Rectus femoris: exercises and how to train
The rectus femoris is the center head of the quads, running down the front of the thigh from the pelvis to the kneecap. It is the only one of the four heads that crosses both the hip and the knee, so it straightens the knee and also flexes the hip. It powers squats, sprints and kicks.
How to train it
It gets work from Back squat, Leg press and Bulgarian split squat, but Leg extension hits it hardest: in a squat the knee and hip bend together, so the rectus femoris barely changes length. If the machine backrest reclines, lean it back for a deeper stretch. For the quads as a whole, 10–16 hard sets a week is usually enough.
Exercises where it is the main mover
Weekly sets in ready-made programs
A set where the muscle is primary counts in full, a set where it assists counts as half — the same way the log’s stats count it.
Other legs muscles
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