Exercise scientist Dr. Mike Israetel is helping his fan base build more impressive lower bodies. In a recent YouTube video shared on June 2, 2025, he broke down his five favorite exercises for growing the quadriceps.
As an amateur bodybuilder and physiologist, Dr. Israetel’s grasp of exercise mechanics makes him a muscle-building authority. Using science-based principles and on-the-ground experience, he’s helped lifters for years achieve better physiques. For some, growing quads can be a challenge, which prompted Dr. Israetel to unveil why these exercise selections are king for continued growth.
Dr. Mike Israetel’s Top 5 Favorite Quad-Building Exercises
Below you can find each exercise Dr. Israetel featured in his latest YouTube video:
High Bar Squat
Dr. Israetel’s first selection was the high bar squat. He offered setup instructions, advising lifters to let the bar sit on their shoulders close to the neck. He said it’s important to squeeze the shoulder blades back while your chest is elevated throughout repetitions.
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“It is a deep squat done almost exactly like Olympic weightlifters do the squat. The bar sits very high on your shoulders, really close to your neck. You’re going to pinch your shoulder blades back and keep your chest elevated the entire time. Your foot stance is really up to you.”
Sissy Squat
He also pointed out the effectiveness of sissy squats. During execution, he implored athletes to stay as upright as possible with the chest angled upwards.
“The sissy squat is brutal especially if you do it with the appropriate machine,” he shared. “You can do this with just a sort of device to hold on. You’re going to want to stay as upright as you possibly can, chest pointed to the sky, your hips all the way through, you’re going to go down really slowly as the pads rotate for you and you’re going to get your knees forward and down as deep as possible under control.”
Hack Squat
He described the hack squat as highly adaptable and revealed that it can be effective for lower or higher rep schemes.
“It is a very, very awesome exercise, especially if done right. Many of these exercises are done better for higher repetitions,” he adds. “They are adaptable because they can also be done for higher reps.”
One technique cue he said to consider was bringing the heels as far back on the platform as possible.
“The thing that you want with hack squats that you want to make sure to get the best, you want to bring your heels down as far back on the platform to your butt as you can until they are almost starting to lift at the bottom. That way, you can still get tons of pressure off your heels.”
Leg Press
He warned that most leg presses can cause back rounding, but on the ones that don’t, it can be a highly effective quad builder. He recommended wearing weightlifting shoes to go deeper and to add padding behind your back so lifters can lean back for a better range of motion.
“Wearing weightlifting shoes that give you a heel and allow you to go nice and deep. Most leg presses will round your back before that happens.
The other modifier you might want to use is to put some padding underneath your lower back, as low on that pad as it goes. That means you’ll be able to lean back further and you’ll open up more range of motion at your knees and be able to go deeper.”
Belt Squat
Belt squats also made his list. He recommended users place mats under their feet to make the movement more difficult, which could lead to additional growth.
“A belt squat is an excellent tool. What you want to do is make sure that if the belt squat doesn’t feel super hard at the bottom and easy at the top, you want to put some mats underneath your feet to get that lever point up so that at the very bottom, is where that squat is going to be the hardest.”
Dr. Israetel specified that you don’t need a ton of weight to make gains with belt squats.
“You don’t need a ton of weight for this. You want to come up every time to about 2/3 of the way and come back down, that keeps the tension on the quads.”
Dr. Israetel isn’t the only fitness mastermind breaking down how to effectively build the quads. Open Bodybuilding icon Branch Warren used them in his routine since he was 15 years old. He recently laid out how to build ‘world-class’ quads with barbell squats.
“It is the best thing you can do to build your quads, hams, and glutes,” explains Warren.
Dr. Israetel continues to offer his fans useful workout insights to better their physiques. He believes these five exercise selections are optimal for quad growth in no particular order.
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