# Leg Extension

Isolated quadriceps work — the knee opens against the roller while the hips
stay pinned to the seat.

- **Category:** Main circuit
- **Type:** Machine-based isolation (knee extension)
- **Targets:** Quadriceps (rectus femoris, vastus lateralis/medialis)
- **Prescription:** 4 × 10
- **Defaults:** 4 × 10 weighted

## Setup

Sit upright with your back flat against the pad and align your knees with the
machine's pivot point. Hook the roller pad against the front of your ankles,
hands resting on the side grips.

## Execution

1. Extend your legs to a straightened position — stop just short of snapping
   the knees into lockout.
2. Pause briefly at the top with the quads squeezed hard.
3. Lower the roller back down with control to the start.

## Cues

- Knees stack over the pivot — realign the seat if they sit forward or back.
- Hips glued to the seat; if they lift, the weight is too heavy.
- Own the lowering — no free-falling back to the stack.

## Common Mistakes

- Jerky, momentum-driven reps instead of a smooth extension.
- Lifting the hips off the seat to swing the weight up.
- Slamming into a locked knee at the top.

## Progression

Add load in small increments once all four sets of ten are smooth; single-leg
extensions for asymmetry, or a paused top / slow eccentric for more time under
tension.
