Try a couple of practice sets to ensure the ankle lever is properly placed and you're using the right weight to get four sets of 10-12 reps. Because leg extensions come before heavier compound moves, you'll find you can use a bit more weight, though turning your feet in or out puts you in a slightly less powerful foot position.
LEG EXTENSION
>> Keeping your toes pointed forward will put the emphasis on the rectus femoris, the quad muscle that runs up the middle of your front thigh.
START | Same start position as the leg extension with your toes in/out, but keep them pointing forward.
MOVEMENT | Same execution as leg extension (toes in/out).
SETS REPS | Do three sets of 10 reps.
RELATED ARTICLE: HACK SQUAT
>> The hack squat allows you to train to failure without worrying about balance, and using a narrow stance better targets the outer quad sweep. Precede this move with the toes-in leg extension to focus on the vastus lateralis.
START | Position your body squarely under the shoulder pads, back against the pad, feet just inside hip-width and low on the platform. (If your heels rise as you descend, place your feet a bit higher.)
MOVEMENT | Bend your knees to descend into a deep squat until your thighs are about parallel to the platform. Smoothly reverse direction and press to full extension without locking out your knees at the top.
SETS REPS | Because you preceded this exercise with the leg extension, you may not be able to use the weight you typically do. Do three sets of 8-10 reps.
RELATED ARTICLE: HALF HACK SQUAT
>> After your full-range hacks, it's time to overload the quads by working through just the top half of the range of motion (which is well above the sticking point of the exercise). Since you're looking to do just six reps, add some plates to really overload your quads.
START | Same start position as the hack squat, but move your feet a bit higher on the platform about shoulder-width apart to give you maximal drive.
MOVEMENT | Some hack squat machines have "stops" that allow you to work in a defined range of motion, but your best bet is to simply go halfway down (of your full-range-of-motion sets) and press back up.
SETS REPS | Three sets of six reps using very heavy weight.
RELATED ARTICLE: LEG PRESS
>> Leg-press machines vary from gym to gym, but they more strongly work the teardrop, especially when you use a narrow stance.
START | Sit squarely in the machine, hips and back firmly against the seatback. Position your feet on the middle of the platform inside hip-width apart, toes pointed slightly outward.
MOVEMENT | Control the descent of the weight as your knees track toward your shoulders; don't let them buckle inward or outward. Try to get to a 90-degree bend, but stop short of allowing your glutes and low back to curl up off the pad. Press strongly through the soles of your feet to full extension, but don't lock out your knees.
SETS REPS | Because you preceded this move with a pre-exhaust, you may not be able to go as heavy as you might normally, but shoot for three sets of 8-10 reps.
RELATED ARTICLE: THE QUAD WORKOUT
>> Even though the compound moves within this routine will hit the hams and glutes as well, this workout targets the inner quad first, then the outer quad and finally the mid-quad. You can alternate what area you train first from one workout to the next--inner vs. outer quad--based on your weakest areas and what you want to build. Follow this program for 4-6 weeks, or alternate it with a routine that better targets the glutes and hams (which would include squats, and leg presses and hack squats with your feet normally placed, while holding off on the leg extension until the end).
EXERCISE SETS (1) REPS (2)
TARGET: INNER QUAD (TEARDROP)/VASTUS MEDIALIS
Leg Extension (toes out) 4 10-12
Leg Press 3 8-10
TARGET: OUTER QUAD SWEEP/VASTUS LATERALIS
Leg Extension (toes in) 4 10-12
Hack Squat 3 8-10
Half Hack Squat 3 6
TARGET: LOWER MID-QUAD/RECTUS FEMORIS
Leg Extension 3 10
Smith Machine Squat 3 8-10
(1) Excludes warm-up sets
(2) Choose a weight that allows you to barely complete the target rep
with good form. As you get stronger and can hit the rep target, boost
your poundages accordingly.
RELATED ARTICLE: SMITH MACHINE SQUAT
>> Keep your feet in the more standard stance--about shoulder-width apart, toes pointed just slightly outward.
START | Secure the bar atop your upper back. Standing directly underneath it, press up slightly through your legs, rotating the bar to unrack it. Carefully widen your stance to just outside shoulder width, with your chest up and head straight.
MOVEMENT | As if sitting back in a chair, bend your hips and knees to descend into a squat position, stopping when your knees approach a 90-degree angle. Pause at the bottom, then powerfully press through your legs, driving back up to the start position. Squeeze your legs at the top and repeat.
