How to Build Muscle Mass in Your Legs
Strong legs are part of total body fitness. Women typically identify toned legs as a primary workout goal for either athletic reasons or the aesthetic appeal of complementing swim and eveningwear. Men, however, are prone to ignore leg work in favor of upper-body strength training that focuses upon the chest, in particular. Of course, all athletes can benefit from the gains in confidence and metabolism that arise from sculpting nice legs in the gym.
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Instructions
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Build Strong Legs with Weights
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Identify basic objectives and goals before specifying the blueprint for your workout routine. Priorities vary according to athletic utility and appearance. For example, basketball players look to develop calf muscles for quick leaping ability, while football players would prefer to target their thighs and hips for power. Additionally, most women are in search of muscle definition, rather than bulky physiques. Schedule a physical examination to make further assessments and verify that your body is actually fit for exercise.
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Prepare your body for exercise by warming up for 10 to 15 minutes prior to strength training with weights. Complete a brisk walk or light jog prior to actually stretching out your leg muscles. The Mayo Clinic indicates that stretching cold muscles could lead to injury. The clinic also says that stretching is important to maintain the proper range of motion for exercise. Target your legs with butterfly, pike, hip flexor, calf and quadriceps stretches.
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Order your strength-training regimen in terms of the size of muscle groups that are worked by each particular exercise to preserve energy for heavy lifts. Lift heavier weights for fewer repetitions to build muscle mass. Conversely, you should lift lighter weights for higher amounts of repetitions to tone muscles. Muscle and Fitness identifies squats as the most important exercise in all of weightlifting.
Begin strength-training work for your legs with squats, which strengthen the entire lower body, back and abdominal wall. Control the barbell upon your shoulder blades, before inhaling and lowering the weight towards the floor into a virtual seat. Hips and thighs should be parallel to the ground at their low point, prior to exhaling and exploding back upward to a standing start that is slightly bent at the knees to complete one repetition. Integrate different variations of this exercise that include plyometric and box squats for additional strength training. These sets require you to actually jump into the air, or take a quick seat upon a bench, respectively.
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Finish strength training with wall sits, lunges, leg presses, leg curls, leg extensions and calf raises. Again, select exercises to supplement squats according to the part of the leg that you wish to develop. Wall sits and lunges are similar movements to squats, in which athletes perform repetitions by dropping their hips towards points that are parallel to the floor. Calf raises can be done with dumbbells or resistance equipment.
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Complete your routine with cardiovascular work that targets fast-twitch muscle fibers. Combine walking with running at a fast pace to develop your natural fast-twitch muscles that are associated with explosiveness and muscular body types.
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Tips & Warnings
Stay motivated to build your legs with diverse activities that break the monotony of weight training. Basketball, racquetball or even dancing strengthens leg muscles.
Short-term muscle soreness could degenerate into joint pain that restricts your ability to walk over time. Do not work out your legs during consecutive sessions to avoid injury.
