The quadriceps are the biggest, most powerful muscles in the entire body, and no physique – for sports nor admiration – is complete without huge and powerful quads.
I’m simply amazed by what I see at the gym. People who are trying to build their quads and perform the most ineffective exercises in the most feeble ways.
Don’t get me wrong – any kind of exercise for the quads is far better than none. Heck, I built respectable quads as a young kid due to my love of cycling, and that was before I even touched a weight, but now I’m talking big quads. And for big quads, squatting exercises have no equal.
Yes, that’s exercises – plural. The traditional squat is the back squat. The bar is placed on the shoulders, behind the neck, held in place by the hands. The back is kept locked out, feet at shoulder width or wider, and the load taken on the quads as you bend below parallel to the knee and back up. Now, I know from experience many people can’t do this exercise well for reasons of extreme body dimensions (long legs are a problem) but if you can – squat this way plenty.
Other great exercises which strengthen the quadriceps and work just as well are front squats, or hack squats – with a machine or free bar. In fact, Vince Gironda said regular squats made guys have big butts – so you may want to try hack and front squats.