How To Build Up Your Quads & Make Them Stronger

This is why your own confidence matters in fitness. Some time last week, I was scrolling through Threads and I stumbled on someone’s post. She had mentioned that she had seen so many fitness influencers pushing out glute content over the years and she had convinced herself that this was what she wanted. After taking a step back, she realised that was never her intention. Her intention was to grow her quads, but her algorithm pushed her towards content that she wasn’t looking for. In short, it influenced her to focus on glute growth instead of quad growth.

I have found so many comments from a growing amount of women who are searching for other women and male fitness trainers and coaches that focus on having a balanced and strong physique. I think that is due to both maturity and awareness that fitness is more than aesthetics. Some people lead active lifestyles to prioritise movement and maintain health as they get older. Others may start with aesthetics, then switch to focus on strength and performance. Then, there is a small group who purely do it for aesthetics. The point is that everyone has their individual goals for why they got into fitness. I got into it for strength and health. In my opinion, aesthetics is just a by-product of my main goal.

It is easy to be swayed by what you see online and be misdirected for a while. It has happened to me multiple times and it does require taking a step back to put yourself on the right path. This is the importance of having a Why, to keep you grounded and focused.

Training Legs

Most women train legs at least two times a week. Most women likely train them more than any other muscle group. When I first started training, I did not like leg days at all. Once I realised that having a balanced physique meant that I needed to train all muscle groups equally. Or prioritise one group, depending on my goals, my mindset switched. I taught myself how to enjoy leg days more. Then I got into powerlifting and you train legs pretty much everyday.

As I learn more about the science of fitness, I have executed different approaches to build up weaker parts of my body. I made sure to build them into strengths. That has led me to lift numbers that I would have never imagined when I first started out. That is having audacity, which leads me into this new series helping you transform your body one muscle group at a time. So far, I have covered shoulders and hamstrings.

What Are The Quads

The four muscles found at the front of your legs are your quads. They run from below your hips to above the knee. The quads are one of the most important muscle groups. We use them in so many daily activities such as walking, running, jumping, and even maintaining good posture and balance. When you train your quads properly, it improves overall athletic performance and power. They play a vital role in stabilising the knee, protecting your knee from cartilage loss, regulating the way that you walk and flexing your hip. In addition, they play a huge part in building bigger and thicker thighs. If your goal is to build size and make them stronger – you can’t ignore your quads.

I’m sure that you have heard of the saying, “Crushing a watermelon between my thighs”. Hitting that milestone means that your quad strength is out of this world!

Check Out Pinterest Lower Body Exercises

The Anatomy of the Quads

To understand how to train the quads muscles, you need to know what the muscles are and how they function. The quad muscles are made up of four muscles: the muscle in the middle of your thighs (vastus intermedius), and its purpose is to extend the knee. Secondly, the muscle that runs along the outside of your thigh (vastus lateralis), helps to extend your knee joint, as well as, maintaining the thighs and kneecaps while walking. It is the largest quad muscle. Thirdly, the muscle that runs inside your thigh (vastus medialis) helps to straighten your legs at the knee joint. Lastly, the two head muscle (rectus femoris) allows your quads to act both as knee flexors and hip flexors.

Importance of the Quads

Your quads are responsible for aligning your knees, extending your legs at the knee joint and flexing the thigh at the hip joint. One of the things that I have been working on post-physiotherapy is consciously stabilising my knees whenever I do any variation of the squat. Although the front part of my legs were not affected by the injury, I was pushing my weight onto my knees because my hamstrings and glutes were severely weakened. Regardless what your job is, it is very important to have good posture and balance. When you are standing and walking, make sure that you aren’t giving yourself a forward or backward tilt as it will affect the way your knees are stabilised.

Two Types of Quads Movements

There are two joint movements that are effective and necessary to train if your goal is to build up your quads and make them bigger. One of the joint movements is very popular. You will see this in a commercial gyms more often than the other. I’m pretty sure it is a movement that you do often when exercising. These two joint movements are: multi-joint and single joint.

Multi-Joint Movements

The quads are knee flexors which means that they bend at the knee. However the two head muscle allows the quads to act as hip flexors, which makes performing multi-joint movements possible. Multi-joint movements are also known as compound exercises and they train multiple joints and muscles groups at the same time. This is a key movement pattern, the bread and butter to strengthen and building bigger quads and thicker thighs. By training this movement regularly, your knees will be more stable, more aligned with your pelvis and it will improve your quality of life during everyday activities.

