Doing leg extensions (kicking your leg out while sitting) makes the front thigh muscle right above your knee grow more than doing leg presses (pushing a heavy platform with both legs).

Pro

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

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Exercise Selection Differentially Influences Lower Body Regional Muscle Development

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

The study found that doing leg extensions (kicking out just your knee) made the front thigh muscle called rectus femoris grow more than doing leg presses (pushing with both knee and hip), because leg extensions focus only on the knee.

Contradicting (0)

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No contradicting evidence found

Source Study

Exercise Selection Differentially Influences Lower Body Regional Muscle Development

Score: 61

DOI: 10.1007/s42978-024-00299-4

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Doing leg extensions makes the front thigh muscle bigger along its whole length more than doing squats, especially near the knee.

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Doing leg extensions makes the front thigh muscle grow more evenly along its length than doing squats, which don’t stimulate that muscle as much.

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If you want to make the front part of your thigh (rectus femoris) bigger, leg extensions work better than leg presses — after 12 weeks, leg extensions made it grow 12% more than leg presses did.

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If you want to grow the front part of your thigh muscle (rectus femoris), doing leg extensions might work better than doing leg presses.

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Pushing a heavy leg press machine makes the outer part of your thigh muscle grow more than doing leg extensions, because it puts more overall stress on that part of the muscle.

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