Table of contents:
- Stage 1: Learn to squat
- Stage 2: Strengthening the stabilizers
- Stage 3: Force = Mass
- Stage 4: Correction
Methods for building muscle volume in the upper legs: quadriceps, hamstrings and buttocks. Probably everyone has heard about bodybuilding championships, starting with city competitions and ending with the top professional tournament "Mr. Olympia". Do you know about the championships held for the honorary title "Mister FEET"?
Yes, it is the full-fledged development of the legs that serves as a criterion for the promotion of candidates for the upper steps of the pedestal. And everything is assessed: total volumes, proportionality of muscle development, strength, endurance. Oddly enough, such competitions are held in many countries of the world, but why is it known only to a small handful of dedicated people?
There is another, more pressing question: if you found out about a similar tournament in your city, would you risk participating in it? Can you boast fantastic leg muscle development? Do you pay enough attention to your feet to participate in such competitions? 98% of athletes will answer these questions in the negative.
Would you like to develop your legs to a competitive level? 98% of the answers are positive. Conclusion: we will train!
This article looks at ways to build muscle in your upper legs, that is, your quads, hamstrings, and glutes.
The anatomy of the femoral muscles is quite complex, because in everyday life they have to perform a huge number of very accurate and balanced actions necessary to maintain balance and move the whole body in space. It doesn't matter if a person walks or tries to do the most difficult somersault, a whole ensemble of muscles will always work in the legs. Some are directly related to the movement being performed, others are engaged in stabilization and coordination. From all this we draw the first conclusion: if we want to get comprehensively developed legs, we will have to train them both “for strength” and “for mass”, and also pay a lot of attention to the stabilizing muscles. As for the latter, everything seems to be clear, you just need to know how to train them specifically. But about strength and mass is a separate conversation. The point is that each part of our body performs mainly only one function. At the feet, this function is walking or running.
All muscles that work when walking should develop in strict proportion to each other. Violation of this rule, firstly, makes a person clumsy, and secondly, it interferes with the balanced work of the muscles, which will have an extremely negative effect on the overall strength of the legs, and therefore on their mass.
As you can see, hip development is a rather multifaceted issue, so the training program is divided into four stages. Each stage contains a complete theoretical justification of its own need and specific recommendations for achieving the goals.
Stage 1: Learn to squat
Squats are the main exercise for developing the upper legs. Squats mimic the load that the hips receive when walking or running. The weight is distributed optimally, and each muscle fiber works exactly in the mode for which it is adapted (dynamically or statically). This balance gives this exercise an advantage in pumping up the legs. In addition, squats are able to accelerate the general metabolism in the body to significant speeds, and this, in turn, will provide an increase in muscle mass throughout the body.
And what, in fact, are we going to learn? What is difficult about an exercise familiar to us from elementary school?
The main problem with barbell squats is that they use a huge array of muscles throughout the body. Legs, back, abs and a bunch of small stabilizing muscles work in them. And if at least one of these muscles is not ready to take on the weight of the bar that you are going to lift, then this attempt can be considered a failed one. The bar will not obey you.
In addition, the tension of such a number of muscles requires significant energy consumption, but the body is not going to spend the reserve energy reserves at all. And therefore he is lazy. As a rule, squat sets do not end when the muscles are tired, but when the glycogen stores in them are depleted. It would seem that it is easier than starting to deplete glucose reserves directly from the blood? But no, reserves - they are reserves, so that you can spend them only when you really, really need to. And try to explain to your own body that all these tortures under the barbell are performed for the common good. In short, to be successful with squats, you need to get used to them first. It is not for nothing that eminent bodybuilders of past years tirelessly repeated to beginners: "If you don't like doing squats, then you just don't know how to do them!" Will learn.
First, let's master this movement without additional weight. Stand straight, feet shoulder-width apart, look straight ahead. Place your hands behind your head and move your elbows to the sides. This position of the arms shifts the center of gravity closer to the back, therefore, squatting, you will have to lean forward slightly. This engages the glutes and hamstrings to a greater extent (it is the connection of additional muscles that will allow you to lift colossal weights). Try to sit down. Move slowly, trying to feel every muscle that is working at a given time. To avoid possible injury (during further work with weight), always adhere to the following rules: The back should always remain perfectly straight and be as close to the vertical position as possible. Of course, you will not be able to keep it strictly vertical (due to anatomy), but you should strive for this as much as possible. Do not under any circumstances round or relax your back when working with weights, this can be dangerous.
At first, place your feet at a comfortable distance from each other, but it is desirable that the toes are directed forward to increase stability.
