Leg Training - Where To Begin -

Some of you know I do love a leg session and love the effort and self discipline needed to conquer a great leg day. Building the best foundation is paramount for bodybuilding and sports specific training or even showcasing those pins along the beach… either way leg day is important!!!!!!

Im going to show you how I design and approach leg days working around areas of weakness and getting the most out of each session leaving the gym satisfied and broken

I will also include a workout at the end of this blog which includes all the system and principles I use when training legs, I think you will all really enjoy

So before we begin lets look at the anatomy of legs in regards to function and training

Shown below you can see several muscles and tendons attached from the pelvis through to the knee

When designing and training its important to understand functions of these muscles, we will closely look at the pelvis and knee as the largest lower limb muscles insert and attach there. The muscles of the pelvic region play roles in extending (primary glute group) and flexing the femur (primary psoas,adductors, and tfl) they also form movement in rotation laterally (away from the body) and medial rotation (towards the body) and lastly adduction and abduction (the whole femur moves away and in to the body). As a whole the Glute group play a large role in these functions with the adductor and abductor group so looking in the programming we need to make sure we prioritise our workouts correctly

The knee region is the attachment area for our other primary muscle quads and hamstrings. The function of the knee is to extend and flex, extensors are produced in the 4 quadricep muscles and the flexors are produced from the 3 hamstrings muscles. There is some additional support from stabilising muscles such as the sartorius but we don’t need to worry about that too much in our training sessions.

Now we have some understanding of the functions let get to work and train the leg as practical as we can

I am in favour of breaking leg workouts up into hip dominant and quad dominant as you need full intensity and focus for each part but for most doing one leg session  as a whole could can be just as effective

mobility and stretching

I think we can all assess our own capabilities and point out the strengths and weaknesses to mobility and flexibility, some suffer with tremendously tight hamstrings, some very stiff ankle joints, some have overly worked hip flexors the list could go on but before training I cant stress how these aspects should be addressed prior to any leg training session. Identify by simply squatting with your arms above your head, watch your pattern of movement look out for wobbles, instability and forward tilt from the torso all things that will contribute towards your session.

Leg Training

Lets begin our workout

Exercise 1 - Hamstring focus

Leg curls/ standing leg curls/ seated leg curls / uni/bilateral movements

Lets warm up the hamstrings, for most a neglected area and for most a area of tightness. Warming up and hitting hamstrings first have a great effect on mobility through the hip something we need for your second exercise

Exercise 2 - Compound focus

Squat/Leg press/ Hack squat

Our hamstrings are primed, joints feel free now its time to work extra hard on one the of the above. All out balls the wall effort

Exercise 3 - Compound adjustment

Squat variation/ Leg press/ Hack squat/ Sumo deadlift

Lets get the most bang for our buck - compound ex no 2 still moderately fresh within our workout to attack this one

Exercise 4 - Glute group / Adductor/abductor group

Hip Adductors / abductors / Hip bridge / Stiff leg DLift / Sumo deadlift

From what we know of functions the glute and rotational muscles is very important for overall balance of the legs

Exercise 5 - Unilateral

Single leg Squats, split squats, Lunge Movements Lateral and medial

Creating greater stability and focus, single leg movements are included into our leg programme

Exercise 6 and 7 - Isolation

Depending on our goals isolation is added for greater intensity bringing up lagging arrears and working towards that primary goal. Everything you have left is here

Completed

Ive found this to be the most effective way to train legs if you’re a bodybuilder, sportsman or someone looking for that extra edge in leg development below I will create a workout using these points. Give it a try and let me know your thoughts

Thanks

Marty

Leg Workout

A1. Lying Leg curl

4 warm up sets gradually building the weights up until we are ready for 3x8-12 with partial reps to push beyond failure

B1. Safety Bar Squats

Building the weights gradually hitting 4-6 reps

1x6-12 reps all out intensity

1x20-30 reps - reduce the weight and pump those legs you can rest once for 15 seconds to reach 20-30

C1. Sumo deadlift

using a weight that is 10-12 rep max we perform 4-6 reps resting 10 seconds for 6 sets completing 24-36 reps in total

D1. Hip bridge off the floor - 1x6-10 1x8-12, 1x11-16 Superset Hip adductors 3x20 reps

E1. Front foot elevated split squat 3x8-12 reps last set drop set 3 times finishing on bodyweight

F1. Leg extensions 3x30 reps - pick a weight that is your 15 rep max - pause 5 seconds if you fail before you reach total

Superset Bodyweight walking lunge 3 x 20 total steps