PPL guy told me to drop leg extensions, stick to squats only. 6 months later I can barely walk up stairs

My buddy Dave who swears by push pull legs said leg extensions are a waste and I should just do heavy squats for quads. I followed his advice for 6 months, squatted twice a week, added 80 pounds to my max. But now my knees ache going up stairs and my vastus medialis is visibly smaller than before. Physical therapist said I lost stability from skipping isolation work. Dave still says I'm wrong and need to squat deeper. Anyone else have a specialist tell them their split advice was making things worse?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_lucas16d ago

Did your PT actually test your VMO activation directly, or did they just look at it and guess? I had a similar thing happen with my left quad - it shrank noticeably after cutting out leg extensions for like 4 months of heavy deadlifting cycles. Turns out my hip was internally rotating on the squat descent, so my VMO was just checked out of the movement entirely. Leg extensions at 30 degrees of knee flexion brought it back in like 3 weeks. Maybe Dave was wrong about the specific exercise but right about a form issue you gotta clean up first before adding anything back in.

mila_sullivan16d ago

Pushing back a little here but I think too many people chase VMO activation without fixing the root cause first. If your hip is rotating in the hole that's a mobility or setup issue, no amount of leg extensions at 30 degrees will save your quad if you keep squatting with bad form. Just seems like people treat VMO like a magic bullet when really it's just a clue that something else is off in the chain.

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