How to pump your legs: the most effective leg training

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.

EXERCISESETSREPEATS
Quadriceps
Extensions (warm-up)220-25
Leg press615-20
Hack squats415-20
Leg extensions615-20
Hamstrings
Standing leg curls315-20
Lying leg curls315-20
Deadlift on straight legs36-10

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!

Set of exercises for leg muscles #3

Focus on the glutes and inner thighs.

#ExerciseNumber of repetitions
1Single leg squats8-10 each leg (muscle growth) 15 each leg (weight loss)
2Sumo squats (plie) with dumbbells12-15 (muscle growth) 15-20 (weight loss)
3Gluteal bridge12-15 (muscle growth) 15-20 (weight loss)
4Leg curls in the simulator10 each leg (muscle growth) 15 each leg (weight loss)

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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

The most effective exercises for legs

The most effective leg exercises include:

  1. Squats

This exercise is called the king among all leg exercises. Squats comprehensively develop the lower body.

In addition, they contribute to the maximum release of testosterone into the blood, which is important for muscle growth not only in the legs, but throughout the whole body.

  1. Front Squats

Not such a popular exercise among amateurs due to the awkward position of the barbell. But very popular among professional bodybuilders. The quadriceps are worked with emphasis.

  1. Lunges with a barbell (dumbbells) in place or in motion

Develops the front and inner surface of the thigh, and also involves the gluteal muscles as much as possible.

  1. Romanian barbell deadlift

One of the main exercises for developing the back of the thigh and buttocks.

  1. Leg press in the simulator

Probably the most popular leg exercise among ordinary gym goers.

Due to the reduced load on the spine, it allows you to work with more weight and achieve good results.

It is considered basic, but the release of hormones is less compared to free weight exercises.

  1. Smith Machine Exercises

Similar to all the barbell exercises described above.

Less traumatic than squats due to the given vector of movement, but the stimulation of muscle growth is an order of magnitude lower.

Basic multi-joint exercises have a powerful effect on both the leg muscles and the entire body:

  1. When performing them, both the main muscles and stabilizer muscles are involved in the work, which limit the level of strength.
  2. Another important property of basic leg exercises is the stimulation of the release of testosterone into the circulatory system.

Developing stabilizers allows you to train with heavier weights, which helps accelerate muscle growth.

And testosterone is the male sex hormone that triggers this growth.

It is rational to use leg exercises in your program that will cause maximum testosterone release and develop stabilizer muscles.

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.

Leg training volume

As you understand, from a review of methods for the concept of “leg day” it is difficult to isolate the main parameters of effectiveness: volume and intensity. Among bodybuilders they simply do not exist, especially in answers in interviews with specialized magazines to the question: “How do you train your legs?”

The minimum volume of leg training in my method is the usual 25 approaches. Doing 25 approaches in one workout is very difficult, especially with an increase in intensity over a period of at least 6 weeks.

My clients train their legs 5 times a week for 5 approaches, then 3 times a week for 8-9 approaches, then they can go up to 2 times a week for 12-13 approaches.

Doing 25 sets of legs once a week is “level 80.”

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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 best exercises for pumping up your legs

Exercise for pumping up legs No. 1. Squats


Squats with a barbell are a basic exercise that engages all the muscles of the lower body and also develops the abdominal muscles. Barbell squats are the main exercise for pumping up your legs, regardless of your goals. Alternative: squats with dumbbells, resistance bands or resistance bands.

Leg exercise No. 2. Lunges with a barbell


An exercise that allows you to answer the question “How to pump up your legs and buttocks?” The best option for girls who want to get a toned, firm butt. Lunges with a barbell develop the buttocks better than squats. If your goal is to pump up your butt, use lunges with a barbell as your main exercise, complemented by squats.

Leg exercise No. 3. Deadlift on straight legs


The best exercise to develop the back of the thigh. The quadriceps are almost not included in the work, while the hamstrings receive more load than when performing squats or lunges.

Leg exercise No. 4. Leg press


A basic exercise that can replace barbell squats. The leg press is inferior in effectiveness to squats, but increases the effectiveness of training when combined with them due to variety.