SETS REPS | Do three sets of 8-10 reps.
gbrice75
We're not talking about a sensitive "modern" guy who's in touch with his inner self, eyes welling up just watching a TV rerun of Titanic or whose football team lost the championship on the final play. (Curse you, Longhorns!) Instead, his lament concerns his legs: They're pretty well-developed overall, but the state of his so-called "teardrop" muscle near the knee makes him downright misty-eyed, and the sweep on his outer quads, well, let's just say the only sweeping he's doing these days involves a broom.
If you can relate, the good news is there's no reason to weep over legs that need work. Instead of accepting such shortcomings, it's time to step up and radically rearrange your leg workout to focus on moves that emphasize the quads, specifically the teardrop and outer sweep (vastus medialis and vastus lateralis, respectively). By changing up the order of your single-joint and compound moves, repositioning your feet on a couple of exercises and doing very heavy half-squats, your quads will beef up in no time. When all is said and done, the only tears you'll see will be the ones that sit just above your knees.
ON TARGET
Multijoint leg exercises hit three large muscle groups: the quadriceps, glutes and hamstrings. But not every exercise hits them equally, which is why you can target a weak spot of your quads, such as the inner and outer portions of the lower quads, by making adjustments in your leg workout. To emphasize the quads over the glutes and hams, change up a number of things in your routine.
>> Stance I Any squatting move in which your feet are directly under your body and your knees travel over your toes more directly hits the quads. The hack squat with your feet low on the platform is an excellent example. Foot position is also important in an exercise such as the Smith machine squat, where you can really shift the muscular stress. The single-joint leg extension also isolates the quads, and that move plays a prominent role in this workout.
>> Stance II How far apart you position your feet affects muscle recruitment. While multijoint movements work the quads, hams and glutes, the leg press in particular shifts some emphasis to the teardrop, and a narrow stance on the hack squat better targets the outer quads (sweep).
>> Foot Position On a single-joint move such as the leg extension, turning your feet inward more strongly activates the muscle fibers of the outer quads. Turn your feet outward to focus on the teardrop (inner quad).
>> Pre-Exhaust Start the workout with a single-joint pre-exhaust move for the quads before doing a multijoint exercise. This allows you to fatigue the target area (quads) with the leg extension so it can be further fatigued on the compound exercise, turning it into the weak link: When you reach muscle failure, it will be the quads that have failed, not another contributing muscle group. Ultimately, this method forces your quads to work overtime while reducing the emphasis on the other major muscle groups involved in the compound exercise.
>> Partial Reps Doing very heavy half-squats in which you descend only halfway instead of using a full range of motion, in this case on the hack squat, puts more stress on the quads (which are more active over the top half of the movement). Because you're limiting your training to an area that's particularly strong over the range of motion (well above the so-called sticking point), you can really overload the area where you have the greatest strength. And since you're doing sets of just six reps for this exercise, you can pile on the weight.
You undoubtedly focus some chest workouts on the upper or lower pecs for optimal overall development, and it should be no different with your leg workouts. Get in the habit of making a few subtle changes to your leg routine to fine-tune areas you want to build or bring up. Bringing up your lower quads will have you seeing tears of joy.
BY BILL GEIGER, MA
PHOTOS BY PAVEL YTHJALL
RELATED ARTICLE
LEG EXTENSION
>> To put extra emphasis on the inner quad (vastus medialis, or teardrop), turn your feet outward; to target the outer quad sweep (vastus lateralis), turn your feet inward. Do not use such extreme foot positioning when your feet are planted against a stable surface that you push against, as when doing squats, leg presses and hack squats. This single-joint move is done as a pre-exhaust to more strongly tax the lower quads before the compound exercises that follow.
START | Adjust the seat so your knees are just off the edge and bent 90 degrees. Sit squarely on the seat with your back supported and feet under the pad; turn both feet outward (or inward). To reduce knee torque, slightly rotate your legs in the direction your feet are facing.
MOVEMENT | Contract your quads to straighten your legs, holding the peak-contracted position momentarily before releasing slowly. The weight stack shouldn't touch down between reps.
SETS REPS | Try a couple of practice sets to ensure the ankle lever is properly placed and you're using the right weight to get four sets of 10-12 reps. Because leg extensions come before heavier compound moves, you'll find you can use a bit more weight, though turning your feet in or out puts you in a slightly less powerful foot position.
