For the outer thigh muscle (vastus lateralis), bending your hip to 40 or 90 degrees during leg extensions doesn’t seem to make a difference in how much the muscle grows in guys who haven’t lifted before.

Doing leg extensions with your hip bent at 40 degrees instead of 90 degrees probably makes the front thigh muscle (rectus femoris) grow more in guys who haven’t lifted weights before.

Drop sets don’t make the side muscle of your thigh bigger than regular sets — no matter where you measure it.

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.

Squats make the outer part of the thigh muscle near the knee bigger than leg extensions do.

The side muscle of your thigh doesn’t grow any more with drop sets than with regular sets—no matter where you measure it.