Hello bodybuilding lovers! In today's episode we'll figure out how to pump up your legs. You will receive comprehensive information on this topic. After reading the material, your views on leg training will change dramatically. You will learn which exercises are effective and which are not, how to combine them correctly and create the perfect set of leg exercises. You will also understand how even a slight knowledge of anatomy will help you train your leg muscles as effectively as possible and why leg training must be divided into two parts. In general, closer to the point.
Pumping up your legs to impressive volumes is not an easy task, but without well-trained legs you won’t be able to build everything else. What kind of legs you have depends on what kind of arms, back, chest you have, and indeed any muscle in the body. Therefore, leg training is a priority for every thinking bodybuilder.
The purpose of this article is to help fans of iron sports figure out how to pump up their legs in the shortest possible time and with maximum efficiency, without the use of steroids and other chemicals. The key to success is knowledge and understanding of how the leg muscles work and which exercises respond best.
Stand strong on your feet
HOW TO PUMP UP YOUR SUPERLEGS
LEG PRESS
Most bodybuilders place their feet apart, but I have my feet close together and my toes pointing straight forward. This position works well on the sides of my quads and the ligaments between my hamstrings, glutes, and quads. Do the repetitions without stopping, and do not linger at the top point of the movement. Increase the weights according to the pyramid principle.
METHODOLOGY
In the first years of bodybuilding, I managed to “pump up” my legs. I remember that I then squatted until I completely passed out, until I collapsed, and did countless sets of 6-8 repetitions each. Of course, my legs grew quickly.
But, having become a professional, I began to understand that “mass” is not the main thing for a bodybuilder. Equally important are proportionality, symmetry and relief. Heavy basic exercises will no longer help here.
I had to reconsider my program and pay attention to each muscle individually
Advice!
This means that I switched to machines, increased the number of repetitions to 15-20, and switched to isolation movements, which are easier to control. But that is not all! Remember: success is impossible without constant development.
I am constantly making changes to my programs and discovering new possibilities for each muscle group. And for this you need to think all the time!
STANDING LEG BENDS
This simulator allows you to “pump” the semitendinosus at all possible angles, loading their external, internal, lower and diagonal parts. Keep your torso straight so that only your legs work.
LYING LEG BENDS
I do this exercise in my own way: I lift my upper body off the bench to better isolate the semitendinosus. Weight isn't that important here. The movements are slower, with constant muscle tension and at full amplitude.
STRAIGHT LEG DEADLIFT
LEG EXTENSION
Choose a weight that will allow you to strictly follow the technique at an average pace of movement. Keep your torso motionless so that the entire load falls on the quadriceps. Extend your legs using quadriceps force, not a swinging motion. I do repetitions without stopping or delaying at the top point and with each set I increase the weights according to the pyramid principle,
HACK SQUATS
I place my heels together and my toes apart. As I press the weight up, I don’t allow myself to lift my heels. Here I do not use the pyramid principle, but immediately set a weight that will allow me to do 15-20 full repetitions, and perform 4 sets with it.
| EXERCISE | SETS | REPEATS |
| Quadriceps | ||
| Extensions (warm-up) | 2 | 20-25 |
| Leg press | 6 | 15-20 |
| Hack squats | 4 | 15-20 |
| Leg extensions | 6 | 15-20 |
| Hamstrings | ||
| Standing leg curls | 3 | 15-20 |
| Lying leg curls | 3 | 15-20 |
| Deadlift on straight legs | 3 | 6-10 |
Kevin Levrone advises
Beginners do not have to train according to my complex, but you can stick to my split:
three days of training, one free.
Do four exercises for each body part for 4 sets and 10-15 repetitions.
For beginners, I would advise swinging only with dumbbells and a barbell.
At an advanced level, you can use exercise machines, but it is still better to give preference to barbells and dumbbells. The split remains the same: three working days, one free; For each body part, do four exercises from four sets, but reduce the number of repetitions to 10-12.
