Dumbbell Quad Exercises for Growth, Definition, and Strength
What’s your typical Monday morning workout? Are you hitting the chest and triceps muscles like most people? Why not make Monday your new Leg Day.
Think about it. You’ll begin the week with muscles that have the greatest potential for caloric expenditure, muscle growth, and strength. Best of all, you’ll get the toughest day (or the one you enjoy the least) out of the way.
You’ll need a leg workout that will help you achieve those goals. A solid leg workout breaks down the lower body into quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, hips, and calves. In this article, we’ll be covering the best quad exercises that you can perform with our favorite fitness equipment: dumbbells.
But don’t worry, we also cover dumbbell hamstring exercises and calf exercises in our other articles.
Let’s start by taking a closer look at the quadriceps muscle, it’s function, and the best dumbbell quadriceps exercises. We’ll also make sure you have quad workouts so you can get started today.
Breakdown of the Quad Muscle
Look down at the front of your thigh. That’s your quadriceps femoris. This is a four-headed muscle that is made up of four unique parts:
- Vastus Lateralis
- Rectus Femoris
- Vastus Medialis
- Vastus Intermedius
Each of the four heads of the muscle starts at the femur and connects to your kneecap. Not surprisingly, the primary function of the quadriceps femoris is to extend the leg from the knee. It also stabilizes the patella or the small bone in front of the knee.
Moving from the outside of the leg to the inside, here are each of the four muscles:
Vastus Lateralis
The largest part of the quadriceps femoris, the vastus lateralis is located on the outer side of the upper thigh.
Aside from supporting leg extension and patella stabilization, the vastus lateralis also ensures you’re able to get up from the bottom of a squat.
Rectus Femoris
The rectus femoris muscle is found in the center of the front of the thigh. One unique fact about this muscle is that it is the only quadricep-based muscle that can flex the hip and thigh.
You can see this for yourself by extending your leg straight out and up. Contract the quadricep at the top and slowly lower. You have the rectus femoris to thank for that.
Vastus Medialis
Famously known as the teardrop muscle, the vastus medialis can be found on the inside of your thigh. This muscle gets a lot of attention in the world of bodybuilding because of its unique shape and ability to thicken the appearance of your thighs. (Take note if you have chicken legs.)
Vastus Intermedius
Finally, we have the vastus intermedius. This muscle lies beneath the rectus femoris and given this location, it can be tricky to target, which is why it’s essential to follow a well-rounded quadriceps workout. Squats are wonderful but there’s more to hitting your quads than one foundational movement.
Best Dumbbell Quad Exercises
As far as targeting your quadriceps, we think that one of the best pieces of weightlifting equipment you can use is a pair of dumbbells.
Barbells are great but they do allow for overcompensation issues to worsen. With dumbbells, each side must pull its own weight so you’ll be able to bring a weaker side up to speed much faster.
What’s more, if you’re looking for quad exercises at home, you’ve found them. These exercises can be done in any room or even outside if you have a few travel-friendly pairs of dumbbells.
Take note that some of these exercises are bodyweight-based. We wanted to include these because of how important they are for variety and full quad development.
Vastus Lateralis:
Rectus Femoris
Vastus Medialis:
Vastus Intermedius:
Quadriceps Workouts for Every Level
Each dumbbell quad workout has been designed to accommodate different experience levels. You’ll notice that the foundational exercises are found earlier in the beginner-level workouts while the more complicated exercises and methodologies are reserved for the advanced workouts.
Quad Workout for Beginners
This is your basic quadriceps workout. It’s ideal for beginners because it begins with bodyweight exercises to activate and wake up all four heads of the muscle. The dumbbell exercises that follow are considered barebones movements or things you should know before moving on to more complicated leg exercises.
Complete all of the repetitions for a given exercise before moving on the next one. Take no more than a 90-second break in between sets.
- Single-Leg Raises: 3 sets of 20 repetitions
- Dumbbell Step-Ups: 3 x 8 – 12
- Dumbbell Squats: 3 x 8 – 12
- Lunge Pulses: 3 x 10 – 12
Intermediate-Level Dumbbell Quadriceps Workout
Let’s take your dumbbell quad workout to the next level by using the supersetting method. This is when you perform one exercise and immediately move into the next one with no rest. Only after you’ve completed one set of the two exercises should you take a few minutes to rest.
