The effectiveness of these exercises on different muscle groups has been confirmed by scientists.
How to build legs
If you’re moving your whole body in one workout, including an exercise for each muscle group. If you prefer splits, choose one or two options for each group and add them to your leg day routine.
Multi-joint exercises in which the leg is bent at both the hip and knee joints (squats, deadlifts, lunges) are best performed at the beginning of the workout. So you can fully give all your best and take more weight than if you had previously tired the muscles and nervous system with simpler loads. Perform single-joint exercises at the end of your workout.
Do 3-5 sets of 8-12 reps for maximum muscle growth. Choose the weight in such a way that the last movements in each approach are difficult. You can do the last approach until muscle failure.
Performing exercises with a working weight should be preceded by several warm-up approaches with a lighter barbell. For example, before squatting with an 80 kg barbell, you can do three sets in 20 kg increments: 5 times with a 20 kg bar, 5 times with a 40 kg bar, and 3 times with 60 kg.
To avoid stagnation in training, periodically alternate exercises and change the placement of the legs and the position of the feet where possible.
We will sequentially tell you how to pump the front, back, and inner thighs.
What exercises to perform for the front side of the thigh
Here are the quadriceps – large muscles of the four heads. The quadriceps extend the lower leg. Its central head, the rectus femoris, also flexes the thigh.
1. Back squat
The exercise involves the muscles of the legs and body and loads the front of the thigh well.
Take the bar from the racks, bring the shoulder blades together, straighten the chest, and straighten the back. Place your feet shoulder-width apart, slightly turn your socks to the sides. Take your pelvis back and sit down until your hips are parallel to the floor. In the process, do not tear your heels off the floor, and do not lie on your knees with your stomach.
When exiting the squat, do not bring your knees together. Look straight ahead, and concentrate on the work of the muscles.
2. Barbell Squats
Effective pumps A biomechanical comparison of back and front squats in healthy trained individuals in front of the thigh, especially internal Kinematic and EMG activities during front and back squat variations in maximum loads part (medial head). These squats are safer for the knees and lower back than the back weight version.
Remove the bar from the racks, bring your elbows forward, and arch your back. Place your feet shoulder-width apart, slightly turn your socks to the sides. Sit down to the parallel of the hips with the floor or slightly lower and rise back.
3. Lunges
Good load entire anterior thigh.
If you find it difficult to keep your balance in this exercise, try back lunges: they are easier but less effective.
You can do lunges with different weights: with a barbell on your shoulders, with dumbbells in your hands, with an expander band. For starters, it’s better to try dumbbells: it will be easier to maintain balance.
Stand up straight, take weighting elements in your hands, straighten your shoulders, and straighten your back. Lunge forward, do not touch the floor with the knee of the leg standing behind: let there be a space of 5-10 centimeters between them. Straighten up and repeat with the other leg.
Some people do lunges while walking through the hall. If your goal is to burn more calories and strengthen your core muscles, they can be useful. But they worse pump the hips than lunges forward in place.
4. Leg press in the simulator
The same as squats, but with a minimal load on the muscles of the core and extensors of the back. Due to this, you can take more weight without risking tearing your back, and load your hips better. In addition, the leg press pumps the front of the thigh in the same way. effectively, like the leg extension in the simulator, but does not load the knees so much.
Sit on the simulator chair, press the lower back to the back, and do not tear off until the end of the exercise. Place your feet at the bottom of the platform: this position is the maximum load’s anterior thigh. The high setting of the legs provides more load on the buttocks.
Under the weight of the platform, bend your legs to a right angle at the knees, and then squeeze it back. At the extreme point, do not straighten your knees completely, leave them slightly bent.
What exercises to do for the back of the thigh
Here are the biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and semitendinosus muscles. They extend the thigh and flex the lower leg.
1. Deadlift
pumps the entire back surface of the body: the extensors of the back, buttocks, the back of the thigh, and calves.
Walk up to the bar and stand so that the bar is above the lacing of your shoes. Place your feet shoulder-width apart, slightly turn your socks to the sides. Pull your pelvis back, bend over with a straight back and grab the bar so that your palms are shoulder-width apart.
Keep your back straight, straighten your torso, and straighten up with a barbell in your hands. Lead the bar very close to the shins, then the bar will follow the ideal trajectory. After straightening, lower the projectile to the floor and repeat the exercise.
