[n88tr]

I've talked to a few PTs and they highly dislike leg exts, saying it puts undue stress on the knees and it produces a shearing motion.

Myself, I've gone heavy with them for about a year now, but recently I've been doing less weight and more focus on contraction. I was doing the max weight on the leg exts at uni [200 lb stack there] and at the Y [315 lb stack here], but now I do a range from 150-200 as my maximum [with good rep and sets, not just a few reps but a lot and sets too].

What do you guys think about doing leg exts for the long haul??

[mindstar]

i do light ones once in a while for like 3-5 second reps. Too heavy and me knees hurt for days.

[jxc574]

As much as I hate them i love them for my Quad development. The key is not to swing them up and drop them down. Extend your legs out and lower them back down. Make sure, like you mention, to contract and flex them at the top for a second or 2 for maximum effectness.

[quackattack]

People always talk about leg extensions being horrible for your knees, but I'm the opposite...I have pretty bad knees, they click when I go up stairs..but when I do squats (good form) my knees absolutely kill after, but no pain from doing leg extensions for some reason

[n88tr]

I don't have pain but I can feel them working...

I don't know if I should be worried about it. I don't lift heavy on them anymore...

[ZiR RED]

1. All the work is being done at the knee joint, whereas in squats or legpress you use your hips. So they do put more stress on the knees than squats.
2. They are an isolation exercise, and they do not fully recruit the rectus femoris. The vastus medialis does the majority of the work.
3. They're only real purpose, be it bodybuilding or athletic training, is for rehab.

Personally, I haven't done one in over 3 years, and I have superior quad development compared to most people my size and training experience.

[Pumping1ron]

Yeah they are used in my case for rehab. I have osgood shlater (spelling) in 1 knee and patellar tendinitis in the other so i cant do squats and my physiotherapist has me doing exts.

[Thomas_Rivera]

I liked them at first, at first, then I found that I progressed too quickly strength wise with leg extensions to use it to any practical means. Now I really don't use them at all. I prefer squats.

[Demon Knight]

Originally Posted by n88tr

What do you guys think about doing leg exts for the long haul??

Pretty much worthless unless for rehabilitation (very light weight, slow reps).

Save your energy and put it into more worthwile exercises like the squat and deadlift.

[Kaboom]

I love them as pre-exhaust or for helping bring out striations for a show and the seperation

[under construction]

At your stage of the game I would throw them on the scrap heap and stick to squats and lunges.

[n88tr]

Ok, thanks. I'll do that.