Rashmika Mandanna expressed, “Watching this video really ignites the inner strength within me, I must say…”
Rashmika Mandanna’s dedication to fitness is widely recognized. She has been consistently committed to her fitness journey, ensuring she dedicates ample time to strength and conditioning. Recently, the Pushpa actor was seen engaging in a challenging leg workout to target her quadricep muscles.
Sharing a video recorded by her trainer Junaid Shaikh, Mandanna commented, “This is a video @junaid.shaikh88 has captured where my soul is leaving my body and coming back. He is gradually transforming me into a superhuman… Watching this video truly unleashes the inner beast in me.”
In the video, Mandanna is performing leg extensions on the lever machine. This exercise involves sitting on a padded seat and raising the padded bar with your legs, effectively targeting the quadriceps muscles in the front of the thigh, including the rectus femoris and vastus muscles. Fitness expert Garima Goyal explains that this exercise is ideal for building lower body strength and muscle definition as part of a comprehensive strength training routine.
Leg extensions target the large muscles on the front of the thighs, making them excellent open-chain kinetic exercises where the legs are not stationary during the movement. According to fitness expert Garima Goyal, while compound exercises engage multiple leg muscles, leg extensions provide isolated volume to the quadriceps, leading to optimal strength development in the legs.
Additionally, leg extensions are considered low-impact exercises, putting less strain on the joints and reducing the risk of injuries.
This exercise also enhances knee stability. The biomechanics of leg extensions involve a torque force that requires the use of your quadriceps to straighten your knee. This action strengthens the patella and quadricep knee attachment ligaments, ultimately improving knee stability. Regularly performing leg extensions can reduce the risk of injuries by enhancing this biomechanic, according to Goyal.
Furthermore, strong quadriceps and thighs resulting from leg extensions can boost athletic performance. “Your quads help your overall stability and balance, so those metrics also improve from doing leg extensions. Strong quads will improve your lifts and give you better performance in the gym. Your quads significantly affect your lower and upper leg movements, which come into play during exercises like squats, deadlifts, and other lower body strengthening exercises,” Goyal explained.
