3 Exercises (and tips) that will help you build bigger quads as an experienced lifter.
Its not easy to continue to add muscle mass as an intermediate natural lifter. Its certainly alot slowly then the beginner stages and youv'e really got to work harder for every few hundred grams of muscle.
This is where most lifters turn to steroids to push past this supposed 'natural limit'. Its not necessarily a plateau, more so the law of diminishing returns.
In this article i offer tips for 3 quad based movements that will help you boost your growth as an experienced lifter. If your sick of squatting and feel like your spinning your wheels (literally) in the progressive overload trap then these tips might just help you out and offer an alternative. In the video linked I go into a lot more depth and discuss the intricacies of my current quad training and how ive changed from squatting every week to chasing pain on 3 very effective exercises. I go into the lifting form used along with the advanced techniques to increase the sets intensity. My workouts are intense, fast and can help you to maximise your physique development in the least gym time possible.
Exercise #1 - Quad Extensions
 Set the start pin position as lower as possible to allow for fuller range of motion (ROM). The more stretch at the bottom the better!
Adjust the seat position so that the lower shin/high ankle touches the pad. Too low and the leverages will be unfavourable and it will feel uncomfortable on the foot.
Continue the set until you begin to fail achieving full ROM then continue the set with partials. More pain is better!
Exercise #2 - Leg Press
 Perform these AFTER quad extensions to pre exhaust the thighs and make the set harder.
Go as low as possible to stretch the quads our further and increase stimulus. Driving the knees out will hit the adductors and groin more whilst a narrow stance will hit quads more but decrease rom. Â
Don't lock out knees, not because its unsafe but to again further increase the quad stimulus and and reduce the number of reps to failure. You can use lockouts when you perform rest pause (additional reps after break) at the end of the set.
"Quad training is going to be painful, you must embrace it!"
Exercise #3 - Hack Squats (Sissy)
 Perform these on your tip toes for maximum quad stimulus! Less weight will be needed and its far less debilitating.
Try to control the downwards motion slowly and go as low as possible. The movement will feel uncomfortable for anything less than full Rom. Â
Add these towards the end of the workout as an additional quad exercise - after your heavier compound movements. Add a drop set in to further increase the stimulus of the set.
Goodluck,
Ross
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