The Best & Worst Quad Exercises (Ranked Using Science)

[00:01] exercises for muscle growth well in this video I'll be ranking 20 of the most popular movements on a tier list from s for super to F for fail and at the end I'll Crown one exercise as the best of the best and one as the worst of the

[00:15] worst and for a quad exercise to get into s tier it needs to tick three boxes first High quad tension especially in the stretched position second it needs to feel good that means it doesn't cause knee pain and it has a smooth resistance

[00:29] profile third it needs to have a simple progression that means you can apply Progressive overload by either adding some weight or a rep from week to week now as I'm sure you all know there are four heads of the quadriceps hence the

[00:41] quad prefects actually one recent Anatomy paper suggested that there could some of us I don't think it changes anything training wise the foreheads are the vastest medialis also known as the teardrop muscle on the inside the

[00:55] vastest intermedius which runs down the middle the vastest lateralis on the outside and finally there's the rectus femoris which is a long flat head that also runs down the middle on top of the other heads all four heads contract to

[01:08] straighten your knee out so every exercise we cover performs knee extension however one head that long flat rectus femoris has a second called hip flexion which is when you raise your leg up to the front keep this

[01:23] the worst out of the way so you guys don't waste any time on them let's see squat combination exercises like the the squat plus press and the lunge plus curl because your quads are way stronger than your shoulders or your arms so your

[01:37] upper body is always going to fatigue well before your quads bosu ball squats are so bad I didn't even film them the problem is because they're so unstable stabilization work and that severely limits the amount of tension that your

[01:50] utility in some athletic contexts but for building muscle bosu ball squats are what about the most popular quad exercise of all time the barbell back squat well let's see it offers high tension on the quads deep in the hole

[02:05] when they're most stretched they should feel good especially once you lock in the best exercises for Progressive overload period you can always add a gain size and strength now because it's a free weight squat your spinal Erectors

[02:19] will have to do some stabilization but that's not a deal breaker in my opinion and if you need any proof that squats can build some monster quads just go to a powerlifting meat all the biggest squatters will have some massive quads

[02:32] exception to that now some Anatomy enjoyers will point out that the rectus fous head is not maximally activated by the squat because unlike the other three heads it's shortening at the knee while lengthening at the hip this is true

[02:46] however studies still show pretty solid rectus femoris growth with squats and as long as you include one other exercise in your program that will get to this concern completely goes away so while the mild Anatomy concern almost pulls it

[02:58] back to a tier I just can't take the barbell back squat out of s tier without a guilty conscience the barbell front squat has all the same upsides of the barbell back squat except it actually shifts even more tension to the quads

[03:10] of mass is shifted forward in front of your neck you're forced to keep a more upright posture so you don't fall over this increases the moment arm to the knee joint placing more tension on the quads that said the forward bar Position

[03:23] will also force your upper back to work harder and some coaches argue that this limiting factor I don't fully agree unless you're going super heavy you elbows up and you should be able to get your quads close to failure without your

[03:37] will lose a few points in the feels good department for some of you but remember that for bodybuilding you can use the two-finger grip the crossed arm grip or the strap grip whatever feels best from there just focus on keeping your elbows

[03:50] up squatting down between your legs and standing back up with a tall chest I'm going to put these in a tier because despite activating the quads a bit more I find enough people just hate doing them or find the bar position awkward

[04:02] tension shift to Trump that if you can do them comfortably though I'd have no Okay so we've covered a high bar back squat in a front squat what about a low bar back squat for a low bar squat you shift the barbell Down 2 or 3 in so it

[04:17] upper traps and research shows that while this technique will allow you to shifts some of the tension away from your quads and onto your glutes this because you you still see extremely high quad activity as long as you're

[04:32] breath squats are going in a tier as well the hack squat is a longtime bodybuilding staple and it ticks all the same boxes as the barbell squat plus it generally get your sets done a bit faster because there's less setup you'll

[04:45] be a bit more locked in meaning less stabilization work and potentially more with your foot position to find a comfortable spot without worrying about your balance contrary to popular belief the latest science shows that on average

[04:58] free weights and machines can both build muscle roughly equally as long as you're brilliant quad Builder and it's squat is similar to the hack squat except the weight moves up and down in

[05:11] an arc I actually find this resistance path feels more natural than the linear hack squat so these movements just keep getting better and better that said most everyone will be able to do it I still think it belongs in s tier though all

[05:24] right last squat type movement for now the Smith machine squat seems to be a 5 years ago especially as more top bodybuilders gravitate to it I think the that you can actually push your quads close to or to failure without that same

[05:38] fear of falling over or needing to dump the bar and other than potentially redu same basic movement pattern as the free weight barbell Squat and so for hypertrophy it also has to go in s tier all right let's move on to the 45° leg

[05:52] extending the knee the quads will of course receive high tension however I do allow me to get as deep as I can get on a squat again as far as hypertrophy is concerned the deeper you can get the better so if you're not able to get your

[06:07] getting as much out of a leg press as you would out of a deep squat outside of that though leg presses do generally feel good and they are good for overload I'm going to put them in a tier now the horizontal leg press is worse in my

