When performing resistance training, training to muscle failure may lead to slightly more growth in the vastus lateralis muscle, while training with 1-2 reps left in reserve may lead to slightly more...
Mechanism
Synthesis from 1 study
When you do leg presses first and then leg extensions, pushing to failure on the leg press makes the outer thigh muscle grow more but leaves the front thigh muscle too tired to grow much during the leg extension — but stopping one or two reps short lets the front thigh muscle work harder in the leg...
Most probable mechanism
When you do leg presses first and then leg extensions, the leg press fatigues the outer thigh muscle more, so if you push to failure on the leg press, that outer muscle grows more but leaves the front thigh muscle too tired to work hard on the leg extension. But if you stop one or two reps before failure on the leg press, the front thigh muscle stays fresher and works harder during the leg extension, making it grow a bit more — this pattern is seen in the study with DOI 10.1080/02640414.2024.2321021.
Multi-joint exercises like leg press preferentially recruit and generate high mechanical tension in the vastus lateralis due to hip and knee extension demands, leading to greater fatigue accumulation in this muscle when performed to momentary muscular failure (10.1080/02640414.2024.2321021).
High neuromuscular fatigue from failure-based leg press reduces motor unit recruitment and force production during subsequent single-joint leg extension, limiting activation and mechanical tension exposure in the rectus femoris (10.1080/02640414.2024.2321021).
Training with 1- to 2-repetitions-in-reserve on leg press preserves neuromuscular function, allowing higher-quality leg extension performance with greater rectus femoris activation due to its preferential engagement during isolated knee extension (10.1080/02640414.2024.2321021).
Differential mechanical tension exposure across quadriceps subunits — high in vastus lateralis during leg press under failure, high in rectus femoris during leg extension under RIR — leads to region-specific hypertrophy via mTOR-mediated protein synthesis (10.1080/02640414.2024.2321021).
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
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