Single-Joint Movements

One of the key functions of the quads is straightening and extending the knee joint. Single-joint movements are also known as isolation exercises and they train only one joint and muscle group at a time. They are a key movement pattern in the development of your quads growth as they focus on defining that muscle and correcting muscle imbalances. Think of it this way: compound exercises help you build optimal strength in your muscle groups whereas, isolation exercises help you build bigger muscles in size. By utilising both multi-joint and single joint movements, you are on your way to increasing your quads in size.

Quad Exercises To Add Into Your Routine

Now that you understand the science behind the quads muscles, let’s get into what you are really here for. Any variation of squats will definitely add size and strength to your quads and I’m sure that these are already staples in your routine. If you want this muscle group to become an explosive powerhouse, you need to incorporate a variety of exercises, where you incorporate progressive overload, precision in form and technique, fuelling your body correctly and prioritising sleep quality.

Here are some of the best exercise to build up the quads and increase their size.

Multi-Joint Quads Exercises

Front Squats

Most squat variations will target your quads to some degree i.e. back squats, overhead squats, zercher squats. Due to the placement of the bar in front squats, it will emphasise your quads more and lead to serious quad development. It is one of the best exercises for quad growth, just look at Olympic weightlifters. That is one of their main lifts and their quads are strong! The limiting factor about front squats is wrist mobility and grip strength but luckily, it is something that can be improved. For hypertrophy (muscle building), aim for 3 sets of 7 to 9 reps.

Leg Press

All gyms will have a leg press machine, whether it is a standard one or a vertical one, so you can’t get out of this exercise. The biggest mistake that I see with this exercise is foot placement and full range of motion. If you are aiming for quad growth, your feet should be placed in a narrow stance and in the middle. When you perform this exercise, you want to create a 90 degree angle with your knees pressed close to your chest. Focus on squeezing that muscle and keeping mind-to-muscle connection throughout the set.

Split Squats

Split Squats including all of its variations will have you screaming at the end of the sets, but it is a serious quad builder. You can also use this exercise for glute growth and we will touch base on that during the glute post of this series. It is a versatile exercise that can be done with dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells and the Smith machine. If the back foot of your ankle hurts while doing this exercise, use these alternative methods. For hypertrophy, aim for 3-4 sets of 10 to 12 reps.

Walking Lunges

For the majority of my fitness career, I have absolutely hated lunges because I’m not great at it. For the last eight months, walking lunges have been a staple in my routine and I can say that I hate them a little less.

Walking lunges are brutal and fantastic for quad growth. The biggest tips that I can give you are:

• Don’t rest your knee, it should hover on the descent.
• Shorter strides target the quads
• Press your foot into the ground hard on the ascent
• Keep your torso upright

Single-Joint Quads Exercises

Leg Extension

When people talk about the king of isolation exercises, they always bring up the leg extension. In my opinion, the leg extension is one of the best exercises but I wouldn’t label it as the king. If you play around with the toe placement with this exercise, you are going to get a bang for your buck. A majority of gym goers will point their toes forward and that’s not bad thing. That targets the two head muscle and the front sweep on the quads. If growing bigger quads and making them stronger is your goal, try alternating toes forward by pointing your toes outwards and inwards. Inwards is going to target the vastus lateralis and develop an outward sweep, while outwards is going to target the vastus medialis and develop that teardrop muscle.

Whenever I have three sets of this exercise, my toe placement changes.

Sissy Squats

This is an exercise that you will mostly likely not see at all gyms and most gyms won’t have the machine. Luckily, all you need is something to hold such as a power rack. It is a very challenging bodyweight leg exercise that grows your quads while strengthening ankle, knee and hip mobility. It is the only exercise that I can think of that requires you to bend your knees while keeping your hips locked.

Hip Adduction

For me, the hip adduction machine is the king of isolation quad exercises. I know you are probably thinking, ‘what on earth is she talking about?’ When I found out that adductors make up at least 25% of your thigh mass, I didn’t understand why training adductors weren’t part of a majority of leg programmes. The hip adduction machine will add width to your upper thigh in conjunction with, all the other exercises mentioned in this post.

L-Sits (Calisthenics)

Lastly, a calisthenic exercise called L-Sits. It is a full body isometric exercise that does target the quads, but it also targets smaller muscles such as the core, hip flexors, shoulders, triceps etc. It is not an exercise that you can jump into, but you need to progress up to it. I’m starting calisthenics next month and I can’t wait to build strength in bodyweight exercises including this one.

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And that’s a wrap! What is your favourite multi-joint and single-joint quad exercises? They don’t have to be mentioned in this post. Sound off in the comments! Make sure to hit that subscribe button to join the community and never miss out on a post. Find me on Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok for more powerlifting and wellness content.

Until next time,

Folakemi