Fouad Abiad's four best quad-building exercises
IFBB Pro bodybuilder Fouad Abiad, aka Hoss, shows you what exercises to use, how to improve exercise form, and the best intensity techniques to maximize every leg workout for explosive muscle growth. Follow this grueling leg workout to add more size to your legs.
1. Squats:
The staple to any good leg routine is having big compound movements that really tax the legs. The first exercise of this leg workout is squats. Set up the height of the hooks on the squat rack, so that the bar rests on the upper part of the shoulder and on the traps. Set safeties so that you are able to achieve at least a 90 degree angle at the bottom of your squat. To begin, get under the bar and make sure you are pulling your shoulder blades back nice and tight. Stand up tall, which will lift the bar off of the hooks. Walk back to the middle of the rack. Keep chest and head up and begin to descend. Focus on pushing the weight through your heels and not on the toes. Once at the bottom, stop completely and then explode up out of the hole. Complete 5-6 sets of 8-12 reps here, climbing up weight each set until you reach failure on the last set.
Fouad's Training Tip:
When using knee sleeves, make sure the bands aren’t too stretchy, if they have a lot of stretch in them, the bands won’t give you the stability and support you are looking for. Additionally, make sure that you wrap them tight enough to get a spring out of the hole. Wraps should almost feel painful by the time you are done your set. If you can keep them on for your workout, they aren’t tight enough.
2. Leg Press:
The next exercise for this workout is the leg press. Set yourself up on the leg press so that your feet are as low as possible on the sled so that when you are at the bottom of the movement, your heels stay planted. You want to begin by straightening your legs, lifting the sled off of the safeties. Unhook the safeties and begin to control the weight down. You want to go as low as you can just before your back starts to round or lift off of the pad. Once at the bottom, explode up and stop just before your knees lock. To add intensity, Fouad is using occlusion training. This is a technique performed by wrapping a band or wrap on the top of the thigh, just below the hip of each leg. By doing this you trap blood and metabolites inside the muscle during your set. This allows you to generate growth without having to go quite as heavy. You want to tie your thighs up to a 7/10 tightness. Here you need to perform high reps, so you will perform 3-4 sets of 20-30 reps, keeping the bands on the whole time and only resting 30-40 seconds between sets. When you are done your last set, remove bands and allow blood to rush to the muscle. The pump here is crazy!
3. Hack Squat:
Next up, Hack Squats. Set yourself up in the hack squat so that your shoulders are on the pads, chestis up high and feet are in about the middle of the platform. Begin by standing up tall and disconnecting the safeties. Begin to lower yourself down in a controlled manner and stop at 90 degrees or below. Make sure you keep your weight on your heels. When you push through your toes, you put unnecessary stress on the knees and take resistance off the quads. By pushing through your heels, you protect the knee and allow for more quad activation. Once at the bottom explode up. Complete 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps.
4. Tire Flips:
This last exercise is to completely burn out your legs. Set up a tractor tire in front of you. Squat down and place hands underneath the tire. Explode up, lifting with your legs which will cause the tire to stand upright. Once upright, push the tire over and let it fall and repeat. It is extremely important to make sure you are lifting with your legs and not bending at the waist and lifting with your back, as that could lead to a lower back injury! Do this for 3 sets to failure at the end of your workout.