To ensure good blood flow to your muscles and protect them from damage, stretch each group before performing exercises and between sets.
Attention!
You should not increase the number of repetitions - this will lead to a decrease in load. On the contrary, your task is to make the workout more intense.
The more you load your muscles, the faster they grow; but you can only understand what intensity is through your own experience. Always think about your actions. Focus on working your muscles and try to cross the pain threshold.
A psychological attitude will help you overcome this threshold and find a second wind: find the reason why you vitally need to do one more repetition
It doesn’t matter what it will be - the main thing is to explain to yourself the need for action
Each of us has difficult days in life. Remember: sooner or later the black streak is sure to give way to white. The main thing is not to lose heart
It doesn't matter how long you have to wait. In any case, don't give up! And victory will be yours!
How many times a week should you go to the gym?
As you know, goals can be different. Let's start with something quite rare for girls - gaining muscle mass.
If you belong to the category of people who constantly lose weight, despite the fact that they try to eat a lot, then you are most likely in for heavy strength training with lifting weights. Heavy means that you will need to work with maximum effort.
In this case, the muscles and the body as a whole need time to recover - at least a day. That is why the classic involves training three days a week, when you work several muscle groups in one workout, then rest for a day and then train other muscles, and so on one more time.
So the training of all the muscles of the body is “broken” into three separate workouts and, conditionally, each muscle group rests for a whole week. This allows each muscle to recover well, which means it grows and becomes stronger.
I use the word “conditionally” because when training large muscle groups, smaller ones are always involved, respectively, for example, your triceps will work both when you train it purposefully and when you train the chest muscles.
If the training is moderate with light weight and is aimed more at tone, then one muscle group can be used several times a week. Just in this case, give each muscle group a rest for about 2 days. This means it can be 3, 4, 5, or 6 workouts per week.
If you work out in the gym according to the “full body” system, in which there is usually one, maximum 2 exercises with moderate load for each muscle group, then you can do it every day.
Let me sum it up. When strength training with weights, you need to give your muscles time to recover. To do this, you need to take into account the intensity of the workout. In general, if after a workout you can say “I’m tired, of course, but overall everything is fine,” then this is a moderate-intensity workout. If your thoughts are “I can’t do anything else even for a million,” this is definitely training at an increased difficulty and after it you need a break of 1-2 days.
Strength training options:
- distribute all muscle groups over three days, for example: legs/buttocks, chest/back, shoulders/arms
- for two days, for example: legs/buttocks/back, chest/shoulders/arms (in this case, each workout will be longer than with a three-day program)
- and yes, you can train 4, and 5, and 6, and even 7 days a week - the main thing is that all muscle groups have time to rest and, if yesterday you did a hard workout on a large muscle group, for example on the legs, then today is better train a smaller group, such as arm muscles or shoulders
- if this is a “full body” workout, you can do it every day
Large and small muscle groups
To give a complete and detailed answer to the question: “How many times a week should I train my legs?”, you must first understand what type of muscle group this muscle group belongs to. There are large and small muscle groups in our body. The first include the chest, back and, of course, legs (they make up approximately 50% of the total muscle mass of the human body). The second ones include biceps, triceps, deltoids and calves. It's very simple: large muscle groups require a lot of time to recover, and small muscle groups, in turn, recover several times faster. If you are a girl and want to pump up beautiful thighs, how to do this is described in this article: https://fb.ru/article/368193/kak-nakachat-bedra-devushke-byistro.
Pumping your legs
Most beginners, for about the first six months to a year, do not pay attention to their legs. And not only beginners, but also “semi-pros” are guilty of this. Usually, such people are called “beach people.”
They rock the top and don't care about their legs at all.
When they put on shorts or go to the beach, you can immediately see the inferiority of the “picture” and the lack of leg muscles immediately spoils the whole feeling of the rest of the “efforts”.
