Isolation · Beginner
Leg Extension
Isolation isolation exercise using machine.
- Movement pattern
- Isolation
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Equipment
- Machine
- Mechanics
- Isolation
- Sides
- Bilateral
- Main plane
- Sagittal
How to do the Leg Extension
Setup
Seated with your back against the pad, shins behind the lower roller pad, knees aligned with the machine's pivot point.
Extend your knees to lift the pad, keeping your legs rotated slightly inward so the movement happens in a true vertical plane rather than drifting to one side.
Squeeze your quads at the top -- locking out here is not dangerous, since the resistance is pushing the shins down rather than loading the knee joint.
Lower under control back to the start.
Common mistakes
Letting the knees drift out of alignment with the machine's pivot point, which puts uneven stress on the patella instead of a clean, tracked extension.
Using a fast, bouncy tempo at the top instead of a controlled squeeze and a controlled lowering.
Muscles worked
Secondary
None listed in the graphHow the knowledge graph models this movement
Knee extension