Quadriceps Workout | Bodyweight
| Parts | Exercises | Sets | Reps/Duration | Rest Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm-Up | Light Mobility - Joint # | 1 - 2 | 5 - 30 | none - 2 min |
| Warm-Up Set/s | 1 - 2 | 1 - 8 | 2 - 5 min | |
| Primary | Quad Exercise | 2 - 3 | 4 - 8 / near failure | 3 - 5 mins |
| Parts | Exercises | Sets | Reps/Duration | Rest Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm-Up | Light Mobility Drill | 1 | 5 - 30 | none - 2 min |
| Warm-Up Set/s | 1 | 1 - 8 | 2 - 5 min | |
| Primary | Bodyweight Squats | 2 | 4 - 8 / near failure | 3 - 5 mins |
| Parts | Exercises | Sets | Reps/Duration | Rest Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm-Up | Light Mobility Drill | 1 | 5 - 30 | none - 2 min |
| Warm-Up Set/s | 1 - 2 | 1 - 8 | 2 - 5 min | |
| Primary | Sissy Squats | 2 | 4 - 8 / near failure | 3 - 5 mins |
Workout Information:
Description:
This workout routine is designed to primarily build and strengthen the quadriceps. Although this is a quad-dominant routine, it also works the glutes to a good degree since most bodyweight squat variations involve the glutes to a high degree. For those who are relatively strong, this may feel lacking or insufficient. If you have access to weights, it's better to use them to increase workout efficiency, especially for exercises like bodyweight squats and bodyweight lunges.
Most importantly, this routine prioritizes stimulus and fatigue management, ensuring you can recover for the next training session while removing unnecessary work and further limiting fatigue.
Warm-Up:
To properly warm up for this routine, you simply need to warm up the muscles around the joints that are will be involved in the exercises like the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints by moving them around with intent or doing some named mobility movements. Then, do some warm-up sets for the main exercise. For example:
Light Mobility Drill: Hip Circles -> Standing Hip Openers -> Knee Circles -> Ankle Circles for a round or two with enough reps for you to feel them working.
Warm-Up Set/s: You can either do an easier variation or modified version of your first exercise, or do your exercise with some reps far from failure.
Just make sure that whatever you do is just enough to work and warm up your muscles, not tire them, so you can perform your best in your working sets.
Exercise Selection:
Above all, make sure that the exercise is primarily working the quadriceps. Then, determine if you can perform the exercise and go near or until failure within the recommended rep range, while also considering the stability aspect of the exercise. While it is okay to use an exercise where you can perform higher rep ranges, it's not advisable nor efficient if your goal is hypertrophy—a major limitation of purely bodyweight training.
If you're strong enough to go far beyond the recommended rep range and you don't have a choice at the moment to change the exercise or do it weighted, or simply prefer not changing it, you can continue using it and go near or until failure, just like when performing it within the specified rep range. Just know that there will be some unwanted differences in terms of growth stimulus and fatigue.
Proximity to Failure:
While it is okay to go until failure, especially at the start when you don't yet know what that feels like and want to avoid undertraining, it's generally recommended to use it sparingly and instead leave 1-2 repetitions in reserve (RIR).
Training Frequency:
Depending on your recovery rate, you can perform this routine 2-3 times per week.