Quad exercise provides several benefits other than building muscles. (Image via Pexels/Li Sun)

7 Best Quad Exercises for Building Muscles

Quad exercises are not only beneficial for aesthetics, but they will also help in improving athletic performance and increasing the strength of the lower body. Quads are important muscles of your lower body that play an essential role in your day-to-day life, such as jumping and running.

Quad exercises will help you target significant muscles in your lower body, which will help build muscles. Often, people only do squats to target their leg muscles, but several quad exercises will help you achieve your goal and avoid the monotony of doing the same exercises.

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We have curated a list of quad exercises to help you build muscle and enjoy your workout. So let's start without further delay!


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Best Quad Exercises to Build Muscles

1) Front Squats

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Front squats are one of the basic and simplest quad exercises that will help you build muscles. When the weight is shifted to the front of your body, it emphasizes your leg muscles and allows you to sink deeper with an increased range of motion. It will also enable you to hold more weight and improve your leverage.

Swapping back squats with front squats is one of the quickest ways to help you build muscles and see the quad grow.

If you want to build more muscle mass and strengthen your leg muscles, front squats are the way to go.

2) Seated Dumbbell Leg Extensions

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This quad exercise will help you isolate the muscles of your legs and exclusively target them. Seated dumbbell leg extensions work on the knee extension that will help you build the leg muscles. High rep sets of this exercise after squats will help promote the maximum growth of your leg muscles.

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This quad exercise will also help in building the strength of your legs along with improving endurance. When your legs become stronger, move on to the heavier weights to keep challenging and work on your muscles.

3) Bulgarian Split Squat

Bulgarian split squats are one of the greatest and best exercises to help you build muscle. This exercise targets multiple leg muscles, including quads, back, and hamstrings. This exercise will also correct muscle imbalances in the lower body.

Integrating Bulgarian split squats in the workout routine will help improve leg development and lower the chances of injury. This exercise can also be done with many variations to avoid monotony.

4) Pistol Squat

The pistol squat is ultimately one of the greatest quad exercises that will help you build the mobility and strength of the lower body. It is one of the most advanced quad exercises that will challenge your quads, hip flexors, and core. Doing this exercise will also require great balance and stability in the body.

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Therefore, you can start practicing this exercise by breaking it down and eventually progress to performing the pistol squat completely. Pistol squats also entail many benefits, ranging from building strength in leg muscles to enhancing your body's flexibility and posture.

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5) Barbell Step-Ups

This is a dynamic quad exercise that will help you to build muscles. Barbell step-ups, if done correctly, work on your leg muscles with greater emphasis on your quad muscles. This quad exercise will help you build greater power and strength in the lower body. Barbell's step-ups will also help improve the strength imbalances in the legs.

So, include barbell step-ups in your regular workout regimen to build muscles in your lower body and get rid of back problems.

6) Leg Press

Leg pressing is also one of the great quad exercises that will help build resilient leg muscles. This beginner exercise targets your glutes, quads, and hamstrings. It will prepare you to do more advanced quad exercises and enhance the strength of these leg muscles.

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Additionally, leg press will help overcome imbalances in your lower body and assist you in cardio exercises such as running. You can also target different muscles by adjusting your footing on the machine.

7) Cyclist Squat

As the name mentions, this quad exercise will help you in building quads and leg muscles similar to that of cyclists. This exercise replicates the posture that one takes on a bike and provides a high stimulus for the knee extensors.

Cyclist squats also provide various benefits, including a greater range of motion in the legs and building stronger muscles in the lower body.


Takeaway

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The aforementioned exercises are some of the best quad exercises to help you build muscle. Besides enhancing muscles, these exercises will offer a wide range of benefits, including better endurance, toning the lower body, correcting imbalances, building muscle mass, and burning high calories.

However, some quad exercises are advanced and should be done with proper precautions or guidance from fitness professionals.

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Edited by
Piyush Bisht
 
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