It’s worth remembering this and devoting at least one day of training to your legs. It is not difficult. What’s good about pumping your legs is that they can be pumped separately from all other muscles (if you don’t take into account the squat and deadlift). That is, while the “upper” is being restored, you can perfectly pump the lower part – the legs.
Important!
Moreover, it’s even pleasant to pump your legs. Despite their impressive volume, the leg muscles are also subject to the usual “killing”, they also hurt and recover.
They say that the legs recover quickly and can be exercised 2 times a week and even more if desired.
It's not difficult to pump up your legs. Usually, 3-5 exercises are enough. On the quadriceps, hamstrings, calves. These are muscles that form volume and shape. Exercises can be found in the “Muscle Map” section.
By giving your all in each exercise, you are guaranteed to achieve pleasant “burning” sensations in your legs, when it becomes difficult to walk, and the next day it also hurts. In my opinion, these are wonderful feelings that really make you feel great and continue to move and develop. After all, when your legs hurt, it always causes a special feeling, one might say, strength, power.
Training goals
Before answering the question “How to pump up your legs?”, each reader needs to decide on their training goals. The most common of them:
- Build overall muscle mass, create an attractive, proportional figure with toned legs . The most common target among men;
- Build a proportional figure with attractive and “fat-free” legs and buttocks without gaining extra muscles . The most common goal among the fair sex;
- Pump up your legs separately from the rest of your body . The goal is set either out of stupidity (we will understand why later), or as part of eliminating imbalances, when the development of other muscle groups is ahead of the development of the leg muscles.
How to quickly pump up your legs Or my experience of pumping up your legs in 6 Workouts of 30 Minutes each. All about Bodybuilding
Before moving on to the article, I would like to draw your attention to this service for athletes. Virtual rocking chair is just a godsend for beginners
All the advanced training principles are so organically and competently woven into the training programs that I regret that such a service did not exist when I myself was a beginner.
You don't know how quickly you can pump up your legs? Then read my experience of pumping up legs at an accelerated pace.
There are actually a lot of exercises for pumping up muscles, and I will now tell you which of them is the most effective.
First, I want to tell you my story and from it you will understand everything...
It is important!
The first two years of my training, I absolutely did not touch on pumping up the leg muscles, I only pumped up the torso, because that’s all I saw in the mirror and didn’t think about the fact that legs are also very important for a bodybuilder.
And somehow I decided to really take up training the leg muscles, but I still didn’t know what exercises to do, and there wasn’t much choice of exercise equipment. Only one rod with racks was at hand.
I often heard at that time that legs can be pumped up very well with squats. I had no choice, I started doing squats... Although fitness with a pool remained in my dreams.
After the first workout, I realized that squats are a very effective exercise for quickly pumping up leg muscles, since after it, almost all the muscles in my legs hurt for about a week.
I continued to squat. My leg training took place only once a week on Sundays and lasted only 30 minutes. I only did one squat and did nothing else during my leg workout.
I began to notice that the muscles were actually growing at an unprecedented pace, and so 6 weeks and only 6 workouts passed.
And somehow, after the 6th workout, I decided to wear jeans, which I had calmly walked around in before and they were just right for me. And what do you think?
I not only couldn’t fasten them, but I couldn’t even put them on at all; they were simply bursting at the seams. After I went to the store and bought new jeans, it turned out that I now needed pants 2 sizes larger than I was wearing before!
I made the following conclusions about quickly pumping up my legs:
- Since I pumped my legs only once a week, they had time to fully recover in 7 days;
- Since I was completely focused on pumping up my legs, all my strength in training went only to them;
- Squats are an excellent mass-gaining exercise for the legs and you can’t argue with that;
Here is a completely real story about how you can quickly pump up your leg muscles without any tricks while doing just one basic exercise.
I wish you not to forget about the base and periodically pump your legs to give your body a harmonious look!
And in conclusion, I want to advise you - squat, squat and squat again if you want to have beautiful and powerful legs, because this is the best basic exercise for pumping up your legs.
