As lifters, we always have more than one favorite exercise for different muscles, specially when we talk about our preferred muscles.
Chest: Bench is choice
Back: Deadlifts and Rows
Legs: Squats and Leg presses
All of the above are my favorite personal as a Powerlifter, but what's for sure is the fact that there are tons of exercises to hit all our muscles.
But today let's talk about quads and a very specific exercise most of us never do (at least me). I'm talking about the Reverse Nordic Curl.
You get down on your knees, upright torso and your feet behind you, toes pointing away from you, arms crossed and start lowering your torso back directly to your feet keeping your hips open.
You can find tons of demonstration video on how to do it, so feel free to look up for some visual explanation if the one above is not clear enough.
With so many exercises for your quads, why you should be doing this one?
Well, leaving aside the fact that having strong quads may transfer to mos of other exercises, specially your deadlifts, the Reverse Nordic curl targets a specific part of the quads which is the ''rectus femoris''.
Involved in hips flexion and knee extension, strengthening this muscle can be absolutely beneficial for sprinters due to the fact this prevents muscle strains involved in running and kicking movements.
My personal advice is you should give it a try, I'm not going to lie to you, It's hard but once you become good at it's a plus. With time, you can add some weight by holding a plate with your hands or using a weighted vest.
I can assure you in no time you will be lifting more Kg in your squats.
*Image from Victor Freitas (PEXELS)