The back of the thigh is about the same pumped in any kind of deadlift. By changing the execution, you can increase the load on other muscles:
- Deadlift on straight legs is better to develop calf muscles.
- Sumo deadlift is better loads anterior thigh: lateral and medial heads and anterior tibia.
2. Body lifts on the GHD
Good loads the back of the thigh, as well as the buttocks and extensors of the back.
Insert your feet under the rollers of the simulator, stretch the body parallel to the floor, and put your hands behind your head. Lower your body, keeping your back straight, and then rise to parallel with the floor or slightly higher.
To make the exercise harder, add free weights. If you need weighting up to 5 kg, take a pancake and keep it next to your head, if more – put a body bar, bar, or barbell on your shoulders.
3. Good morning
Good loads and stretches the back of the thigh pump the extensors of the back.
Place your feet shoulder-width apart, and point your toes forward. Put the barbell on your shoulders, straighten, and slightly arch your back. Slightly bend your knees, move your pelvis back and tilt your body forward until parallel with the floor. Straighten up and repeat.
It is important here to take the pelvis back and keep the back straight. If you do not have enough stretch to perform this exercise correctly, replace it with another one.
4. Bulgarian split squat
Split squat pumps on the back of the thigh are better than regular squats, lunges, and step-ups.
Stand with your back a step away from a small elevation, such as a bench. Throw one sock on a raised platform and sit down until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Straighten up and repeat.
First, try a split squat with no weights. If you can keep your balance, you can take dumbbells or squat with a barbell on your shoulders.
5. Forward kneeling
Perfectlyloads the back of the thigh. If possible, do it with a partner, if not, try to put your legs under the simulator or rack. Just don’t forget to put a mat under your knees.
Fix the legs, and stretch the body and hips in one line. Lean forward as much as possible. But only as much as it is possible to maintain a straight position of the body and not bend at the hip joints. Get back up and repeat.
What exercises to do for the inner thigh
Here are the thin, long, short, and large adductor muscles, as well as the comb muscle. All of them lead the thigh and participate in its flexion.
1. Adduction of the legs
An exercise can be performed using a crossover or rubber expander band hooked to the rack.
Put the crossover binding on your right ankle and stand one step away from the lower block with your right side towards it. Raise your leg slightly to the side. Overcoming the resistance of the crossover, bring the right foot to the left, take it back and repeat. When you’re done with the set, do it on the other leg. Now the mount will be on the left leg and you will stand with your left side to the block.
If you are doing it with an expander, hook the tape on the rack at the level of the lower leg and throw a loose loop around the ankle. The rest of the movement is the same as in the crossover.
2 Copenhagen Ghosts
This is an exercise that can be performed with a partner, on loops, a neck, or a bench. Get into a side plank position on your elbow, rest your top ankle on a raised platform or tuck it into a loop. Or ask your partner to hold your hip and ankle.
Bring the bottom leg to the top and lower back. If you do it on the neck, in loops, or with a partner, you can lead straight, if on a bench or box – bent at the knee.
4. Information on the simulator
simple and effective room option. Sit on the simulator, press your lower back to the chair, and grab the handles. Bring your legs together and back.
What exercises to perform for the muscles of the lower leg
The shape of the lower leg is determined by the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles. To load the calf muscle, you need to unbend the feet with straight knees, but the soleus muscle turns on better when the legs at the knees are bent at a right angle.
In addition, speed matters: the gastrocnemius responds better to fast movements, the soleus to slow ones.
1. Single leg calf raises
An exercise wonderful loads the calf muscles.
Stand with your toes on the pancake, and lift one leg. Get up on your toes and lower yourself back down. Gradually increase the range by dropping your heel a little lower. If you have good balance, you can take dumbbells in your hands.
2. Standing calf raises
An exercise to the calf muscle. You can perform it in a special simulator or just with a barbell on your shoulders. Get up quickly on your toes and back down.
3. Rises on socks sitting
This option well loads the soleus muscles, so do the lifts slowly. You can do the exercise in the simulator or with a barbell on your knees.
If you choose the barbell option, place a pancake under your toes to increase your range of motion and stretch your muscles at the bottom. Also, put a pillow on the neck, otherwise, it will dig into your legs.