Helpful advice!
You may also be interested in the article: fitness club subscription price, read it here or material on the topic “sports nutrition for gaining muscle mass”
The truth that professional bodybuilders won't tell you
Someone, having read the section above, may object: “But Arnold Schwarzenegger and other professional bodybuilders trained almost every day! And they didn’t have any overtraining, they had wonderful results!” There is indeed some truth in these words, but one important thing is not taken into account here: absolutely all famous bodybuilders use steroids in their training. Anabolic drugs not only build muscle mass, but also significantly speed up recovery after heavy training sessions. For ordinary people who exercise without the use of pharmacological products, such training is absolutely not suitable.
Additionally, it is important to understand that even professionals like Arnold Schwarzenegger only trained in this style in the weeks leading up to competition when they needed to reach their peak condition.
How to choose leg exercises
Trainers often say that slender legs are impossible without basic exercises - squats for the front of the thigh and deadlifts on straight legs for the hamstrings, but this is not always the case.
— If you just need to polish your figure, then you need to perform various swings, fly-outs in simulators, and so on. That is, if a girl initially has a good figure, with good genetics, and she just needs to remove excess in some places, then she does not have to do squats or deadlifts, says Eduard Belonozhko.
So, let's leave barbell squats and straight-leg deadlifts for more advanced girls, and consider simpler and more effective exercises for losing weight in legs.
Swing your legs
One of the simplest leg exercises that can be performed even at home - standing or lying down. But it will still be more effective to perform it in the gym in a crossover with light weights. Swings can be performed in three variations: forward, backward and to the side - it depends on which part of the leg we want to load. For the most effective development, you can combine all three variations into a complex and perform 15 swings of each type in turn without rest.
Photo: eastnews.ru
Lunges
You can perform lunges either without weight or with any weight, be it a barbell or dumbbells - all variations are effective. When lowering, the body must be kept straight and not leaned forward. The knees at the bottom point of the movement should not go beyond the toes, that is, you need to squat as deeply as possible. You need to push yourself up without the help of your back leg.
Photo: eastnews.ru
Leg curls in the simulator
A great isolation exercise for the hamstrings. When performing lying bends, your knees should hang slightly off the bench, the roller should rest against the back of your ankles or slightly above, and your body should be pressed tightly against the bench so that your back is not involved in the work.
Leg extensions in the simulator
An exercise aimed at working the front surface of the thigh. Extensions will not only help burn fat, but will also give definition to your legs; to do this, try to hold for 1-2 seconds at the top point.
Photo: eastnews.ru
Breeding and mixing in the simulator
Perhaps the most popular women's exercise machine, which allows you to work out not only the outer and inner thighs, but also the buttocks and even the abdominal muscles
It is important to perform the movement as smoothly as possible and, again, with a slight delay at the point of peak load
Photo: eastnews.ru
Leg raises
Another exercise for losing weight on your legs, suitable for home workouts. Lying on your back, slowly raise your straightened legs to an angle of 90 degrees. At the same time, the lower back should not come off the floor, otherwise the exercise will involve the abs more than the legs.
Photo: eastnews.ru
Pelvic lifts
An excellent home exercise for firm gluteal muscles. Lie on your back with your knees bent and your legs pressed together. Pressing your heels and shoulder blades into the floor, we lift your pelvis up as high as possible. At the top point you need to linger for 1-2 seconds for maximum contraction of the buttocks.
Photo: eastnews.ru
In addition to exercise, running or cycling will help you get rid of fat in your legs. Cardio training can be done at least every day; unlike strength training, the body and muscles will not take much time to recover. In addition, relaxing baths, swimming and foot massage performed at night will be beneficial in losing weight.
