Kneel on the floor and lean your whole body backwards as one straight line from knees to shoulders, then pull yourself back up. It's a sissy squat with the balance problem removed, so all that's left is the quads. Because the movement stretches the quads while they work, it builds strength at long lengths - which is why it also fixes forever-tight quads and hip flexors better than passive stretching does.
It's also one of the few bodyweight leg exercises that isolates the quads properly, so it's a good pick if you want them to grow.
How to do it
Kneel with the knees shoulder-width or a bit wider, so there's room to sink between your calves. Squeeze the glutes, brace the abs and tuck the chin. Lean back as far as you can while keeping the body straight, then pull back up. Stop just short of vertical at the top so the quads stay under tension for the whole set.
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Video by FitnessFAQs
Progressions
- Wall stretch. Rear foot up against a wall, torso upright, glutes tight. 2-3 holds of 60 seconds builds the passive range you need first
- Banded. Loop a band behind your back to an anchor in front. It helps most at the bottom, where the quads are weakest. Lower the assistance or go deeper over time
- NegativesThe lowering (eccentric) phase of an exercise, performed slowly and under control. Training the negative builds the strength to eventually do the full movement - for example, lowering yourself slowly from the top of a pull-up before you can pull all the way up.. Lower as slowly as you can until you're about to fail, catch yourself, and repeat
Key tips
- Range of motion is whatever you can do with a straight body. A half rep done strictly beats a full rep with an arched back
- If the knees lift off the floor at the bottom, you're at your limit. Back off slightly
- No bouncing out of the bottom. Momentum and the stretch reflex do the work instead of your quads
- If you can only manage shallow repsShort for repetitions - the number of times you perform a movement in a row without resting. One push-up is one rep; doing eight push-ups in a row is eight reps., use the band. Depth is where the benefit is