The 5 Best Bodyweight Exercises to Build Up Your Quads

The quads are one of the most important muscle groups on your entire body, all be it one of the most neglected too. 

Legs have an infamous reputation for people turning a blind eye when it comes to their physique. In fact, it’s almost like there’s a vast amount of people out there who don’t even acknowledge their legs exist. However, that is to their own detriment. 

So, congratulations! If you found this article it either means you searched for it in hopes of strengthening your quads or you stumbled upon it by accident, either way, there’s some important information that you will be better off from knowing. 

In this article, we will be going through 5 of the best bodyweight exercises you can do for quads, as well as going through some of the reasons why training quads is vital. 

The Advantages of Training Quads

Quads are perhaps one of the most useful and practical muscles on your whole body. There are a plethora of advantages available to those who put an emphasis on training the quads including increased overall strength, aesthetic legs, and a much more functional, athletic body. 

Due to the fact that the majority of your strength comes from your legs when lifting everyday objects, having strong quads will give you that “strongman” look and feel. 

Even if you have an extremely built upper body, building your quads up in unison will give you much better returns on your investment. 

One of the most promising and interesting benefits that come from training quads is the fact that there have been multiple studies showing that training legs are actually able to increase testosterone.

That’s right, by training quads you are also increasing your muscle growth and strength potential in your upper body too. So, if you aren’t too concerned with how your quads look, just know that training your quads does more for your body than just strengthening your quads. 

What You’ll Be Missing Out on If You Don’t Train Quads 

For those unfortunate souls who have made the decision to not train quads, they are missing out on a mirage of benefits.

If you forego training your quads you can never reach your maximum strength potential. In fact, you’ll never even get close. There’s a drastic difference in overall strength and power when people decide not to train legs. So, if you want to be an overall strong person, you’ll need to train your quads. 

Perhaps a more nuanced reason for training quads is the fact that if you don’t, you’ll be the subject of mockery and laughter from the fitness community. Of course, this is just a joke and everyone who enjoys calisthenics will be more than accepting, but everyone has heard the term, “chicken legs” being thrown around, and it’s something you’re going to become accustomed to if you don’t train quads. 

Having under development quads will also negatively affect your physique too. If you decide to work on your upper body but neglect your legs, your physique can look a little out of proportion and off. 

Because of all the reasons stated above and more, you’ll pay a heavy price if you forego training your quads. 

Our Top 5 Bodyweight Exercises for Quads

There are endless exercises that can be performed to strengthen and grow your quads, many of which can be performed inside the walls of your own home. 

Contrary to popular belief, you can achieve the same strength and size from doing just bodyweight exercises alone compared to going to the gym.

In this section, we will be stating our top 5 recommendations for the best bodyweight exercises for quads.

#1. The Wall Sit

The wall sit is a great exercise for building endurance for your quads; they allow you to put out more power for longer.

This exercise is known for being challenging to do, and you may find that you can only perform this exercise for a matter of seconds at first. Although, with time, you will slowly be able to increase the time you are able to stay in this position, which will be of enormous benefit to your quads. 

The wall sit isn’t the best exercise for pure muscle growth, but for strength and endurance, it’s great. 

So, it’s better to use this as an add-on at the end of a workout, rather than making it one of your core exercises. 

#2. Squats

If you are looking to build bigger legs, look no further. When it comes to builder big and strong legs, there’s no better exercise out there than squats.

Squats will allow you to build some truly impressive quads as well as working all the other parts of your leg in addition. 

You could get by with squats being your only exercise for legs, but adding additional exercises after it will further strengthen your quads. 

Overall, there’s no better exercise for legs than the squat.

#3. Box Jumps 

Box jumps allow you to train the explosiveness and power of your legs, and they are one of the best exercises out there for quads. 

Box jumps will quickly become troublesome when you begin doing them, but the effort will be more than worth it.

This exercise is great for building overall power and strength, and it’s able to give you explosiveness that no other exercise can.

The key thing to know with box jumps is that you always need to increase the size of the box of the volume of jumps eventually in order to keep progressing. 

#4. The Sissy Squat 

The sissy squat is one of, or the most challenging exercise to perform on our list.

Don’t let the name fool you, sissy squats are extremely difficult, and anyone that can perform a few of these easily is certainly far from being a sissy. 

In addition, sissy squats are great for isolating the quads. In fact, they’re probably the best isolation bodyweight exercises out there. 

It’s best to stay clear of this one until you have had a few years of training under your belt. Although, for those of you who are able to perform this exercise, enjoy one of the best muscle and strength building quad exercises out there.

#5. Step-Ups 

Step-ups are an amazing exercise for quads and they are also extremely scalable. 

This exercise allows you to target quads more than the rest of the leg muscles which puts more strain on the quads, leading to more muscle mass and strength. 

Not only that, but they are also great at building explosive power (especially once you start hitting higher platforms).

Although similar to the wall sit, step-ups are best to be used after a compound exercise such as squats, in order to cause as much strain to the quads as possible. 

An Example of a Workout for Quads 

In order to make real and consistent progress towards building your quads, you are going to need to adhere to a workout program or routine.

This involves doing one or more of the exercises we mentioned above on a regular basis in order to force your quads to grow.

If you only doing some of the exercises we mentioned above without a plan or schedule, you will significantly or outright halt any progress that you otherwise would have made.

In this section, we will be going through a few basic examples of workout routines that you can follow for beginners, intermediates, and advanced athletes. 

It’s important to note that for all the routines we mention below, you should have 3 minutes rest between each set, as well as at least 48 hours rest between workouts. Having a diet that is high in protein and has sufficient calories is also essential when it comes to building muscle and growing stronger. 

So, let’s delve into the routines.

Beginner;

• Squats; 12 reps x 5 sets 
• Box jumps; 12 reps x 5 sets

Intermediate;

• Squats; 12 reps x 5 sets wearing a weighted vest
• Step-ups; 12 reps x 5 sets 
• Box jumps; 12 reps x 5 sets (using a higher platform)
• Wall sit; as long as possible

Advanced;

• Sissy squats; 12 reps x 5 sets
• Step-ups; 12 reps x 5 sets
• Box jumps; 12 reps x 5 sets (using a higher platform)
• Wall sit; as long as possible

It’s Time for You to Begin Your Journey.

Strengthening and building up your quads will be one of the best decisions you will make in your fitness journey. 

Now that you have all the necessary information, there’s nothing stopping you.

Feel free to follow a different routine or switch up the example routines that we had given you. After all, you’ve got to do what’s best for you.

Have fun building your quads, you won’t regret it.