| Advanced Leg Training | |||
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Most men, myself included, spend their early training years neglecting their legs in favour of chest and bicep work. But training one half of the body is as daft as it sounds, for four main reasons: * Looking like a lightbulb isn't impressive in any way! In order to attain a complete physique all muscles of the lower limbs must be worked. * Heavy lower body compound movements will help in your quest for overall mass gains. This is because the body is placed under maximal isometric tension, ie. in Deadlifts and squats. Here you will also encounter larger levels of anabolic hormone release. * Due to the size of the muscle groups been worked energy expenditure is high. This makes leg work a great choice metabolically, for fat loss purposes. * If you participate in any form of sport, powerful legs are essential and could provide you with the advantage in your chosen field. Here are a few ways to achieve 'ENORMOUS WHEELS.' Firstly, if increasing either the size or strength of your legs is a priority, concentrating on basic compound free weight exercises should be the base of your programme. An ideal rep range for achieving hypertrophy with a strength crossover would be 5-12. You'll notice that reps are lower with the primary lifts in order to move maximal load, while the secondary lifts are slightly higher allowing you to feel that 'elusive pump.' It is advisable to either split the quadriceps and hamstrings (my personal favourite), or to simply perform two lower body days per week to allow more frequency predominantly. I also find that training quadriceps (squatting) and hamstrings (deadlifting) on different days allows you to get the most out of your legs without putting excess pressure on the lumbar spine, and without your core being the limiting factor. Any crossover between hip dominant movements and quad dominant movements with accessory lifts isn't so much of a concern. A sample week may therefore look as follows: Day 1: A1) Barbell Back Squat 4 x 6 (working sets) rest 120sec tempo 40X0
Day 5:
Quad dominant: Barbell/Dumbell Step Up Hip Dominant: Barbell Deadlift (romanian, conventional, sumo, snatch-grip, snatch-grip from deficit, duck feet clean-grip deadlift) Dumbell Deadlift (romanian) Cable Pull Through Kettlebell/Dumbell Swing Barbell/Dumbell Step Up Lying Ham Curl Thank you to www.myfitnessstudio.co.uk Photographer - Moritz Stragholz
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Issue 1. Cover - Photographer - Alex Winn