Which leg workout builds which muscles better?
Hypertrophic Effects of Single- versus Multi-Joint Exercise: A Direct Comparison Between Knee Extension and Leg Press.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Two different leg exercises were tested: one where you push with just your knees (knee extension) and one where you push with your whole leg (leg press).
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 531 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Two different leg exercises were tested: one where you push with just your knees (knee extension) and one where you push with your whole leg (leg press).
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 531 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Publication
Authors
Kinoshita M, Maeo S, Kobayashi Y, Eihara Y, Nishizawa N, Kusagawa Y, Sugiyama T, Wakahara T, Kanehisa H, Isaka T
Related Content
Claims (10)
The rectus femoris muscle exhibits greater hypertrophic adaptation to isolated knee extension exercises than to compound movements involving hip and knee flexion due to biomechanical limitations in force production during multi-joint movements.
Doing leg extensions might grow your front thigh muscle more than leg presses, even though both workouts work the other big thigh muscles just as hard.
Isolation exercises targeting a single joint (e.g., leg extensions) produce greater hypertrophy in bi-articular muscles (e.g., rectus femoris) compared to multi-joint compound movements (e.g., squats) due to avoidance of active insufficiency.
Indirect sets (where a muscle acts as a secondary force generator) stimulate muscular hypertrophy but contribute less to growth than direct sets (where the muscle is the primary force generator).
Leg presses make your butt and inner thigh muscles bigger, but leg extensions don’t affect those muscles at all.