How to Build Leg Strength

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Mike Quebec, and today's subject is how to build leg strength. This is leg strength for both everyday people and athletes, and the goal here is to develop leg strength that's not necessarily bulky muscles, but very functional, very powerful legs. So, first thing I'm going to do, is I'm going to attack the calves right now. I'm going to use the wall as support and this does look like a dance move, but keep in mind, dancers have very string legs, so I'm going to do, is I'm going to get my heels together, my back is straight, hand on the hip, I'm going to take a deep breath in, and when I breathe out I'm just going to push up on my toes. This is a very small movement, and even if you are novice, there's a lot you can do. So I would recommend if you are a beginner or novice, at the very least, one set of twenty-five. Most of you novices could probably do a lot more. If you are an intermediate advanced, you'll probably have to go, like one hundred. But you really feel the burn in the calves. Once your calves starts to burn, you want to put your hands right on this wall, one leg back, that back leg, the heel is flat, and you lean your body forward to stretch out that calf. Then you switch to the other side. Alright, so you've worked the calves there. Remember, if you worked opposing muscles you should also work the tibialis or the shins. An easy one for that is just to flex your toes up towards your shins, that'll work your shins. Alright I'm going to work, I'm going to move on up to my thighs. Or my, quadriceps, and this one, it's actually easy to do, but hard to hold. So, what I'm going to do, is I'm going to keep my back straight by leaning against the wall, but I'm not going to put all of my weight against the wall, I'm just going to use that to keep my back straight. I'm going to have my feet spread out wider than shoulder width, toes and knees pointed forward, and then from there, I'm just going to go ahead and hold this seated position. Holding this for at least a minute will really work the quadriceps. Remember to breathe in nice and easy, and keep your lower back straight. After about a minute of that, your quads will start to burn. So, a good stretch for that; hand on the wall, grab the front of the ankle, and just hold that position. Now, we've worked the quadriceps, so now we have to work the hamstrings. So this is a good exercise for the hamstrings. I'm going to take a medicine ball, and to be honest, the weight of the medicine ball at this point really doesn't factor in, because the medicine ball is really more of a platform. So, as long as it's big enough to push you up, push your heel off the floor, that's good enough. From here, I'm going to put one foot on the ball. Just like that. I'm lying down on the mat, hands flat on the floor, I'm just relaxing my head. The free leg, the knee goes up to the chest. I'm going to take a deep breath in, and I'm going to breathe out. Pushing up, then breathing in, breathing out. Breathing in, breathing out, breathing in, breathing out. That'll really burn. I mean just doing a few of those reps and I can really feel the burn right here on my hamstring. Alright, so if you're a beginner one set of twelve each leg. If you're intermediate advanced, two sets of twenty is good. So, I've already worked the hamstrings, and remember, any muscle work that's done you have to stretch it. This is a good simple stretch to do. Remember, don't push it too hard. If you want to stretch those hamstrings, you'll actually want to point the toes as you reach forward. Pulling the toes towards you will stretch out the calves, which we did work earlier. So, we handled our calves, a little bit, briefly on the tibialis, quadriceps, and hamstrings. And that is how you develop leg strength."