How muscles turn on when pushing hard
Quadriceps EMG/force relationship in knee extension and leg press.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists looked at how leg muscles turn on when men push as hard as they can using two different leg exercises. They measured muscle activity at different effort levels.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
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Evidence Score
A snapshot of a population at a single point in time. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine the direction of cause and effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists looked at how leg muscles turn on when men push as hard as they can using two different leg exercises. They measured muscle activity at different effort levels.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 520 / 44
Evidence Score
A snapshot of a population at a single point in time. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine the direction of cause and effect.
Publication
Authors
Alkner BA, Tesch PA, Berg HE
Related Content
Claims (4)
Even though leg extensions only move one joint, they might work your front thigh muscles better than squats or leg presses because they really target one specific muscle in the quad.
When healthy guys push with their legs at a 90-degree bend, their quad muscles don’t fire in a straight line with how hard they push — the muscle activity changes unevenly as they push harder from 20% to 100% effort.
When healthy guys push with their legs, the electrical activity in one specific thigh muscle (vastus lateralis) goes up steadily with how hard they push — unlike two other thigh muscles — so it might be a better way to measure how much force their whole quad is producing.
When men push with their legs using different exercises but at the same knee angle, their thigh muscles turn on in a similar way, even though one exercise uses more joints than the other.