LEG EXTENSION
>> Keeping your toes pointed forward will put the emphasis on the rectus femoris, the quad muscle that runs up the middle of your front thigh.
START | Same start position as the leg extension with your toes in/out, but keep them pointing forward.
MOVEMENT | Same execution as leg extension (toes in/out).
SETS REPS | Do three sets of 10 reps.
RELATED ARTICLE: HACK SQUAT
>> The hack squat allows you to train to failure without worrying about balance, and using a narrow stance better targets the outer quad sweep. Precede this move with the toes-in leg extension to focus on the vastus lateralis.
START | Position your body squarely under the shoulder pads, back against the pad, feet just inside hip-width and low on the platform. (If your heels rise as you descend, place your feet a bit higher.)
MOVEMENT | Bend your knees to descend into a deep squat until your thighs are about parallel to the platform. Smoothly reverse direction and press to full extension without locking out your knees at the top.
SETS REPS | Because you preceded this exercise with the leg extension, you may not be able to use the weight you typically do. Do three sets of 8-10 reps.
RELATED ARTICLE: HALF HACK SQUAT
>> After your full-range hacks, it's time to overload the quads by working through just the top half of the range of motion (which is well above the sticking point of the exercise). Since you're looking to do just six reps, add some plates to really overload your quads.
START | Same start position as the hack squat, but move your feet a bit higher on the platform about shoulder-width apart to give you maximal drive.
MOVEMENT | Some hack squat machines have "stops" that allow you to work in a defined range of motion, but your best bet is to simply go halfway down (of your full-range-of-motion sets) and press back up.
SETS REPS | Three sets of six reps using very heavy weight.
RELATED ARTICLE: LEG PRESS
>> Leg-press machines vary from gym to gym, but they more strongly work the teardrop, especially when you use a narrow stance.
START | Sit squarely in the machine, hips and back firmly against the seatback. Position your feet on the middle of the platform inside hip-width apart, toes pointed slightly outward.
MOVEMENT | Control the descent of the weight as your knees track toward your shoulders; don't let them buckle inward or outward. Try to get to a 90-degree bend, but stop short of allowing your glutes and low back to curl up off the pad. Press strongly through the soles of your feet to full extension, but don't lock out your knees.
SETS REPS | Because you preceded this move with a pre-exhaust, you may not be able to go as heavy as you might normally, but shoot for three sets of 8-10 reps.
RELATED ARTICLE: THE QUAD WORKOUT
>> Even though the compound moves within this routine will hit the hams and glutes as well, this workout targets the inner quad first, then the outer quad and finally the mid-quad. You can alternate what area you train first from one workout to the next--inner vs. outer quad--based on your weakest areas and what you want to build. Follow this program for 4-6 weeks, or alternate it with a routine that better targets the glutes and hams (which would include squats, and leg presses and hack squats with your feet normally placed, while holding off on the leg extension until the end).
EXERCISE SETS (1) REPS (2)
TARGET: INNER QUAD (TEARDROP)/VASTUS MEDIALIS
Leg Extension (toes out) 4 10-12
Leg Press 3 8-10
TARGET: OUTER QUAD SWEEP/VASTUS LATERALIS
Leg Extension (toes in) 4 10-12
Hack Squat 3 8-10
Half Hack Squat 3 6
TARGET: LOWER MID-QUAD/RECTUS FEMORIS
Leg Extension 3 10
Smith Machine Squat 3 8-10
(1) Excludes warm-up sets
(2) Choose a weight that allows you to barely complete the target rep
with good form. As you get stronger and can hit the rep target, boost
your poundages accordingly.
RELATED ARTICLE: SMITH MACHINE SQUAT
>> Keep your feet in the more standard stance--about shoulder-width apart, toes pointed just slightly outward.
START | Secure the bar atop your upper back. Standing directly underneath it, press up slightly through your legs, rotating the bar to unrack it. Carefully widen your stance to just outside shoulder width, with your chest up and head straight.
MOVEMENT | As if sitting back in a chair, bend your hips and knees to descend into a squat position, stopping when your knees approach a 90-degree angle. Pause at the bottom, then powerfully press through your legs, driving back up to the start position. Squeeze your legs at the top and repeat.
SETS REPS | Do three sets of 8-10 reps.
gbrice75