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what are the best and worst quad
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exercises for muscle growth well in this
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video I'll be ranking 20 of the most
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popular movements on a tier list from s
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for super to F for fail and at the end
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I'll Crown one exercise as the best of
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the best and one as the worst of the
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worst and for a quad exercise to get
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into s tier it needs to tick three boxes
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first High quad tension especially in
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the stretched position second it needs
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to feel good that means it doesn't cause
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knee pain and it has a smooth resistance
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profile third it needs to have a simple
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progression that means you can apply
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Progressive overload by either adding
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some weight or a rep from week to week
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now as I'm sure you all know there are
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four heads of the quadriceps hence the
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quad prefects actually one recent
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Anatomy paper suggested that there could
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be a fifth head but if it does exist in
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some of us I don't think it changes
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anything training wise the foreheads are
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the vastest medialis also known as the
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teardrop muscle on the inside the
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vastest intermedius which runs down the
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middle the vastest lateralis on the
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outside and finally there's the rectus
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femoris which is a long flat head that
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also runs down the middle on top of the
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other heads all four heads contract to
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perform knee extension which is when you
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straighten your knee out so every
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exercise we cover performs knee
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extension however one head that long
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flat rectus femoris has a second
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function it also performs something
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called hip flexion which is when you
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raise your leg up to the front keep this
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in mind for later all right let's get
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the worst out of the way so you guys
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don't waste any time on them let's see
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squat combination exercises like the the
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squat plus press and the lunge plus curl
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are going straight to F tier that's
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because your quads are way stronger than
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your shoulders or your arms so your
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upper body is always going to fatigue
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well before your quads bosu ball squats
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are so bad I didn't even film them the
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problem is because they're so unstable
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your ankle ends up doing a lot of the
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stabilization work and that severely
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limits the amount of tension that your
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quads receive they might have some
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utility in some athletic contexts but
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for building muscle bosu ball squats are
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going straight to F tier all right so
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what about the most popular quad
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exercise of all time the barbell back
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squat well let's see it offers high
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tension on the quads deep in the hole
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when they're most stretched they should
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feel good especially once you lock in
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your bar path and they might be one of
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the best exercises for Progressive
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overload period you can always add a
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little weight or a rep each week as you
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gain size and strength now because it's
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a free weight squat your spinal Erectors
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will have to do some stabilization but
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that's not a deal breaker in my opinion
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your quads are still the prime movers
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and if you need any proof that squats
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can build some monster quads just go to
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a powerlifting meat all the biggest
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squatters will have some massive quads
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and I don't think I've ever seen an
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exception to that now some Anatomy
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enjoyers will point out that the rectus
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fous head is not maximally activated by
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the squat because unlike the other three
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heads it's shortening at the knee while
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lengthening at the hip this is true
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however studies still show pretty solid
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rectus femoris growth with squats and as
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long as you include one other exercise
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in your program that will get to this
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concern completely goes away so while
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the mild Anatomy concern almost pulls it
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back to a tier I just can't take the
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barbell back squat out of s tier without
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a guilty conscience the barbell front
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squat has all the same upsides of the
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barbell back squat except it actually
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shifts even more tension to the quads
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that's because where the barbell Center
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of mass is shifted forward in front of
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your neck you're forced to keep a more
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upright posture so you don't fall over
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this increases the moment arm to the
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knee joint placing more tension on the
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quads that said the forward bar Position
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will also force your upper back to work
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harder and some coaches argue that this
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causes your upper back to become the
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limiting factor I don't fully agree
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unless you're going super heavy you
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really should be able to keep your
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elbows up and you should be able to get
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your quads close to failure without your
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back giving out first now front squats
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will lose a few points in the feels good
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department for some of you but remember
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that for bodybuilding you can use the
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two-finger grip the crossed arm grip or
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the strap grip whatever feels best from
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there just focus on keeping your elbows
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up squatting down between your legs and
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standing back up with a tall chest I'm
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going to put these in a tier because
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despite activating the quads a bit more
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I find enough people just hate doing
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them or find the bar position awkward
