Isolation

Leg extension

Quads with nothing else involved, so a leg day can add quad work after the trunk and the lower back have had enough.

Coming to the App Store

The movement pages are part of MacroChef Plus

How the lift is performed, what it trains, and where it belongs in a split — for all 67 movements. One subscription covers the training side and the whole recipe library.

How Plus works

Leg extension, working end — Working end

Trains

Quads

Programmed at

3 × 12-20

Appears in

Lower B

It is in 1 of the six splits, which is as good a signal as any that it earns its place. See which one matches your week.

The muscle itself

The four heads of the quadriceps seen from the front: rectus femoris down the middle, vastus lateralis outside, vastus medialis inside and lowest, vastus intermedius deep behind, all joining one tendon over the kneecap. — Rectus femoris is the only one that crosses the hip, which is why it works differently depending on where your hips are.

Swap it for

Not lesser versions. What to do when the rack is busy, the gym has no cable station, or a joint objects to the first one.

Sissy squatQuads

Everything else that trains this pattern

Barbell curlBiceps
Cable curlBiceps
Cable lateral raiseSide delts
Cable rope curlBiceps, Brachialis, Forearms
Dumbbell curlBiceps
Dumbbell overhead extensionTriceps
Face pullRear delts, Mid back, Rotator cuff
Hammer curlBiceps, Brachialis, Forearms
Lateral raiseSide delts
Leg curlHamstrings
Lying leg curlHamstrings
Nordic curlHamstrings
Overhead rope extensionTriceps
Reverse flyRear delts, Mid back
Seated calf raiseCalves
Seated leg curlHamstrings
Skull crusherTriceps
Standing calf raiseCalves
Triceps pushdownTriceps

Training is the easy half

You will not build anything on the wrong number of calories, and most people are eating a long way under the protein they think they are. Get your daily number, then have the week built to it — every recipe on the site is costed from gram weights, so the figures are checkable rather than rounded up to sound better.

This is not a form tutorial. There is no technique walkthrough here and no claim about the one correct way to move — a page cannot watch you lift. What it gives you is what the movement trains, how much of it to do, and what to do instead when the equipment is taken. If a movement is new to you, get someone qualified to watch your first few sessions. If you are under 18, pregnant, or managing an injury or medical condition, talk to someone qualified rather than a website.