Hold a dumbbell in each hand and rest them lightly on the fronts of your shoulders, with your elbows pointing towards the floor as shown.Īction: Bend your knees and hips to lower into a squat. Set Up: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Tip: If a bench isn’t available, simply stagger your feet so the non-working leg is in front, touching the ground for balance but bearing very little, if any, weight. Why is this good for the sweep? The Smith machine adds an element of balance to the one-legged motion, forcing the quads to work harder to maintain stability in the knee and hip. When you’ve come as low as you can go, press through your front heel to stand. Extend your left leg behind you and place the foot, laces down, onto a flat bench.Īction: Bend both knees, keeping your weight centered over your working leg. Set Up: Adjust the Smith machine so that the bar rests across the back of your shoulders. Target Muscles: quadriceps, gluteus maximus, hamstrings Tip: Place your foot lower on the footplate to hit the quads harder. Why is this good for the sweep? Single-legged motions force your legs to work individually, adding stress to build strength and size unilaterally. When your set is complete, repeat on your opposite leg. Place one foot on the footplate and put your other foot on the floor underneath the machine.Īction: Extend your leg to push the footplate away from you, then slowly bend your knee to return to the start. Set Up: Sit at the leg press machine with your back against the padding. Target Muscles: quadriceps, gluteus maximus Your results should sweep you off your feet! Get Killer Quadsįor each move, rest about one minute between sets to recover, up to two minutes if you’re lifting heavier. Do this routine for the next four to six weeks, then reassess your lower half. Those newer to exercise should stick to training legs (hams and quads) on the same day, while more experienced exercisers can split them into separate days, according to Quevedo. “I also highly recommend foam rolling postworkout to increase circulation,” adds Quevedo, who advises to roll each quad for a minimum of one to two minutes, then following up with an additional quad stretch on each leg. Leave at least three full days of rest in between workouts to allow for adequate recovery, and remember to stretch thoroughly to assist in the repair and rebuilding of your muscles. Use this sweep-shaping quad routine once a week to start, working your way up to two days a week if desired. Increasing the strength of the front of your legs can balance overall development, creating that killer pair of gams you’ve been working for. If you aren’t a fitness competitor, you might be thinking “Quads? Who cares!” In most women’s lower-body routines, the glutes and hamstrings get a lot more attention than the quadriceps. Using heavier weights when lifting may also be key because, as you know, heavier weights equal greater muscle breakdown, which equals growth and change. “Foot position, toe position and the position of your feet on machine carts can influence the emphasis of an exercise.” A standard exercise, such as the leg press, can be made more quad-centric by placing your feet lower on the footplate, while a leg extension performed with your toes turned slightly inward will hit the vastus lateralis harder than a standard extension. “There are techniques and tweaks you can apply to traditional exercises to make them more sweep-centric,” says Dave Quevedo, a certified personal trainer in Hoboken, New Jersey. Though your four quadriceps muscles always work together - that is, you can’t work the vastus lateralis or the rectus femoris without also engaging the others – there are ways to make one work harder than the rest, allowing you to specifically shape your legs the way you want them. When developed well, this muscle sweeps outwards and then downward, creating a rounded shape rather than a strictly vertical one, and giving the legs a fuller, more muscular appearance. But with a little elbow grease, some training tricks and a dash of intensity, anyone - regardless of the hereditary hand they’ve been dealt - can develop that elusive quad sweep.įor those who don’t know, a quad sweep isn’t a fabulous new way to clean your floors it refers to the shape of the quadriceps muscles, specifically the outermost of the four, the vastus lateralis. Many of us have to work hard to create shape and definition in our quads, thanks to an unfortunate DNA set that doesn’t jive with our version of perfection. Genetics are often the bane or boon of our existence. Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members!
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