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and I don't think there's enough of a
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tension shift to Trump that if you can
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do them comfortably though I'd have no
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problem if you bump them up to S tier
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Okay so we've covered a high bar back
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squat in a front squat what about a low
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bar back squat for a low bar squat you
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shift the barbell Down 2 or 3 in so it
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sits on your rear delts instead of your
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upper traps and research shows that
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while this technique will allow you to
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load more total weight it actually
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shifts some of the tension away from
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your quads and onto your glutes this
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isn't a complete deal breaker though
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because you you still see extremely high
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quad activity as long as you're
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squatting to a reasonable depth low
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breath squats are going in a tier as
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well the hack squat is a longtime
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bodybuilding staple and it ticks all the
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same boxes as the barbell squat plus it
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has a few extra benefits you can
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generally get your sets done a bit
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faster because there's less setup you'll
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be a bit more locked in meaning less
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stabilization work and potentially more
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direct quad tension and you can play
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with your foot position to find a
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comfortable spot without worrying about
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your balance contrary to popular belief
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the latest science shows that on average
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free weights and machines can both build
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muscle roughly equally as long as you're
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pushing your sets hard this is truly a
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brilliant quad Builder and it's
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obviously going an S TI the pendulum
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squat is similar to the hack squat
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except the weight moves up and down in
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an arc I actually find this resistance
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path feels more natural than the linear
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hack squat so these movements just keep
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getting better and better that said most
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gyms don't have a pendulum squat so not
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everyone will be able to do it I still
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think it belongs in s tier though all
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right last squat type movement for now
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the Smith machine squat seems to be a
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bit more accepted now than it was for or
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5 years ago especially as more top
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bodybuilders gravitate to it I think the
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best thing about the Smith machine is
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that you can actually push your quads
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close to or to failure without that same
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fear of falling over or needing to dump
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the bar and other than potentially redu
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stabilizer involvement it really is the
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same basic movement pattern as the free
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weight barbell Squat and so for
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hypertrophy it also has to go in s tier
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all right let's move on to the 45° leg
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press since you're also flexing and
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extending the knee the quads will of
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course receive high tension however I do
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find that a lot of leg presses don't
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allow me to get as deep as I can get on
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a squat again as far as hypertrophy is
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concerned the deeper you can get the
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better so if you're not able to get your
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calves cheer glutes you might not be
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getting as much out of a leg press as
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you would out of a deep squat outside of
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that though leg presses do generally
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feel good and they are good for overload
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I'm going to put them in a tier now the
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horizontal leg press is worse in my
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opinion because they almost always have
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even more limited range of motion so
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it'll be harder to get high tension in
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the Deep stretch and once your legs get
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decently strong you'll probably max out
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the machine which means overload is
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going to be more limited for
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intermediate to Advanced lifters the
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horizontal leg press is going in C tier
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the lunge is a better glute Builder than
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it is a quad builder in my experience
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even though it will grow both you get
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some stretch and some tension on the
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quads but not as much as you get on the
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glutes they do feel good but if you're
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doing them right you should feel your
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glutes more than your quads you can get
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the quads more involved by taking more
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shallow steps and there's nothing wrong
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with that but I think they're best
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utilized and best thought of as a glute
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Builder as a quad exercise they're going
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in B tier but I'd say they'd probably be
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a or S tier for glute growth all right
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the leg extension this is a surprisingly
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controversial one some people say that
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they're bad for your knees but this has
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been thoroughly debunked now if you have
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bad knees or they give you knee pain you
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should go easy on them but there's no
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convincing evidence that they cause knee
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issues any more than any other quad
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exercise but the great thing about the
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leg extension is that your hips are
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fixed this means that unlike squat based
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exercises your rectus femoris will
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actually stretch and contract here this
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makes it the first exercise where all
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four heads of the quads will be highly
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engaged this is even more the case if
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you set the seat back in fact a brand
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new study found significantly more
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overall quad growth and especially more
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rectus fous growth with the seat back
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leg extension position that's most
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likely because it places the rectus Fus
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under more stretch or it at least trains
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it at a longer muscle length assuming
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you're leaning back and you've got a
