Tag: quadriceps

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TRX Squat

TRX Squat

Squats will exercise all major muscle groups with an emphasis on quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteal muscles, calves, abdomen and lower back.

TRX stands for Total Body Resistance Exercise, meaning it allows you to use your body as the resistance. TRX straps help you intensify squats without adding additional load from dumbbells, barbells, or machines.

Start by grabbing the handles of the TRX, facing towards it. Distance yourself just far enough from the TRX.

Stand straight up but with a slight backward lean so that there is tension on the straps. Open your feet to make a wide base (wider than shoulder-width apart), and point your toes slightly outward.

Keeping your arms straight and keeping tension on the straps, inhale and squat down until you form a 90-degree bend with your knees. Your back should stay straight and your chin up. The pressure of your body weight is on your heels rather than your toes.

Exhale as you come back to the standing position.

 

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Barbell Deadlift

Barbell Deadlift

The deadlift is an excellent compound exercise that targets the quads, hamstrings, gluteal muscles, lower back, traps, and forearms. If it´s not done properly, you can seriously injure yourself (such as a herniated disc).

Place the barbell on the ground in front of you and add plates according to your strength and fitness level. Beginners usually start lifting just the barbell, since a typical barbell weighs between 25 and 45 pounds on its own.

  1. With your feet shoulder-width apart, your toes pointing forward or slightly outward, and the barbell is at the midpoint of your feet.
  2. Bend your knees and hips and sit back as if you were going to sit, while you reach down to grab the barbell with hands shoulder-width apart.
  3. Grip the bar with both palms facing you. This is the normal or double overhand grip. You can use the mixed grip later when you can’t hold it with a normal grip.
  4. Push your knees out; don’t let them collapse in. Keep your back straight. Bend from the hips rather than from your waist. This is the starting position.
  5. Always make sure your back is completely flat and straight. If there is any kind of bend in your back, you need to do some flexibility work before deadlifting.
  6. Begin the movement by pushing through your heels and straightening your knees. Engage your hamstrings and glutes to pull the bar up.
  7. Raise your hips and shoulders at the same rate while maintaining your back straight. Keep your abs tight during the whole lift. The bar should drag along your shins on the way up.
  8. Come to a standing position with upright posture and your shoulders pulled back, don’t let your shoulders cave forward. Don’t bend backward at all, just stand up straight.
  9. Keeping your back straight, return the bar to the starting position in a controlled manner. Push your butt out as if you are going to sit down in a chair. Do not arch your back.
  10. Repeat until completing the prescribed number of repetitions.

 

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Foam Roller: Quads Relief

Foam Roller: Quads Relief

The Quadriceps can be subdivided into four muscles or heads: Vastus Intermedius,  Vastus Lateralis, Vastus Medialis and Rectus Femoris. This group of muscles combined is the largest muscles of the leg. They are extremely crucial muscles aiding in important actions such as walking, running, jumping and squatting in addition to stabilizing the patella.

Tight quads? Don’t worry: foam rolling your quads is quick, easy, and truly effective. There are two main variations on foam rolling your quads: rolling both legs at the same time and rolling each leg individually. Neither is better, it’s really a matter of personal preference and what works best to release your fascia. If you’ve never used a foam roller before, or never foam rolled your quads, you might want to start with the two leg variation. It maintains an even pressure on both quads at the same time, distributing your weight, and so it’s a little lighter. The single leg variation thereby exerts more pressure on the fascia, so it’s better for those that have rolled their quads before, and know that their quads require harder pressure.

Please, read the general instructions on how to foam rolling, here.

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Leg extensions

Leg Extension

For this exercise, you will need to use a leg extension machine.

First, choose your weight and sit on the machine with your legs under the pad (feet pointed forward) and the hands holding the side bars. Adjust the pad so that it falls on top of your lower leg (just above your feet).

Also, make sure that your legs form a 90-degree angle between the lower and upper leg. If the angle is less than 90-degrees, means the knee is over the toes which in turn creates undue stress at the knee joint. If the machine is designed that way, make sure that when you start executing the exercise you stop going down once you hit the 90-degree angle.

Exhale and use your quadriceps to extend your legs to the maximum. Ensure that the rest of the body remains stationary on the seat. Pause a second on the contracted position.

Inhale and slowly lower the weight back to the original position, ensuring that you do not go past the 90-degree angle limit. Repeat.

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Stability ball squat

Stability Ball Squat

The squat targets the quads, hamstrings and glutes but also improves balance and stability throughout the core and on both sides of the body.

Place a stability ball against a wall and gently lean against it, positioning the top of the ball into the small of your back.

Your feet should be hip-width apart with toes facing forward or turned out slightly.

Pull your shoulders blades down and back. Do not allow your low back to pull away from the ball. Gently lean into the ball, as you shift your weight into your heels.

Inhale and begin to lower the body, keeping the tailbone, low and mid-back against the ball as you bend your knees.

Push back with your hips, allowing them to drop under the ball. The ball will glide down the wall with you as you lower your body toward the floor. Do not move the feet. Continue to lower yourself until challenged or until your thighs align parallel to the floor.

Exhale and slowly push up away from the floor. Extend your hips to bring them back underneath your body. Continue pushing upward, returning to your starting position. Repeat.

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