Leg Extension
A seated machine exercise for your quads: with a roller in front of your lower legs, you straighten your knees to lift it, then lower it slowly.
- Primary muscles
- Quads
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- Weight × reps
Loads from YouTube only when you press play. The video is by an independent creator.
Why do it
The leg extension trains your quads with nothing else limiting the set, so it's a common add-on after squats or leg presses and an easy way for beginners to feel their quads working. There's no balance or technique to learn; all the effort goes into the front of your thighs. A short hold at the top and a slow lowering get more out of a light stack, and single-leg sets help if one side is weaker.
How to do it
Set the seat so your knees line up with the machine's pivot and the roller sits just above your feet.
Sit back against the pad, hook both legs behind the roller and hold the side handles.
Extend your knees until your legs are almost straight and hold the top for a moment.
Lower slowly under control. Stopping just short of lockout keeps tension on the quads and takes strain off the knee.
Common mistakes
Seat set up wrong
If your knees sit away from the machine's pivot, the roller slides up your shins and the rep feels jerky. Adjust the backrest so your knees line up with the axis.
Kicking the weight up
Swinging the weight up with momentum skips the hold at the top. Extend smoothly and pause for a moment with your legs almost straight.
Lifting your hips off the seat
When the load gets heavy, your hips rise and your back arches. Grip the handles, sit back against the pad, and drop the weight if you can't stay seated.
Letting the stack fall
Dropping the weight on the way down loses half the work. Lower slowly and stop just before the plates touch.
Sets, reps and progression
How many sets you do and how close to failure you take them depend on your goal and your week, not on the exercise. These guides cover it:
Alternatives that train the same thing
Same movement, a different angle or piece of equipment.
