Leg extension and Leg Curl machine

sijomial wrote: »

erickirb wrote: »

mmapags wrote: »

The key in using these machines without knee problems is to use a weight that you can do 12 to 15 reps with reasonably and reducing overall range of motion.

So, not too heavy and not all the way to the top or all the way to the bottom. I've done this kind of load and motion management for years and have had no problems. I find these machines very useful.

useful for what though? aesthetics?

Stiff legged deadlifts can be used to hit hammies, squats, and lunges for quad, these machines are more for a bodybuilder to work the muscle in a certain way to get a certain look. the machines in themselves do nothing to help "real life" as those are motions you don't use... so unless a bodybuilder, they are a waste of time and potential for injury. reward is not worth the risk.

@erickirb
Leg extensions were a big part of my rehab from a knee injury that resulted in major muscle loss from my quads - I had virtually no visible shape of my vastus medialus on the injured leg.
It's also a good exercise for people who do sports involving kicking - that's real life when you play football or rugby but you might do leg extension catches rather than go heavy.

But agree with the point @cwolfman13 makes - leg extension do put a lot of torsion through your knee joint for the relative amount of muscle activation compared to other exercises. That doesn't mean they should be avoided though, it means the load needs to be appropriate for the individual.

Cahgetsfit wrote: »

PS - I wouldn’t recommend that 15 minute thing or the 2 minute killer thing to a newbie

Stick to basic until muscles are stronger and mind muscle connection better

And keep squatting and deadlifting etc

thescouselander77 wrote: »

braves3134 wrote: »

After reading through this thread I skipped the leg extension and curl machines for legs today and did 3 sets of 10 squats with a 30 lb kettle bell, 3 sets of 10 (5 each leg) lunges with 20 lb kettle bells in each hand. Finished up with 3 sets of 10 dead lift 160 lbs and 3 sets of 10 squats 130 lbs. my hamstrings (and legs in general) are more sore than any time recently with the extension and curl machines. Looks like I’ll be doing this plus a few other body weight exercise I like from now on

I reckon you should step up the intensity; thats a lot of volume you're doing with not much weight. Your legs arent going to notice squats at 30lb and you wont be getting anywhere near full muscle activation which means little benefit for those early sets.

My squats and deadlifts really took off when I started doing sets of 5. For squats I'll normally do 3 working sets with 2 or 3 warmup sets and then 1 set of 5 for deadlift (basically as per Starting Strength) - I'll do that 3 times a week. Doing higher volume (over 5 reps) on deadlifts is risky especially when lifting heavy as form can rapidly break down as fatigue sets in - since you're already doing 10 reps at 160lb you'll probably be able to up the weight a good bit for 5 reps.

The issue I have now is that my quads and hamstrings have grown so much I can only wear jeans with stretch in them.