Quad Imbalance

i have trouble squatting being 6’5… im lookin for certain ways to emphasize my quads while squatting because when i do i only feel hams and glutes… so please help me and suggest ways to emphasize quads while squatting… also i get good work out of the leg press so recently its been my staple exercise for quads

Using a narrow stance and pressing off your heels, using slight elevation in heels, or switching to front squats with heels elevated would be my reccomendation.

Go to full knee and hip extension at the top of the movement, hard.

I’m also 6’5 and I’ve found that squats first, followed by leg presses really blast my quads. I also go as deep as possible in my squats

For taller guys, front squats are usually the way to go. While I don’t really know of any why to emphasize quads over glutes and hams when squatting(or why one would want to), I do get more soreness in my quads the day after some front squat work vs back.

If you are just looking for size, hit the shit out of the leg extension. Load up all the weight you can muster, extend explosively, pause, then lower under control.

[quote]Zund wrote:
I’m also 6’5 and I’ve found that squats first, followed by leg presses really blast my quads. I also go as deep as possible in my squats[/quote]

I’ll second the squats first, followed by leg presses. The leg press seems to focus more on the quads and really kills my quads after i squat.

Taller people do better with front squats, takes a bit to get used to the clean grip but its much better then a back squat for me and a few other tall people I know.

one of my mates is 6’3 and he had trouble feeling his quads too so i showed him front squats and it really helped him

you could try pre exhausting the quads using leg extensions they arent really a great exercise on their own but using them like this is ok

Could also throw in some lunges at a short length.

I like pre-exhaust

Whether leg ext - squat or squat-leg press

i did a few step-ups before squatting first to warmup the quads, then leg-pressed afterwards and quads are nice and thouroughly sore today… i also put a 10lb. plate under each heel to emphasize quads better… i dont know if pre-exhausting would be a good idea just yet as in the point of mentioning the quad imbalance is cause theyre alot weaker than my hams…

As mentioned above, definitely give front squats a try.

I would also suggest dumbbell split squats followed by leg extensions.
Unless it causes unnecessary knee pain, perform your leg ext’s as follows: lean forward while pointing the toes towards each other.
Pause at full contraction for a count of 2-3 sec. You can also pause briefly at the top, lower the weight less than halfway and return to the top position as in “1 1/4” reps.

You could also perform sissy squats. As the name suggests, they look kind of gay, but they do work.

Good luck.