John Kirkpatrick is the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Sale Sharks, and a former professional rugby league player who played for St Helens RLFC, London Broncos RLFC and Widnes RLFC.
Here, Kirky shares three top quad-building exercises that can support your triathlon training.
- Front squats
- Put the barbell across the front of your shoulders, steadying it with an underhand grip.
- Keep your shoulders back and down, head forward and engage the core.
- Squat down, keep your chest and elbows up.
- Squat until you are at 90 degrees from the floor.
- Squeeze your glutes until you’re back up to the top.
- Lunges
- Keep your back straight and head up facing forward.
- Step forward on one leg.
- Lower your hips until both knees are at 90 degrees.
- Make sure your front knee is above your ankle and your back knee doesn’t quite touch the floor.
- If you want to challenge yourself, put the barbell on the back of your shoulders, or use a dumbbell in each hand.
- Bulgarian split squat
- Your back foot should be elevated on a step, bench, box or something around knee height.
- Your front foot is lunge distance in front of the box or platform you are lunging off.
- Lower your body until your back knee is close to the floor and your front leg is at 90 degrees. Your front foot should not go over your knee.
- Drive up using your glutes and quads – and repeat.