The feet should not come off the floor throughout the entire set. It is advisable not to put various bars or pancakes from the bar under your heels. Previously, it was believed that such tricks reduce injuries and are simply necessary for bodybuilders, but such claims have long been refuted by science. If you can't sit down to full depth without lifting your heels off the floor, then your ankle is not flexible enough. Squat as low as you can, keeping your heels on the floor. Flexibility will increase by itself over time.
Your body weight should be on your heels, never on your toes. This is fraught with injury, ranging from a banal stretching and ending with tissue rupture.
The shins should always move in the vertical plane of the feet. That is, do not bring your knees while moving and do not spread them to the sides. As a rule, such mistakes are made by beginners, whose stabilizing muscles are not at all used to working correctly. Even if you belong to such people, do not be discouraged, you just have to start doing squats correctly, and the body itself will understand everything.
Squat down smoothly. Don't let the weight push you down to the floor. The knees are complex and fragile. To remove the load from them, you will have to shift it to the muscles. Another way to make life easier for the joints has not yet been invented.
Never spring from the bottom position! The movement can be either slow or fast, explosive, but, in any case, it must be controlled!
Muscle work directly depends on the position of the bar. If you hold the barbell on your chest, the quadriceps will take on almost all the load. With the barbell on top of the traps, the load will be halved between the quads and hamstrings. When the bar is lowered to the area of the shoulder blades, the buttocks are included in the work.
Feel free to move? We take an empty bar and master the execution with it. We monitor compliance with the above rules.
The first stage in leg development will only be completed when you are fully accustomed to squatting.
Stage 2: Strengthening the stabilizers
This is where the real workouts begin. Quads, hamstrings, and glutes are strength muscles. They are designed for tough work. But it is not enough to do this work, you need to do it efficiently! That is, not just to lift the weight, but to lift it along a certain trajectory and, at the same time, keep the whole body in balance. The disadvantage of such a complex mechanism is that with weak stabilizers, it is impossible to fully engage the strength muscles. As a result, we get two obvious disadvantages: reduced working weights (which means slower muscle growth) and the likelihood of stagnation even in the early stages of training. To save ourselves from such troubles, we will cyclically load the stabilizing muscles. To do this, we use two main methods:
Unilateral exercises. That is, we will do the basic exercises for the development of the thigh muscles with each leg in turn. Squats, lunges, and maybe even one-legged deadlifts. This will force the body to fight desperately to maintain balance and engage as many small muscles as possible.
Exercises on an unstable support. Nowadays, such devices are available in almost every gym. To achieve our goals, both leg exercises and any other exercises in which the center of weight moves in a vertical plane (for example, a standing press) are suitable.
And if you really learn to perform one-sided exercises on an unstable support, then it will generally be "aerobatics"!
Checklist of basic exercises for strengthening the stabilizing muscles of the thigh
Smith Machine Squats. They are performed like regular squats, but the non-working leg does not bend at the knee joint, but is held straight. The specific position of the legs does not play a special role. The main thing is that one leg works, and the other does not.
Leg extension in the extension machine. The same movement, but with one leg. Oddly enough, it uses completely different areas of the quadriceps (emphasizes the load on the lowest and highest areas of it) than the classic version.
One-sided lunges. This exercise can have many names, since it was invented just a couple of years ago. It is carried out as follows. Stand with a bench or other fixed support of suitable height directly behind your knees. Put two 10-15 kg dumbbells at a distance of half a meter from you. Take a big step forward. Remaining in this position, place your back foot with the ankle on the bench. This position makes most people lose their balance, and you still have to squat! First, try to sit down without additional weights. If it works, then take the dumbbells prepared in advance and try doing it with them. Don't try to take critical weights. The main goal in this exercise is to stabilize your core.
Curls of one leg in a curl machine. These machines are usually of two types: either for standing flexion (with one leg) or lying down (with two). We prefer the second option, but we will use it with each foot in turn.
Squats with a barbell on an unstable support. First, try to squat with your own weight and only then grab the "iron". Go down to the parallel of your hips with the floor.
Alternating overhead dumbbell (or barbell) press, standing on an unstable support. You can even use this trick in delt workouts, there will be no harm from it, but the weight of the dumbbells should be large enough to unbalance your body.
Combine these exercises into a complex and follow it for two to three weeks. During this period, your stabilizers will be strengthened, and you will be able to freely increase weights in the main mass-gaining exercises for about a month. Then again a couple of weeks of this program and again a month of mass work.
The main condition for this program is the mandatory warming up of the working muscles. You can pedal a bicycle ergometer, run on a treadmill, or squat several dozen times with your own body weight. The goal is to warm up.
As an example, I cite a couple of options for training programs that very accurately contribute to the achievement of all the goals set at this stage.