News smi2.ru
Why you can't exercise every day
Until recently, trainers and doctors agreed that each day of training should focus on only one muscle group. Today we had to move away from this method, as it turned out that the athlete simply did not have time to recover in such conditions. Daily exercise had a detrimental effect on the body as a whole. The nervous system could not cope with frequent stress. The effect of training decreased, and the athlete experienced the effects of overtraining.
There are various supplements with which the body can restore strength much faster, but daily use of such substances can have a bad effect on health.
The time for normal, but incomplete muscle rest is usually within 3 days. This figure varies greatly depending on experience. Beginners may need a whole week. Also, a lot depends on the muscles themselves. So, large ones require a long recovery, small ones, accordingly, rest faster.
For example, the legs, which occupy about 50% of the total muscle mass of the body, should not be frequently loaded. Hands correspond to 25%, so they need 2 times less time to recover. The biceps, triceps and shoulders should be trained more often than others, but they are often used when working on larger muscles.
Therefore, it is important to take into account the indirect participation of one or another muscle group
Number of workouts
How many should the number of visits to the gym per week be for beginners and amateurs? Those who have recently decided to get a pumped up body should stick to the “1 day of training/2 days of rest” scheme. But provided that the loads correspond to the level, and after training you will feel tired. If such a frequency of classes no longer causes any particular difficulties, then you should move on to the amateur stage, the number of classes will increase up to 3-4 times.
For those who want to lose weight, the number of workouts can vary greatly. The fact is that when losing excess weight, cardio exercises are a priority, and they can be performed daily without harm to health. But you should not exercise forcefully, since exercising with excess weight is much more difficult, and in addition, there is a possibility of a sharp deterioration in the condition. Therefore, before starting intensive weight loss, you should consult your doctor.
If you use strength exercises, then the weight may, on the contrary, increase, since muscle mass will build up, which will not contribute to the destruction of fat. Therefore, you should switch to such exercises only after losing a few kilograms thanks to cardio exercises.
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The secret that bodybuilders hide
It is possible that people who are interested in how often per week to work out their legs and buttocks were surprised when reading the above information. It is quite possible that someone even objected: “But Arnold Schwarzenegger trained every day, that’s why he achieved such impressive results in bodybuilding!” This is true; Arnold, like all professional bodybuilders, practiced daily training. But you should understand that experienced bodybuilders use dangerous anabolic steroids, which increase endurance several times and stimulate muscle growth. Also, if you think that they were training every day all the time, then you are very mistaken. As a rule, they resorted to such intensive training only 3-4 weeks before the competition.
How to pump up muscles
Instructions
Beginners often have a desire to take the maximum weight at once and do a large number of approaches. Be careful not to overdo it, as this may cause injury.
Perform each exercise carefully, while feeling the work of a specific muscle group. Start with squats, push-ups and pull-ups on the horizontal bar.
Stretching exercises can increase muscle strength and make them more elastic.
The first rule is that the nature of the load should be aerobic. Select the weight of the weight so that you can perform only ten to fifteen exercises at the limit of your capabilities. If you press the barbell forty to fifty times, you will only train endurance, but not build muscle.
The next rule is to constantly change the nature of physical activity.
The nervous system and muscles quickly adapt to loads and stress, so make periodic changes to your training regimen: change the speed of the exercise, the rest time between sets and rest, the number of days between workouts, combinations and exercises, the number of approaches and the priority of performing movements. Do not let your muscles adapt to the load; there must be a constant struggle here.
The training time should not exceed sixty minutes (preferably forty to fifty minutes). A longer workout will only drain all the energy from you, and, as you know, it is not endless. When the liver cannot supply energy, a mechanism is used to release energy from the muscle tissue junction. Therefore, long-term training can destroy the muscles that you have worked on for so long.
When visiting the gym, be sure to check with the instructor on how to properly pump up your muscles using this or that exercise machine. Familiarize yourself with the exercise technique.
Helpful advice!
To begin with, limit the number of approaches to two, and after the muscles get used to the load, experiment with the number of approaches.
To gain muscle mass, a balanced diet will come to your aid.
