Muscle Insider
New member
6 Tips for Bigger, Stronger Legs
By Ron Harris
1. Wear Flat-soled Shoes. When it comes to leg training in general, you never want to train in shoes with an elevated heel or with air pockets in the heels. This rules out most basketball and running shoes. Those shoes are designed to absorb the shock from running and jumping and limit your ability to generate force from the floor, or the platform of any type of leg press or squat machine. Basketball shoes are also a poor choice because the ankle support in their design can limit your range of motion as well. The best choices are flat-soled footwear like wrestling shoes, Converse All Stars, Otomix bodybuilding shoes, and the shoes marketed toward CrossFit and functional training, like Reebok Nanos and the Nike Metcon. And of course, it doesn’t get any flatter than squatting or pressing in bare feet or socks, for those who don’t want to pick up a fungus off the gym floor.
2. Pay Attention to Your Knees. Maintaining healthy knee joints and connective tissues around them is key to long-term productive quad training. Ask any older lifter with chronic knee pain and they will gladly bend your ear with woeful tales of how much bigger and stronger their legs once were. Always be in tune with how your knees feel with various angles of your feet and toes in relation to your knees. If you feel pain with toes angled out more, don’t continue with that foot position! You will eventually arrive at the mechanically correct foot position that allows you to squat or press heavy and with a full range of motion painlessly. Any slight pain in your knees is a direct sign from your body to switch things up, as that pain and the damage being incurred to your tendons and ligaments around the knee is only going to worsen over time.
3. Hit Hams on a Different Day. While the focus here is on building your best quadriceps, you must not neglect your hamstrings in all this. Since the listed routines are quite intense and demanding, I would prefer that most of you not attempt to work your hamstrings afterward, as you won’t have the requisite energy and focus to give them proper attention. Instead, work them on a different day, perhaps paired with back as many bodybuilders have done.
4. Always Fuel Up. I always recommend having at least one substantial, nutritious meal about 90 minutes before weight training, but especially in the case of a serious quadriceps session. These are big, powerful muscles that thrive on volume and intensity, and as such you should never train them on an empty stomach. You may have heard that training on an empty stomach boosts natural growth hormone release. I can assure you that any benefits this may offer are greatly outweighed by the diminished energy and work capacity you will experience hitting quads on an empty tank.
5. Never Skip Leg Day! It’s funny how this phrase has bled over into the mainstream lexicon, yet so many people still manage to skip leg days. You never see those guys skipping chest or arm days, do you? Any muscle group will grow over time if you continue to train it with intensity and good form, gradually moving up in the resistance. It’s also important that you use sufficient volume to produce results in this large, powerful muscle complex. A couple of light sets of leg extensions followed up by a couple of moderate effort sets of leg presses is far from optimal. Try the routines laid out here instead and I promise you will soon see a difference in your quads.
6. Never Lock Out Your Knees! Your body is always seeking the path of least resistance when it comes to any physical activity. When it comes to compound leg movements like the leg press or any variety of squat, the natural tendency once the muscles become extremely fatigued is to take the tension off them and allow them a very quick “break” by locking out your knees at the top of the rep. Don’t do this, as it takes the stress completely off the quads and puts it all on the knee joints and surrounding tissues. Over time this can contribute to tendinitis and even arthritis. As someone with both, trust me when I say you don’t want them!
Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram
DISCUSS ON OUR FORUMSSUBSCRIBE TO MD TODAY
GET OFFICIAL MD STUFFVISIT OUR STORE
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
ALSO, MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW US ON:
FACEBOOKTWITTERINSTAGRAM YOUTUBE
6 Tips for Bigger, Stronger Legs
By Ron Harris
1. Wear Flat-soled Shoes. When it comes to leg training in general, you never want to train in shoes with an elevated heel or with air pockets in the heels. This rules out most basketball and running shoes. Those shoes are designed to absorb the shock from running and jumping and limit your ability to generate force from the floor, or the platform of any type of leg press or squat machine. Basketball shoes are also a poor choice because the ankle support in their design can limit your range of motion as well. The best choices are flat-soled footwear like wrestling shoes, Converse All Stars, Otomix bodybuilding shoes, and the shoes marketed toward CrossFit and functional training, like Reebok Nanos and the Nike Metcon. And of course, it doesn’t get any flatter than squatting or pressing in bare feet or socks, for those who don’t want to pick up a fungus off the gym floor.
