Leg extensions. Should I cut them out?

DerickVonD

DerickVonD

Well-known member
I was thinking of cutting out leg extensions from my workout. I don't know if they are necessary if I'm doing squats and deads. I also heard that leg extensions puts a lot of pressure around your knees. I have recently had knee pain and it is finally going away. The pain was most likely due to squatting with improper form. I was just wondering if I do extensions would it be too much on my legs and be wise to cut them out and just focus on these three exercises, Squats, Deads, Calf raises. BTW I am trying to bulk.
 
i think of them as "skull crushers for the knees" by the way that they affect the knees (similar to the way that skulls affect the elbows). i think there are better quad building exercises such as front squats, narrow stance leg presses, one leg leg presses, etc.
 
dropshot001 said:
i think of them as "skull crushers for the knees" by the way that they affect the knees (similar to the way that skulls affect the elbows). i think there are better quad building exercises such as front squats, narrow stance leg presses, one leg leg presses, etc.
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Well I'm alternating squats and front squats. one week I'll do front squats once a week and squats twice, the next week I'll do front squats twice a week and squats once a week.
 
i love leg extensions. great for a warm up before heavy compound movements- use low weight and high reps..i too like one leg at a time.. also a great quad finsiher, awesome to do drop sets with. just use a safe weight, control it. too many try to bounce the stack around and it looks like they are having a seizure sitting up.. a versatile exercise, also a little bit of a "break" from the heavy squatting and leg pressing movements when thrown in the mix mid-workout... just my opinion-
 
Well I started with calf raises today then moved on to front squats and then did deads. By the time I was done I had no energy to do extensions.
 
I sometimes do DB lunges Supersetted with Leg extensions sometimes i feel like that works better then squats other times not depends on the day, but im always sore if you go hard enough on DB lunges to leg extension.
 
they are a direct stimulater of the quadriceps. you need to do them. unless you develop pain from that specific exercise do them.
 
Extensions have been a huge part of my leg development. if you have worries about knee or joint problems, i would just go light and squeeze the hell out of every rep. theirs really no other way to isolate the quads.
 
The leg extension is pretty much the best exercise to isolate the quads. It's a great machine for development. It's much safer and less impact on your joint too. Improper squating was probably to blame of your joint pain. Bad shoes even. I usually use them as a finisher. When your calves are toast, your glutes are done and you know you still got some left in your quads the leg extension is the way to go.
 
Yea what most of them said. Badass finisher after a good leg routine. Remember pain is one thing, your gonna have pains and tweaks, injurys are what we gotta avoid. I do 4 ta 5 sets to failure after squats or deads, then at the end of the sets I grab the think and use my arms to do forced reps until I damn near fall onto the floor.
 
All you have to do to take that pressure off of your knees is to not use your entire range of motion...when u hit the top you don't want to let your knees lock out, so go from just about fully bent legs in the beginning of the movement to approximately 10-20 degrees less than straight legged at the top. (This is of course, if you decide to keep the leg extensions in your workout)
 
DerickVonD said:
Well I'm alternating squats and front squats. one week I'll do front squats once a week and squats twice, the next week I'll do front squats twice a week and squats once a week.
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Not sure how your doing it.......... but i dead on monday and squat on thursday.

Usually one of the two has a "lighter day"

There is no way i could squat 3 times a week and "leave it all in the gym" every time.

Oh wait, your 21...........

lol

seriously though,

If your squatting that much, you dont need the leg extensions.........Maybe lighter weight with some very slow tempo eccentrics and static holds.
 
dont just hop on the machine and do em adjust the seat to where its best for you. dont lock em out...

ive done them with a 20,15,12,10,8,5,2 rep scheme and 8,6,4,2 or 3 x 10 or sets to failure they neever hurt just dont lock out.
 
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