maratoolLying Squat
How to do the lying squat
- Adjust the shoulder rack of the machine so that your feet comfortably reach the crosspiece with a slight bend in your knees.
- To begin, press your feet forward and release the safety locks.
- Slowly lower the weight towards your body, keeping your abs drawn in and your knees moving in the same direction as your feet to a 90 degree angle.
- Do not lock your knees or bounce the weight.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the quadriceps across the front of the thigh, which straighten the knee and, just as importantly, control it on the way back down.
Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the calves control the ankle and hold the heel position; the hamstrings assist hip extension and slow the knee down.
Every exercise for:QuadricepsCalvesHamstrings
How this movement works
Several joints move together, so effort spreads across a chain rather than concentrating in one place. Coordination is part of the difficulty: the movement is only as good as its weakest link, and improving it often means fixing a position somewhere other than the muscle you meant to train.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
The machine fixes the path, removing the balance demand and letting you train close to failure without a spotter. The cost is the stabilising work a free weight would have made you do.
Every exercise using:Machine
These train the quadriceps too, using equipment this one does not:
- Narrow Stance Squat with Barbellbarbell
- One-Arm Overhead Kettlebell Squatskettlebell
- Pile Squat with Dumbbelldumbbell
- Quadriceps-SMRfoam roll
- Rear Leg Raisesbody only
Illustration: Everkinetic — CC BY-SA 4.0 — license. Modified versions are shared under the same license. Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.