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machine that stretches your quads well I
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think they're good enough to get into a
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tier they don't have quite the same
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overload potential as squats do and even
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though some studies do show similar leg
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growth between leg extensions and squats
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those are short-term studies and I'm
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just frankly doubtful that doing leg
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extensions will net you the same quad
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gains as doing squats over the long term
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that said they're still a staple on my
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leg days and they're an exercise I
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definitely think is worth including all
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right the reverse Nordic is the same
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basic movement pattern as a leg
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extension except they have the added
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benefit of being more accessible you
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don't need a leg extension machine to do
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them you can also get a much deeper
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stretch on your quads here the slight
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negative though is that they are really
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tough meaning beginners might struggle
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with them and they can be hard to
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overload with weight so you're a bit
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more limited on your overload options
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you can still add a rep each week though
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or try to get a bit deeper and because
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the stretch is s tier on these and
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they're so accessible I'm going to put
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them in a tier overall but if you find
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them really awkward I'd be cool if you
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drop them back a tier or two all right
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let's knock out three final squat
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variations one that I love one that I
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hate and one that's just okay goblet
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squats are biomechanically very similar
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to a barbell front squat so they will
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highly activate your quads but because
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you have to hold a dumbbell in your
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hands they're actually a lot harder to
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overload once your quads get decently
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strong you'll be able to squat a lot
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more weight than you'll be able to
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comfortably hold so the goblet squat
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will quickly be limited to high rep sets
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only these days I generally only use it
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in two contexts for teaching the squat
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to beginners and as a high rep finisher
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exercise these are just okay for me and
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I'm putting them in C or B tier I guess
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B tier since they definitely can have
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their place jump squats will burn some
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calories and they aren't terrible for
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building explosive power but as a muscle
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builder there are just too many other
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better options out there that'll provide
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more more tension and more overload I'm
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not a fan of these for hypertrophy so
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they're going in F tier Bulgarian split
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squats are brutal but they sure do work
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you'll get a huge stretch on your quads
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and doing each leg unilaterally can be
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very helpful for preventing any left to
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right muscle imbalances but because
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they're so fatiguing and psychologically
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challenging I usually only program two
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sets of these per workout your quads
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will get more sore doing these than on
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almost any other exercise and while
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soreness isn't a onetoone predictor of
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hypertrophy in this case I think it is a
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good indication that hitting the right
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muscle I'm putting Bulgarian split
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squats in s tier deadlifts do activate
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the quads but not nearly as much as
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squats do that's not surprising when you
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look at the side view as far as the
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quads are concerned a deadlift is
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basically a quarter squat you'll get a
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bit more quad involvement if you
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deadlift with a Sumo stance but they
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still don't hold the candle to squats
00:10:16
for Quad growth they're a much better
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glute Builder and they're an excellent
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overall strength Builder but for
00:10:20
quadriceps and muscle growth deadlifts
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are going in C tier step-ups are equally
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not fun as Bulgarian split squats but
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also less effective because you get less
00:10:29
quad stretch and they're less stable
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they do offer a pretty solid glute
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stimulus though especially if you avoid
00:10:34
lifting off your back foot and they can
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have their place but overall I'm feeling
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C tier on these pistol squats are an
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impressive movement if you can do them
00:10:42
but the lack of stability and overload
00:10:43
limitations knock them down quite a bit
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for me if you're limited to at home
00:10:47
workouts or body weight training I think
00:10:48
they're great but assuming you have gym
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access there are just so many better
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options I'm going to put pistol squats
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in C tier as a quad Builder squats
00:10:56
are similar to reverse nordics and that
00:10:58
they get a huge stretch on your quads
00:11:00
and don't let the name deceive you these
00:11:02
are very challenging that said they're a
00:11:04
bit harder to load so I find them mainly
00:11:05
limited to adding reps when it comes to
00:11:07
Progressive overload and I find that
00:11:09
they have more of a learning curve than
00:11:10
the other squat options people can also
00:11:12
find it awkward going up onto their toes
00:11:13
and getting their knees all the way
00:11:15
forward but if you can get the technique
00:11:17
down I do think they're probably the
00:11:18
best squat option for getting into a
00:11:20
super deep stretch on the quads so
00:11:23
despite some limitations I'm feeling A
00:11:25
or B tier on these I do find them a bit
00:11:27
awkward though so let's go with B tier
00:11:29
all right and if I had to Crown just one
00:11:31
exercise as the best of the best for
00:11:32
Quad growth I think I'd have to go with
00:11:34
a hack squat I personally find the
00:11:36
pendulum squat feels better but because
00:11:38
most gyms don't have one I'll go with a
00:11:39
hack squat the one issue with hacks is
00:11:41
that on some machines you can't get to
00:11:43
full depth without coming up solid if
00:11:45
that's the case for you try adding some
00:11:46
yoga blocks on top of your shoulders and
00:11:48
then you'll be able to get all the way
00:11:49
down and if your gym doesn't have a hack
00:11:51
squat I'd say a high bar barbell back
00:11:53
squat would be my alternate go-to as a
00:11:55
number one quad Builder and if I had to
00:11:57
pick one exercise as the worst of the
00:11:58
worst I guess it have to be the bosu
00:12:00
ball squat just get rid of the bosu ball
00:12:02
and it immediately becomes more stable
00:12:04
more safe and more effective now do you
00:12:07
know the best and worst triceps
00:12:08
exercises if not you got to check out my
00:12:11
new video on triceps training over here
00:12:13
and that's it for this one guys don't
00:12:14
forget to leave me a thumbs up if you
00:12:15
enjoyed the video subscribe if you
00:12:17
haven't already and I'll see you guys
00:12:18
all here in the next one
