The Best Tips to Build Stronger Quads and Why You Should

Quads are among the most powerful muscles in the body. They are important aesthetic muscles for bodybuilders and essential for most athletes. For the rest of us, the quads help us get up off the couch and walk to the kitchen.

Whatever your lifestyle or fitness goals, having strong quads should be a goal. Help your clients work toward bigger, stronger quads in a way that meets their goals.

What Are the Quadriceps?

What we tend to refer to as one muscle is actually a group of four that make up the front and side of the thighs. Together, these four individual muscles make up one of the biggest muscle groups in the body, and one of the strongest:

• Vastus lateralis. The vastus lateralis is the muscle that runs along the outside of the thigh, from the femur to the kneecap. It is the largest of the four.

• Vastus medialis. This one runs along the inside of the thigh, also connecting at the femur and kneecap.

• Vastus intermedius. Running between the other two vastus muscles, this is the deepest of the quad muscles.

• Rectus femoris. The rectus femoris connects to the hip bone and the kneecap and runs across the top of the thigh and over the other three muscles.

You use the quad muscles for all kinds of daily movements as well as athletic movements. Because they get so much use and are large, these are powerful muscles. They can do a lot for you when strong and really hold you back if you let them weaken.

The Importance of Strong Quads

Beyond aesthetics, there are several good reasons to focus on building muscle size and strength in the quadriceps:

The Quads Power All Kinds of Daily Movements

From a purely functional standpoint, you need strong quads simply to move about your day. They work together to allow you to move the lower leg at the knee and the upper leg at the hip joint. You use the quads to stand, walk, run, jump, sit, and stand, basically for everything.

Strong Quads Improve Athletic Performance

While the quads power day-to-day movements, they are even more important in athletic movements. Strong quads support speed in running and in sports that require sprinting, like soccer. They power jumps in games like basketball and make you a faster cyclist. In all sports, they stabilize the knees so you can move with greater agility.

Build Stronger Quads to Prevent Injury

Because the quads play such a big role in so many movements, weakness can lead to injuries and especially to problems in the knees. You need strong quad muscles to support movements every day, from getting up from a chair to sprinting to your car in the rain. Weak, imbalanced muscles can lead to falls, twists, and joint damage.

The knees are particularly vulnerable to weakness in the legs. They are the primary muscles that support this crucial joint, so if they aren't up to the job, the knees suffer. Studies have even shown that having weak quads increases your risk of losing cartilage and developing osteoarthritis in the knees.

Top Tips to Build Stronger Quads

Building stronger quad muscle involves using specific exercises that target those muscles. You also need to consider other strategies and workouts. Here are the best tips for getting bigger, stronger quads, fast.

Here's a guide to using bodyweight only to build powerful, strong legs.

Start with a Leg Press

Lifting using barbells is generally more effective for overall strength gains than using machines. Machine exercises have a place, though, so don't count them out. A leg press is a great way to target the quads in a safe way.

This is especially helpful for newbies in the gym. The risk of injury is high when doing squats or lunges with poor form. The leg press allows you to stabilize movements and really focus in on the quads. Your newer clients can build strength this way while working on safe squat form.

Do Plenty of Squats and Lunges

Squats and lunges are basic but also ideal for building quad strength. As compound movements, they hit the quads but also hamstrings, glutes, and other muscles. You get more done with one movement, but both of these make a big impact on the quads.

Another great thing about a squat or lunge is that you can do so many different variations and even add weights to progress. Start with the basics to get good form, and then try these:

• Barbell front squat

• Barbell back squat

• Split squat

• Single-leg squat (pistol squat)

• Weighted squat

• Squat jump

• Weighted lunges

• Jumping lunges

• Curtsy lunges

• Side lunges

• Walking lunges

Add in Some Partial Squats

A partial squat is simply a squat to a lesser degree. Go down just a few inches and come back up again. A standard deep squat recruits the hamstrings and glutes, which is great, but a partial squat really focuses in on the quads. Combine these with full squats and heavy weights for a quad-blasting workout.

Go Heavy

When building muscle strength and size, fewer reps with heavier weights is always more effective and efficient. You'll add strength doing lighter weights and more reps, but you will also hit a wall. Focus on loading up squats and other exercises while doing fewer reps to really see results.

Challenge Yourself with Dropsets and Supersets

Take your leg workout to the next level with more challenging sets. A dropset is when you hit muscle failure, switch to a lighter weight and do more reps. Continue until you get to no weights.

To do a superset, plan a series of sets of quad exercises and do them all in a row with no rest until you have completed them all. Then do it again. Start small with just two sets of different moves. Add more as you progress.

Take Your Workout to the Track

If you ever do spring workouts, you know how important the quads are to running fast. If you rarely spring, you'll be feeling it the next day along the tops of your thighs. The quads are heavily involved in sprinting, especially the rectus femoris.

A weekly track workout can provide both a HIIT session for cardio and a quad strengthening exercise. Start slowly if you or your client is new to sprinting: a few 100-meter sprints with recovery time in between. Progress by adding more sprints or take it up to 200 meters.

Don't Forget to Strengthen the Glutes Too

The glutes are another huge muscle group that power all kinds of functional and athletic movements. They often work in concert with the quads, so an imbalance here can cause problems. As you focus on quads, don't neglect the glutes. Good glute exercises include glute bridges, hip thrusts, single leg deadlifts, split squats, step ups, and clamshells.

Amp up your training expertise on all things glutes with ISSA's Certified Glute Specialist course!

What to Do About a Quad Imbalance

What if your left leg is weaker than your right leg because you are right-handed and favor that side? Imbalances can cause injury and pain, so they are important to address. Test the strength of each leg individually to determine if there are significant differences.

If one leg, the left for instance, is a lot weaker, start training at the level of that leg. Don't do extra on the left side to catch up, as this can cause other kinds of imbalances. It can also lead to overuse or over training injuries.

Check out this post for comprehensive information about the dangers of muscle imbalances and how to correct them.

Building powerful glutes is a great goal for the gym. Help your clients strengthen this important muscle group safely and effectively with these tips.

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