Spotlight On: Quadriceps

Legs, Spotlight on,

Spotlight On: Quadriceps

On this picture of AJ Dillon, you can easily see the rectus femoris (down the middle), vastus medialis (top inner side if his knee), and the vastus lateralis (outside “sweep” of his leg).
Simone Biles, Olympic gymnast. The vastus lateralis helps create the rounded sweep on the outside of her thigh.

ANATOMY

The quadriceps is a powerful group of four muscles at the front of the thigh originating from the front of the pelvic bone and top of the thigh bone, to attach to the upper tibia (shin bone) via the patella (kneecap). Not only is it an extremely powerful group of muscles but they are also responsible for the stability of the knee and balance.

Vastus Medialis – the large muscle along your inner leg. When you straighten your leg, you can see it working, it’s the ball on the top inside of your kneecap. It extends the knee joint and stabilizes the kneecap.

Vastus Lateralis – this is the large muscle on the outside of your leg. When you straighten your leg, you can see it as that sweeping muscle on the outside. It extends the knee joint and stabilizes the kneecap.

Vastus Intermedius – this muscle lies under the Rectus Femoris. It extends the knee joint and stabilizes the kneecap.

Rectus Femoris – when you do a straight leg extension on a machine this is often the muscle you feel burning. It runs straight down the leg, and attaches to the kneecap by the quadriceps femoris tendon. It is the only muscle of the quadriceps to cross both the hip and knee joints. It flexes the thigh at the hip joint, and extends at the knee joint.

EXERCISE PLAN TIPS

  • Your quads are a large muscle group. For a split, focused plan (meaning legs would be a primary exercise focus that day), I would normally do at least 3 exercises focused on quadriceps. These may be compound exercises (e.g. lunges), followed by isolation exercises (such as leg extensions).
  • For a push-pull workout plan, quads are considered a push exercise.
  • Additionally, change up the exercises each time you work your quads so that you are targeting your muscle group in different ways.

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Check out exercises here: https://innerathlete.us/exercises/

Sources: The body junction, physiopedia