[06:20] opinion because they almost always have even more limited range of motion so it'll be harder to get high tension in the Deep stretch and once your legs get decently strong you'll probably max out the machine which means overload is

[06:32] intermediate to Advanced lifters the horizontal leg press is going in C tier the lunge is a better glute Builder than it is a quad builder in my experience some stretch and some tension on the quads but not as much as you get on the

[06:46] glutes they do feel good but if you're doing them right you should feel your the quads more involved by taking more shallow steps and there's nothing wrong utilized and best thought of as a glute Builder as a quad exercise they're going

[07:00] in B tier but I'd say they'd probably be a or S tier for glute growth all right the leg extension this is a surprisingly controversial one some people say that been thoroughly debunked now if you have bad knees or they give you knee pain you

[07:14] should go easy on them but there's no convincing evidence that they cause knee exercise but the great thing about the leg extension is that your hips are fixed this means that unlike squat based exercises your rectus femoris will

[07:28] makes it the first exercise where all four heads of the quads will be highly engaged this is even more the case if you set the seat back in fact a brand overall quad growth and especially more rectus fous growth with the seat back

[07:43] likely because it places the rectus Fus under more stretch or it at least trains you're leaning back and you've got a machine that stretches your quads well I tier they don't have quite the same overload potential as squats do and even

[07:58] though some studies do show similar leg growth between leg extensions and squats just frankly doubtful that doing leg extensions will net you the same quad that said they're still a staple on my leg days and they're an exercise I

[08:12] right the reverse Nordic is the same basic movement pattern as a leg extension except they have the added benefit of being more accessible you them you can also get a much deeper stretch on your quads here the slight

[08:25] tough meaning beginners might struggle with them and they can be hard to overload with weight so you're a bit more limited on your overload options or try to get a bit deeper and because the stretch is s tier on these and

[08:38] they're so accessible I'm going to put them in a tier overall but if you find drop them back a tier or two all right let's knock out three final squat variations one that I love one that I hate and one that's just okay goblet

[08:50] squats are biomechanically very similar to a barbell front squat so they will you have to hold a dumbbell in your hands they're actually a lot harder to overload once your quads get decently strong you'll be able to squat a lot

[09:03] comfortably hold so the goblet squat will quickly be limited to high rep sets only these days I generally only use it in two contexts for teaching the squat to beginners and as a high rep finisher exercise these are just okay for me and

[09:16] I'm putting them in C or B tier I guess B tier since they definitely can have calories and they aren't terrible for building explosive power but as a muscle builder there are just too many other better options out there that'll provide

[09:29] not a fan of these for hypertrophy so they're going in F tier Bulgarian split squats are brutal but they sure do work you'll get a huge stretch on your quads and doing each leg unilaterally can be very helpful for preventing any left to

[09:43] right muscle imbalances but because they're so fatiguing and psychologically sets of these per workout your quads will get more sore doing these than on almost any other exercise and while soreness isn't a onetoone predictor of

[09:56] good indication that hitting the right muscle I'm putting Bulgarian split squats in s tier deadlifts do activate the quads but not nearly as much as look at the side view as far as the quads are concerned a deadlift is

[10:10] bit more quad involvement if you deadlift with a Sumo stance but they for Quad growth they're a much better glute Builder and they're an excellent overall strength Builder but for quadriceps and muscle growth deadlifts

[10:23] are going in C tier step-ups are equally not fun as Bulgarian split squats but also less effective because you get less quad stretch and they're less stable stimulus though especially if you avoid lifting off your back foot and they can

[10:36] have their place but overall I'm feeling C tier on these pistol squats are an but the lack of stability and overload limitations knock them down quite a bit workouts or body weight training I think they're great but assuming you have gym

[10:50] access there are just so many better options I'm going to put pistol squats in C tier as a quad Builder squats are similar to reverse nordics and that they get a huge stretch on your quads and don't let the name deceive you these

[11:02] bit harder to load so I find them mainly limited to adding reps when it comes to they have more of a learning curve than the other squat options people can also and getting their knees all the way forward but if you can get the technique

[11:17] best squat option for getting into a super deep stretch on the quads so despite some limitations I'm feeling A or B tier on these I do find them a bit awkward though so let's go with B tier all right and if I had to Crown just one

[11:31] Quad growth I think I'd have to go with a hack squat I personally find the most gyms don't have one I'll go with a hack squat the one issue with hacks is that on some machines you can't get to full depth without coming up solid if

[11:45] yoga blocks on top of your shoulders and then you'll be able to get all the way down and if your gym doesn't have a hack squat I'd say a high bar barbell back squat would be my alternate go-to as a number one quad Builder and if I had to

[11:57] worst I guess it have to be the bosu ball squat just get rid of the bosu ball and it immediately becomes more stable more safe and more effective now do you know the best and worst triceps exercises if not you got to check out my

[12:11] and that's it for this one guys don't forget to leave me a thumbs up if you haven't already and I'll see you guys all here in the next one