Tear Drop Muscle

[MuscleMama76]

Can anyone recommend good exercises to develop the tear drop muscle. I know we cannot spot reduce, but are there any exercises that could help tone that particular muscle? I'm assuming squats are one...any others?

[nano.ix]

Front squats.
heavy front squats.

anything else will just aid,
leg extensions, hack squat, leg press.

[Fazzy]

Leg press with a lower stance.
Leg extensions with your toes pointed down.

[TallWorkouts]

Leg extensions are the very best exercise for the tear drop muscle around the knee. If you are doing squats and other heavy quadricep work you want to make sure that you do plenty of leg extensions for the tear drop muscle because the tear drop muscle is responsible for stabilizing the knee joint. If you have strong quads, but don't work the tear drop muscle, then the stronger quadricep muscle could pull against the weaker tear drop muscle around the knee, and it could lead to an injury.

[stealth_swimmer]

Leg press with a lower stance.
Leg extensions with your toes pointed down.

I don't think you gotta point your toes down on leg extensions. Just sit up straight instead of sitting back against the back. That helps hit the teardrop.

[kimm4]

Front squats (the favorite, but any other kind of squat with a narrow stance for outer quad)
Leg Extensions
Leg Press (feet close together)
Lunges (BB or DB)
BB single leg split squats

[labradarep]

ATG squats or Front squats

Peterson step up

Poliquin step up

[labradarep]

Leg extensions are the very best exercise for the tear drop muscle around the knee. If you are doing squats and other heavy quadricep work you want to make sure that you do plenty of leg extensions for the tear drop muscle because the tear drop muscle is responsible for stabilizing the knee joint. If you have strong quads, but don't work the tear drop muscle, then the stronger quadricep muscle could pull against the weaker tear drop muscle around the knee, and it could lead to an injury.

Please do not take this as an attack against you.

Leg Extensions are the last thing you should be doing to improve knee joint stability and hypertrophy the quad muscles. Knee extensions are an Open Kinetic Chain Exercise(ie: your foot is not planted) and thus cause excessive amounts of torque on your knee joint/capsule. There are many other exercises that are far more effective. Like all forms of squats, lunges, leg presses, step ups. Leg extensions are far more effective at the end of a leg workout when you have to lower the weight(load) being used , because of fatigue,and thus placing less stress/torque on the knee joint/capsule,

The Vastus Medialis(teardrop muscle) is one of three Quad muscles that stabilizes the Patella. The other 2 are the Vastus Intermedius & Vastus Lateralis.

You are correct in pointing out that a muscular imbalance can cause the Patella to be "pulled" and lead to pain or injury.

[Fazzy]

I don't think you gotta point your toes down on leg extensions. Just sit up straight instead of sitting back against the back. That helps hit the teardrop.

It's worked for me man.
I feel it really good when using proper form and pointing my toes down on the vastus medialis.

[MuscleMama76]

Wow!! Thanks everyone. I'm on it and will update on how it's going. I'm just a bit embarrased to wear shorts right now, until they are better developed.

[FITBIKECO]

A wider stance would also target the inner quads more too.

[Hit_It_Hard]

A wider stance would also target the inner quads more too.

This. Im pretty tall so i have to squat wide to really feel comfortable and ever since i started doing this that muscle has been blowing up

[zildjian_4]

just curious,... is your tear drop muscle disporportionate to your outer quads?or are you just trying to get it bigger because its the easiest to be seeen? like its been stated, isolating the tear drop muscle can lead to injury, i would just work on the entire quad, from different angles with different presses and lunges etc(including squats as your # 1) and it will come with time

[buffgrk]

leg extensions do it, squeeze on the contraction

[Dr Clay]

Here are some choices: leg extensions with your toes turned out slightly near the top; likewise, anything deep where you get lots of knee flexion hits the vastus medialis well - like deep hack squats.

[TallWorkouts]

Leg extensions, done for sets of 8 to 12 with light to moderate weight at the end of the workout, are the very best exercise to isolate the tear drop muscle around the knee. You should never max out or lift too heavy when doing any isolation exercise, especially leg extensions.

My brother played college football and he was getting a clicking in his knees. He went to the doctor and the MD doctor told him he needed to start doing leg extensions because he was doing heavy squats and leg press without any isolation exercises done for the tear drop muscle around the knee and it could lead to a knee weakness or injury within the knee joint. Leg extensions (or similiar movement done with bands) are the only isolation exercise that you can do to really isolate and strengthen the muscles in and around the knee joint.