The exercises below have been labeled “A” or “B”. Perform both “A” exercises back-to-back, take a break, then repeat the “A” exercises. Do this until you complete all of the sets and move on to the “B” exercises.
Super sets can get tough so you might need to put your ego in check beforehand and use a lighter weight than you normally would.
- A: Bodyweight Single-Leg Squat: 3 sets of 12 to 15 repetitions
- A: Close-Stance Dumbbell Front Squat: 3 x 10 – 12
- B: Reverse Lunge: 3 x 10 – 12
- B: Goblet Squat: 3 x 10 – 12
Advanced Dumbbell Quad Workout
Assuming you’re hitting legs twice per week, the following quadriceps workouts will be broken down into an inner and outer quad workout that can be complemented by hamstring and calf exercises for a complete leg workout. This will allow you to focus on even development.
INNER QUAD WORKOUT
- Single Leg Raises: 3 sets of 15 to 25 repetitions
- Dumbbell Squats: 3 x 8 – 15
- Single-Leg Squat: 2 x 8 – 15
- Dumbbell Hack Squats: 2 x 8 – 15
OUTER QUAD WORKOUT
- Dumbbell Step-Ups: 3 sets of 8 to 15 repetitions
- Split Squat: 2 x 8 – 12
- Side Lunge / Lateral Lunge: 3 x 8 – 12
- Goblet Squat: 3 x 8 – 15
Leg Day: How to Target Quads with Hamstrings and Calves
We’ve provided you with several quadricep-focused workouts but if you were planning on training the rest of your leg muscles in one day, then you’ll need to know how to incorporate dumbbell hamstring and calf exercises.
The quads and the hams are the big guns in a typical leg workout. Calves are important but they are secondary because they are already being worked in many leg exercises.
When designing a leg workout, you’ll want to include the following number of exercises for each of the three muscle groups:
- Quadriceps: 2 to 4 (Select at least one glute-dominant exercise such as the squat)
- Hamstrings: 2 to 3
- Calves: 1 to 2
Putting all of it together, here are two examples of a leg day training schedule, depending on how many times per week you work your legs.
Leg Day Workout Schedule One
Monday: Legs
- Single-Leg Raises: 3 sets of 20 repetitions
- Dumbbell Squats: 3 x 8 – 12
- Lunge Pulses: 3 x 10 – 12
- Hamstring exercise: (Example: Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts)
- Hamstring exercise: (Example: Dumbbell Stiff-Legged Deadlifts)
- Calf exercise: (Example: Dumbbell Calf Raises)
Tuesday: Back / Biceps / Core
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Chest / Shoulders / Triceps
Need a dumbbell chest workout? Check out ours!
Friday: Arms / Core
Saturday and Sunday: Rest
Leg Day Workout Schedule Two
Monday: Legs
- Bodyweight Single-Leg Squat: 3 sets of 12 to 15 repetitions
- Close-Stance Dumbbell Front Squat: 3 x 10 – 12
- Hamstring exercise: (Example: Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts)
- Calf exercise: (Example: Dumbbell Calf Raises)
Tuesday: Back / Biceps / Core
Wednesday: Chest / Shoulders / Triceps
Thursday: Legs
- Reverse Lunge: 3 x 10 – 12
- Goblet Squat: 3 x 10 – 12
- Hamstring exercise: (Example: Dumbbell Stiff-Legged Deadlifts)
- Calf exercise: (Example: Seated Dumbbell Calf Raises)
Friday: Back / Biceps / Core
Saturday: Chest / Shoulders / Triceps
Sunday: Rest
Put the “Quad” in Your Quadriceps Workout
Squats are the classic leg exercise – particularly for the quadriceps. But a true leg workout is going to target each head of the quadriceps muscle.
The extra time and effort that you’ll put into your workouts will be paid back and some when you see how much stronger and defined your thighs look.