When training, every 5-6 days
The complex is compiled in case you do not have the opportunity to conduct more frequent workouts.
No. Exercises Repetitions Notes 1
Warm up legs
-
5-7 minutes
2
Squats with a barbell on an unstable support
12
Perform all these exercises in the "circuit training" mode. In the first workouts, two circles are enough, then gradually bring their number to five. Rest between sets and between circles for about 60 seconds.
3
Smith Machine Squat
10
4
One-sided lunges
10
5
Curls of one leg in the curl machine
8
6
Extension Leg Extension Machine
8
7
Alternating overhead dumbbell press, standing on an unstable support
15
It is performed once with the last exercise of the complex. "Finishes off" the already tired small muscles of the legs. Here you can feel not a load on your legs, but the usual inconvenience of the stand. This is normal and it should be.
When training every 2-3 days
For frequent workouts, two small complexes have been compiled with the opposite effect on the muscles. On the first workout, do the first set, on the second, do the second. Then repeat the cycle from the beginning.
Complex 1
No. Exercises Repetitions Notes 1
Warm up legs
-
5-7 minutes
2
Squats with a barbell on an unstable support
12
Perform in the "circular training" mode. In the first workouts, two circles are enough, then gradually bring their number to four. Rest between sets and between circles for about 60 seconds.
3
Smith Machine Squat
10
4
Extension Leg Extension Machine
8
5
Alternating overhead dumbbell press, standing on an unstable support
15
It is performed once with the last exercise of the complex. "Finishes off" the already tired small muscles of the legs. Here you can feel not a load on your legs, but the usual inconvenience of the stand. This is normal and it should be.
Complex 2
No. Exercises Repetitions Notes 1
Warm up legs
-
5-7 minutes
2
Squats with a barbell on an unstable support
12
Perform in the "circular training" mode. In the first workouts, two circles are enough, then gradually bring their number to four. Rest between sets and between circles for about 60 seconds.
3
One-sided lunges
10
4
Extension Leg Extension Machine
8
5
Alternating overhead dumbbell press, standing on an unstable support
15
It is performed once with the last exercise of the complex. "Finishes off" the already tired small muscles of the legs. Here you can feel not a load on your legs, but the usual inconvenience of the stand. This is normal and it should be.
At this stage, you need to constantly remember that the main task is not at all to improve the strength indicators, therefore, the issue of increasing the working weights must be treated very carefully.
After two, or better, three weeks of doing something completely incomprehensible and unusual for our body, it's time to move on to hard work with impressive weights.
Stage 3: Force = Mass
As the name implies, at this stage we will fight to increase the working weights. Moreover, in a given repetition interval!
Even the pioneers of bodybuilding experimentally deduced patterns in the development of muscles under various training regimes. Now this has already been proven by science and is beyond doubt even among the most ardent skeptics:
Weight Repetitions Total 1-5
critical
force
8-12
average
weight
15 and more
small
endurance
We will go the other way. Let's take the range of repetitions for increasing mass and, with each workout, we will increase the working weights in at least one set of each exercise by 1–2.5 kg. For example, it will look like this: let's say you press 100 kg with your legs in four approaches.
Set No. Repetitions Working weights Workout 1
Workout 2
Workout 3
Workout 4
Workout 5
1
12
100
102, 5
102, 5
102, 5
102, 5
2
10
100
100
102, 5
102, 5
102, 5
3
9
100
100
100
102, 5
102, 5
4
8
100
100
100
100
102, 5
And so in every exercise. The amount of added weight can vary widely depending on your strength at the moment, anatomical features, and even your mood. The point is not at all to add a certain amount of pancakes to the barbell, but to add at least something, but CONSTANTLY. Thus, we kill two birds with one stone: we grow both strength and mass.
There is only one nuance left to consider - the issue of "stagnation". After all, the body requires variety. No variety, no result. How to be? It's that simple! You just need to replace the barbell with dumbbells every two workouts. This castling yields surprisingly large-scale results. It is also beneficial for the spine.
There is one more trick. Let's build a kind of hierarchy of exercises for the thigh muscles. In the foreground will be those that most effectively use the quadriceps. Then, from exercise to exercise, we will shift the load on the hamstrings until they work at full power. Thus, we will obtain an excellent blood supply to the maximum number of muscle fibers, which means their guaranteed growth. The reasons for this phenomenon are simple and even, one might say, primitive. The blood will bring a huge amount of nutrients to the cells of the muscle tissue. Including sugar, which, being absorbed at a breathtaking speed, drags everything that happens to be nearby with it inside the cell. And hormones that instruct cells to grow and multiply. And water, without which no chemical reactions could take place at all.