2. Pay Attention to Your Knees. Maintaining healthy knee joints and connective tissues around them is key to long-term productive quad training. Ask any older lifter with chronic knee pain and they will gladly bend your ear with woeful tales of how much bigger and stronger their legs once were. Always be in tune with how your knees feel with various angles of your feet and toes in relation to your knees. If you feel pain with toes angled out more, don’t continue with that foot position! You will eventually arrive at the mechanically correct foot position that allows you to squat or press heavy and with a full range of motion painlessly. Any slight pain in your knees is a direct sign from your body to switch things up, as that pain and the damage being incurred to your tendons and ligaments around the knee is only going to worsen over time.
3. Hit Hams on a Different Day. While the focus here is on building your best quadriceps, you must not neglect your hamstrings in all this. Since the listed routines are quite intense and demanding, I would prefer that most of you not attempt to work your hamstrings afterward, as you won’t have the requisite energy and focus to give them proper attention. Instead, work them on a different day, perhaps paired with back as many bodybuilders have done.
4. Always Fuel Up. I always recommend having at least one substantial, nutritious meal about 90 minutes before weight training, but especially in the case of a serious quadriceps session. These are big, powerful muscles that thrive on volume and intensity, and as such you should never train them on an empty stomach. You may have heard that training on an empty stomach boosts natural growth hormone release. I can assure you that any benefits this may offer are greatly outweighed by the diminished energy and work capacity you will experience hitting quads on an empty tank.
5. Never Skip Leg Day! It’s funny how this phrase has bled over into the mainstream lexicon, yet so many people still manage to skip leg days. You never see those guys skipping chest or arm days, do you? Any muscle group will grow over time if you continue to train it with intensity and good form, gradually moving up in the resistance. It’s also important that you use sufficient volume to produce results in this large, powerful muscle complex. A couple of light sets of leg extensions followed up by a couple of moderate effort sets of leg presses is far from optimal. Try the routines laid out here instead and I promise you will soon see a difference in your quads.
6. Never Lock Out Your Knees! Your body is always seeking the path of least resistance when it comes to any physical activity. When it comes to compound leg movements like the leg press or any variety of squat, the natural tendency once the muscles become extremely fatigued is to take the tension off them and allow them a very quick “break” by locking out your knees at the top of the rep. Don’t do this, as it takes the stress completely off the quads and puts it all on the knee joints and surrounding tissues. Over time this can contribute to tendinitis and even arthritis. As someone with both, trust me when I say you don’t want them!
Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram
DISCUSS ON OUR FORUMS
SUBSCRIBE TO MD TODAY
GET OFFICIAL MD STUFF
VISIT OUR STORE
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
ALSO, MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW US ON:
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
INSTAGRAM
YOUTUBE
Click here to view the article.
By Ron Harris
1. Wear Flat-soled Shoes. When it comes to leg training in general, you never want to train in shoes with an elevated heel or with air pockets in the heels. This rules out most basketball and running shoes. Those shoes are designed to absorb the shock from running and jumping and limit your ability to generate force from the floor, or the platform of any type of leg press or squat machine. Basketball shoes are also a poor choice because the ankle support in their design can limit your range of motion as well. The best choices are flat-soled footwear like wrestling shoes, Converse All Stars, Otomix bodybuilding shoes, and the shoes marketed toward CrossFit and functional training, like Reebok Nanos and the Nike Metcon. And of course, it doesn’t get any flatter than squatting or pressing in bare feet or socks, for those who don’t want to pick up a fungus off the gym floor.
2. Pay Attention to Your Knees. Maintaining healthy knee joints and connective tissues around them is key to long-term productive quad training. Ask any older lifter with chronic knee pain and they will gladly bend your ear with woeful tales of how much bigger and stronger their legs once were. Always be in tune with how your knees feel with various angles of your feet and toes in relation to your knees. If you feel pain with toes angled out more, don’t continue with that foot position! You will eventually arrive at the mechanically correct foot position that allows you to squat or press heavy and with a full range of motion painlessly. Any slight pain in your knees is a direct sign from your body to switch things up, as that pain and the damage being incurred to your tendons and ligaments around the knee is only going to worsen over time.
3. Hit Hams on a Different Day. While the focus here is on building your best quadriceps, you must not neglect your hamstrings in all this. Since the listed routines are quite intense and demanding, I would prefer that most of you not attempt to work your hamstrings afterward, as you won’t have the requisite energy and focus to give them proper attention. Instead, work them on a different day, perhaps paired with back as many bodybuilders have done.