I could sit here and use a ton of fancy terminology, but that does not take away from the fact that if you neglect the tear drop muscle around the knee, and only do heavy lifts for your quadriceps and hamstrings, then you could develop a muscle weakness in and around the knee joint.

You are correct, exercise order is very important. Always do your heavy lift first and your isolation exercises last. Here is the order of my Leg workout: Barbell squats, 45 degree angled leg press, stiff legged dead lifts, leg curls, and leg extensions.

[PaHulkster]

Toes out on the leg press and leg extensions have worked the best for me. To me you can't get good isolated contractions on squats because there is so much else to focus on. Squats are definitely better overall, but for this specific purpose I think you should look elsewhere. Also, being able to flex the muscle helps a ton when you are training it. For some reason I can't contract my left tear drop as well as my right, and it definitely shows on my physique.

[Bantropic]

Please do not take this as an attack against you.

Leg Extensions are the last thing you should be doing to improve knee joint stability and hypertrophy the quad muscles. Knee extensions are an Open Kinetic Chain Exercise(ie: your foot is not planted) and thus cause excessive amounts of torque on your knee joint/capsule. There are many other exercises that are far more effective. Like all forms of squats, lunges, leg presses, step ups. Leg extensions are far more effective at the end of a leg workout when you have to lower the weight(load) being used , because of fatigue,and thus placing less stress/torque on the knee joint/capsule,

The Vastus Medialis(teardrop muscle) is one of three Quad muscles that stabilizes the Patella. The other 2 are the Vastus Intermedius & Vastus Lateralis.

You are correct in pointing out that a muscular imbalance can cause the Patella to be "pulled" and lead to pain or injury.

Sensational response. It mirrors my views on the Leg Extension exercise. Well said.

[Bantropic]

He went to the doctor and the MD doctor told him he needed to start doing leg extensions

MD's are not trained in exercise.

This is one, of a variety of reasons, why Exercise Physiologists (EPs) work in conjunction with MDs.

The quoted sentence does nothing to support the credibility of your thought process.

I could sit here and use a ton of fancy terminology, but that does not take away from the fact that if you neglect the tear drop muscle around the knee, and only do heavy lifts for your quadriceps and hamstrings, then you could develop a muscle weakness in and around the knee joint.

The "tear-drop muscle around your knee" forms part of the Quadriceps - so please explain to all of us how performing Squats (as an example) neglects this region?

You're not doing yourself any justice persisting with this dismal point.

[Nodeal]

I workout at home and can only do squats,so I find other ways to hit the legs.For the teardrop area,I like grab a pair of dumbbells and go up and down a flight of stairs 2 steps at a time as many times as you can.After 3 or 4 sets,your teardrop area will be screaming for mercy.Kind of a lunge variation.Take a little getting use to.so start with light weights.

[labradarep]

Here are some choices: leg extensions with your toes turned out slightly near the top; likewise, anything deep where you get lots of knee flexion hits the vastus medialis well - like deep hack squats.

Like Dr C stated- doing "DEEP" (ATG) squats, hack squats, smith machine squats, etc... will stimulate the VMO (aka: teardropmuscle). The reason being is that the VMO is innervated by the Femoral nerves & when you get into the DEEP squat position that particular nerve needs to fire , thus stimulating the VMO.

[michaelrice14]

Ive never done any exercise to address this muscle specifically but I have always had them. I played all sports growing up and ive just always it it doing the normal squat with my feet slightly shoulder width apart toes pointing out and leg press the same thing. The one thing that I have noticed lately is riding a bike, mountain or road, my shiz is on fire. Seriously...ill ride for like 15 minutes and they burn up. I dont understand the obsession with the tear drop personally as I have always had them, but riding a bike definitely will build them up.

[jxm26]

Ive never done any exercise to address this muscle specifically but I have always had them. I played all sports growing up and ive just always it it doing the normal squat with my feet slightly shoulder width apart toes pointing out and leg press the same thing. The one thing that I have noticed lately is riding a bike, mountain or road, my shiz is on fire. Seriously...ill ride for like 15 minutes and they burn up. I dont understand the obsession with the tear drop personally as I have always had them, but riding a bike definitely will build them up.

....2009

[Waldo56]

Pistol squats hit it especially well, given the extreme depth of the squat and the extra balance/stabilization requirements of squatting on a single leg.

[kitsos456]

Can anyone recommend good exercises to develop the tear drop muscle. I know we cannot spot reduce, but are there any exercises that could help tone that particular muscle? I'm assuming squats are one...any others?

heavy ass to grass front squats without locking out
leg extensions with twisting ur legs out on the lockout

=

teardrops mad like a motherfaka