Let's go back to our hierarchy. On odd workouts (1, 3, 5,..), we will go through this chain of exercises, starting with the first one, which loads only the front of the thighs, and until the last, using only the back surface. And on even (2, 4, 6,..), we will put this order "upside down". Let's start loading the hamstrings and finish with the quads. This constant change will maintain the desired balance and diversity in training.
The program will also include one "signature" exercise, which is used just to switch work from one side of the thighs to the other. It's Hack Squats! The trick is that the placement of the legs in this movement directly determines the place on which the load will fall. We put our legs as usual - we work out the quadriceps. We put our feet forward half a meter - we load the biceps of the hips and buttocks. Amazing, isn't it? And we will put our feet in the first set at the usual distance and, with each approach, increase it by 10 cm. This is for odd days. For even - on the contrary: first 50 cm, then 40, 30, …
So, we will carry out leg workouts every 4-6 days. The specific interval is individual for each person. Moreover, as you probably already understood, in each lesson you will have to load ALL muscles of the thighs. It is difficult and requires a lot of energy, but you will feel the positive effect right away.
Here are a couple of split leg workouts for every 4 and every 6 days.
Every 4 days
Muscle Days 1
Thighs, calves
2
Chest, deltas, triceps
3
Back, biceps, abs
4
Recreation
Every 6 days
Muscle Days 1
Chest, calves
2
Back
3
Deltas, press
4
Hips
5
Biceps, triceps
6
Recreation
The following is a Balanced Thigh Complex. Let me remind you that on odd days you should do it from the first exercise to the last, and on even days in the opposite order. Plus, every two workouts, replace the bar with dumbbells wherever possible. And, of course, regularly increase your working weights.
No. odd No. even Exercises Sets Repetitions 1
9
"Leg extension while standing" *
3
12, 11, 10
2
8
Extension legs in the simulator
2
12, 10
3
7
Leg press
3
10, 10, 10
4
6
Barbell lunges (dumbbells)
3
12, 10, 8
5
5
Barbell Squat (Dumbbell) **
4
12, 12, 12, 12
6
4
Hack squats
feet in the usual position
1
8
feet put forward 10 cm
1
8
feet set forward 20 cm
1
8
feet put forward 30 cm
1
8
feet set forward 40 cm
1
8
feet put forward 50 cm
1
8
7
3
Hyperextension
3
12, 12, 12
8
2
Romanian deadlift
4
12, 11, 10, 10
9
1
Leg curls in the simulator ***
5
10, 10, 12, 11, 10
* "Leg extension while standing." You may know this exercise by other names. It is done like this: stand facing a wall or something to hold onto. Rise on your toes (you will have to be in this position until the end of the set). Begin to slowly bend your knees while keeping your hips in line with your body. Only the knee joint should be involved in the movement. When you bend your knees to a right angle, slowly rise.
** Squat as low as possible. This will shift some of the load to the glutes and add variety when alternating between dumbbell and barbell workouts.
*** The first two approaches are warm-ups, with a weight that you can handle in 15-18 repetitions.
Stage 4: Correction
This stage is not accidentally put at the very end of the article. You will have to make adjustments to the shape of the thigh muscles after a fairly long period of mass gain.
Each person has individual genetic characteristics of the organism. Someone may be limited to squats alone, and his legs will look killer. Most people, in order to achieve the desired muscle shape, have to constantly refine training programs, perform familiar exercises in an unusual form and come up with a bunch of all sorts of tricks.
But in fact, you only need to know a few simple rules, the skillful use of which will give you reasons to be proud of the shape of your legs. So:
Correction - setting a specific area of the muscles in which the fibers should increase more strongly and faster than in other areas. Simply put, this is the transfer of the load from the entire muscle to one point.
Expansion of the leg muscles
Commonly used "accentuating factors" for all types of leg presses, squats, and curls are:
Legs positioning. Narrow - outer thighs.
Wide - interior areas.
The location of the feet. Toes turned inward - outer quadriceps (inner quadriceps for hamstrings).
Toes turned outward - inner quadriceps (outer quadriceps for hamstrings).
Shifting the focus to the upper or lower portions of the leg muscles
It's still easier here than with the extension. Some exercises use the upper lobes of the muscles more, and some - the lower ones. Just focus on those movements that load the weakest parts of your hips. Here's a list:
Top of the quads. Heavy partial squats at the top of the range.
Heavy leg press
Bottom of the quads. Extension legs in the simulator
Standing leg extension
Top and bottom of the quads. Extension in the simulator with one leg
The top of the hamstrings. Deadlift
Hyperextension
Lower hamstrings. Leg curls in the simulator