Leg exercise No. 5. Leg extensions in the simulator


An isolation exercise that is aimed at working the quadriceps. A beginner needs leg extensions only if his quadriceps are lagging behind. In the first 12-18 months of training, the quadriceps are fully pumped through squats, lunges, deadlifts and leg presses.

Exercise No. 6. Leg bending in the simulator


An isolation exercise to develop the hamstrings. By analogy with leg extensions in a machine, it does not provide significant benefit to a beginner. Helps to work the back of the thigh if there are already muscles there due to basic training.

Exercise No. 7. Calf raises in the gym


Develops the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles of the leg. An exercise that everyone who wants to answer the question “How to pump up your legs?” should do. fully.

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

Set of exercises for leg muscles #1

Emphasis on the overall gain of muscle mass in the legs and buttocks.

#ExerciseNumber of repetitions
1Squats12-15 (muscle growth) 15-20 (weight loss)
2Leg press with wide stance12-15 (muscle growth) 15-20 (weight loss)
3Lunges with dumbbells10 each leg (muscle growth) 15 each leg (weight loss)
4Romanian single leg deadlift10 each leg (muscle growth) 15 each leg (weight loss)

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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How to swing your legs correctly? Complex principle


Depending on the chosen goal, you will have to add upper body exercises to your leg training. The legs may be the focus of the program, but when training only one muscle group, we get the following negative results:

  • The speed of leg pumping decreases. Working out all muscle groups promotes the release of testosterone and other anabolic hormones, without which muscle growth is impossible. Training your back and chest accelerates muscle gain in your legs and buttocks;
  • The appearance of the athlete or sportswoman is deteriorating. We get a disproportionate figure, which makes us want to joke, rather than support and admire the success of the athlete;
  • The speed of leg pumping is limited by the development of other muscle groups. The body strives for balance. When an athlete, in an attempt to answer the question “How to build up legs?”, trains only the lower body, his progress slows down significantly. The body strives for balance and tries to maintain natural proportions. Sometimes, to pump up your legs, you need to learn how to pump up your back.

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.

How to pump up your legs

Leg training can have a different focus - developing strength, increasing muscle mass, developing endurance and reducing thigh volume due to subcutaneous fat.

We will talk about how to pump up your legs in the gym, that is, we will tell you what leg training for weight should be like.

To achieve leg muscle growth, use basic strength exercises as a basis. It is with their help that progress in gaining muscle mass is achieved.

It is important to use the optimal load according to your fitness level. This will determine how many times a week we pump our legs and what number of exercises, approaches and repetitions will be used.

Benefits of leg muscle training

1. Aesthetic nuance (observance of proportions) is an extremely important point in bodybuilding (and not only for competing athletes, but, in principle, for all people striving for ideal shape).

Well, as you probably understand, a developed upper body without developed leg muscles will look, to put it mildly, ridiculous, I would say ugly, disproportionate.

Well, this is already a tritely hackneyed topic; in bodybuilding (in general, if the goal is to look harmoniously beautiful) you need to develop absolutely all muscle groups EQUALLY, observing proportions. You can’t concentrate on one thing and completely forget about everything else, this is wrong.

CONCLUSION: as a rule, everyone trains the upper body, but many people stupidly neglect the lower body (legs). By training the leg muscles accordingly, you will have uniform development of the whole body (upper and lower) and there will be no imbalances (improportions).

2. By training (developing) the lower body (leg muscles), the upper body will also develop (even on its own). How so, you ask? Very simple! Our body is a single whole, which always strives for uniformity.

CONCLUSION: You will have strong, powerful, muscular leg muscles - your upper body will tend to do the same.

3. For those who don’t know, the leg muscles are the largest muscle group in the human body. And the larger the muscle group, the more complex (basic) the exercise, the more anabolic hormones necessary for muscle growth are produced.

CONCLUSION: because The legs are the largest muscle, the release of anabolic hormones for muscle growth is the largest.

4. The larger and stronger your legs, the lower your body's center of gravity (more stable). For example, this is very important in MMA, boxing, Thai boxing, etc., in short, there (in that sport) where stability is important.

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