Final month, I talked about how I’ve reincorporated weight machines into my strength-training exercises to good impact.
This 12 months, we’ll be doing a little articles on the best way to use numerous weight machines correctly. One of many advantages of utilizing machines is that they’ve a a lot simpler studying curve than lifting barbells. However there are some things you must find out about utilizing every with a purpose to keep away from ache and harm and use them most successfully for constructing measurement and energy.
First up in these tutorials is the leg extension machine, which targets your quadriceps and your quadriceps alone.
There may be some folklore on the market that the leg machine could cause accidents and places an excessive amount of stress on the knees. However this isn’t borne out by analysis, which has discovered that leg extensions are secure, together with for ACL rehabilitation.
There’s additionally a delusion that leg extensions aren’t purposeful. However quad energy interprets to every thing from strolling to working, and notably to explosive actions like leaping and chopping. Additionally, as a result of folks typically use compensating muscle groups when doing different leg workouts (particularly in the event that they’re coping with accidents), leg extensions, by isolating the quads, may help appropriate energy imbalances created by these compensating methods. That is helpful in stopping new accidents, in addition to re-injuries, notably a second ACL tear.
Not solely are leg extensions a secure strength-building train, in addition they assist offer you outlined and meaty legs, so you may confidently put on your shorty shorts round city. And, because you’re solely transferring a single joint, they carry out this perform with out requiring the form of restoration you want after doing the squat or leg press.
However since leg extensions, like all workouts, are solely secure to do when you do them proper, let’s get into the best way to carry out them correctly.
Setting Up the Machine
My residence health club, plate-loaded leg machine doesn’t have as many adjustment choices as one you’ll discover in a industrial health club, so I couldn’t dial in my place as a lot as you would possibly be capable of, however this a typically good set-up place.
The leg extension itself is an easy motion. The large factor you need to take note of is organising the machine earlier than you begin doing them.
There are a number of changes to make to the machine earlier than you start this train to make sure ergonomic consolation, maximization of strength-producing, hypertrophy-creating power, and the prevention of undue ache and pressure in your joints:
Weight stack/plates. There are completely different colleges of thought on what weight you must use for leg extensions. One is that you must go along with decrease weight since you’re solely utilizing a single joint to maneuver the burden, and also you’re not capable of exert that a lot power with out kind breaking down. To get the hypertrophic stimulus with decrease weight, you’ll must do excessive reps within the 15-20 vary. In the event you’re going to go the excessive rep route with leg extensions, carry out them on the finish of your exercise, so that you don’t fatigue your self for the principle leg train just like the squat.
The opposite college of thought is that so long as you may carry out the reps with good kind and with out ache, you may persist with the standard 8-12 rep vary prescribed for hypertrophy and go heavier.
Experiment and discover what works for you.
Seat again distance. The seat again could be adjusted forwards or backwards. Positioning it accurately will reduce undue pressure in your knees and let you produce most power. You wish to transfer the seat again in order that whenever you sit down, your knees are usually not too far in entrance of the sting of the seat’s base, nor too far again. Your knees ought to align with the leg bar’s pivot level. The creases on the backs of the knees ought to sit towards the sting of the butt pad.
Leg pad peak. The pad that can sit on prime of your decrease legs can typically be adjusted up or down. The pad ought to relaxation the place the ankle flexes. Not up in your shins or down in the direction of your toes.
Leg bar vary of movement. The leg bar could be adjusted in order that it sits kind of below the seat’s base. The additional again it sits, the larger the vary of movement that might be attainable in your leg extensions. Modify the leg bar to full depth to maximise the vary of movement.
There may be typically additionally a pad that may be adjusted over the thighs to lock them down. As your butt/legs shouldn’t come up when you’re positioned accurately and do the train correctly, this pad isn’t crucial.
When you’ve bought all these changes in place, chances are you’ll wish to make a remark someplace of the numbered positions of every piece, so the subsequent time you employ the machine, you gained’t need to spend time fiddling round and making the changes via trial and error.
Doing Leg Extensions
Now that the machine is ready up proper, it’s time to do a correct leg extension:
Sluggish and managed. The large mistake folks make with this train is bouncing/swinging the leg bar up, utilizing momentum, and letting it drop again down. As a substitute, you wish to elevate the bar up and produce it down in a sluggish and managed method. Sluggish and managed is the trail to hypertrophy.
Raise the bar. As you increase the leg bar, you’re not lifting your butt and hips up. You’re not rocking forwards and backwards; solely your legs are transferring, not the higher half of your physique. Butt stays in touch with the seat’s base pad; again stays in touch with the seat’s again pad. Lean again just a little. Grip the handles to maintain your butt down.
Steadily deliver the bar up till you attain full knee extension/peak contraction. Pause for a second throughout this prime maintain. Squeeze. Really feel and relish the burn.
Decrease the bar. A lot of hypertrophy occurs throughout the eccentric section of a elevate, so decrease the bar in the identical sluggish and managed method that you just lifted it — its descent ought to take a full one to 2 seconds.
Quite than slamming again down, the burden ought to simply gently contact the burden stack because it returns. When you hear it flippantly clang, elevate the bar up once more and do one other rep.
Toe place makes little distinction. Protecting your toes straight forward versus angling them just a little inwards or outwards can create small variations during which components of the quads get labored. However until you’re an elite bodybuilder, this isn’t one thing it’s essential to fear about. Protecting your toes straight or tilted barely in is okay. Do no matter feels most comfy for you, as this can aid you produce most power.
Go for full vary of movement. Go all the best way up and all the best way down with every rep. In the event you can solely elevate the leg bar midway up, the burden is simply too heavy.
Go exhausting. Don’t simply mindlessly crank out leg extensions, tacking them on to the top of your exercise with out giving them a lot effort. Simply going via the motions gained’t construct muscle. You ought to be doing units that deliver you inside one to 2 reps of failure.
Certain it hurts, nevertheless it hurts so good, child.
Leg extensions could be executed utilizing only a single leg at a time, which could be helpful for addressing energy imbalances.
As a result of leg extensions solely work the quads, they need to be executed in a program that features different leg workouts like squats, leg presses, and lunges.
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