4. Always Fuel Up. I always recommend having at least one substantial, nutritious meal about 90 minutes before weight training, but especially in the case of a serious quadriceps session. These are big, powerful muscles that thrive on volume and intensity, and as such you should never train them on an empty stomach. You may have heard that training on an empty stomach boosts natural growth hormone release. I can assure you that any benefits this may offer are greatly outweighed by the diminished energy and work capacity you will experience hitting quads on an empty tank.
5. Never Skip Leg Day! It’s funny how this phrase has bled over into the mainstream lexicon, yet so many people still manage to skip leg days. You never see those guys skipping chest or arm days, do you? Any muscle group will grow over time if you continue to train it with intensity and good form, gradually moving up in the resistance. It’s also important that you use sufficient volume to produce results in this large, powerful muscle complex. A couple of light sets of leg extensions followed up by a couple of moderate effort sets of leg presses is far from optimal. Try the routines laid out here instead and I promise you will soon see a difference in your quads.
6. Never Lock Out Your Knees! Your body is always seeking the path of least resistance when it comes to any physical activity. When it comes to compound leg movements like the leg press or any variety of squat, the natural tendency once the muscles become extremely fatigued is to take the tension off them and allow them a very quick “break” by locking out your knees at the top of the rep. Don’t do this, as it takes the stress completely off the quads and puts it all on the knee joints and surrounding tissues. Over time this can contribute to tendinitis and even arthritis. As someone with both, trust me when I say you don’t want them!
Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram
DISCUSS ON OUR FORUMSSUBSCRIBE TO MD TODAY
GET OFFICIAL MD STUFFVISIT OUR STORE
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
ALSO, MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW US ON:
FACEBOOKTWITTERINSTAGRAM YOUTUBE
6 Tips for Bigger, Stronger Legs
By Ron Harris
1. Wear Flat-soled Shoes. When it comes to leg training in general, you never want to train in shoes with an elevated heel or with air pockets in the heels. This rules out most basketball and running shoes. Those shoes are designed to absorb the shock from running and jumping and limit your ability to generate force from the floor, or the platform of any type of leg press or squat machine. Basketball shoes are also a poor choice because the ankle support in their design can limit your range of motion as well. The best choices are flat-soled footwear like wrestling shoes, Converse All Stars, Otomix bodybuilding shoes, and the shoes marketed toward CrossFit and functional training, like Reebok Nanos and the Nike Metcon. And of course, it doesn’t get any flatter than squatting or pressing in bare feet or socks, for those who don’t want to pick up a fungus off the gym floor.
2. Pay Attention to Your Knees. Maintaining healthy knee joints and connective tissues around them is key to long-term productive quad training. Ask any older lifter with chronic knee pain and they will gladly bend your ear with woeful tales of how much bigger and stronger their legs once were. Always be in tune with how your knees feel with various angles of your feet and toes in relation to your knees. If you feel pain with toes angled out more, don’t continue with that foot position! You will eventually arrive at the mechanically correct foot position that allows you to squat or press heavy and with a full range of motion painlessly. Any slight pain in your knees is a direct sign from your body to switch things up, as that pain and the damage being incurred to your tendons and ligaments around the knee is only going to worsen over time.
3. Hit Hams on a Different Day. While the focus here is on building your best quadriceps, you must not neglect your hamstrings in all this. Since the listed routines are quite intense and demanding, I would prefer that most of you not attempt to work your hamstrings afterward, as you won’t have the requisite energy and focus to give them proper attention. Instead, work them on a different day, perhaps paired with back as many bodybuilders have done.
4. Always Fuel Up. I always recommend having at least one substantial, nutritious meal about 90 minutes before weight training, but especially in the case of a serious quadriceps session. These are big, powerful muscles that thrive on volume and intensity, and as such you should never train them on an empty stomach. You may have heard that training on an empty stomach boosts natural growth hormone release. I can assure you that any benefits this may offer are greatly outweighed by the diminished energy and work capacity you will experience hitting quads on an empty tank.
5. Never Skip Leg Day! It’s funny how this phrase has bled over into the mainstream lexicon, yet so many people still manage to skip leg days. You never see those guys skipping chest or arm days, do you? Any muscle group will grow over time if you continue to train it with intensity and good form, gradually moving up in the resistance. It’s also important that you use sufficient volume to produce results in this large, powerful muscle complex. A couple of light sets of leg extensions followed up by a couple of moderate effort sets of leg presses is far from optimal. Try the routines laid out here instead and I promise you will soon see a difference in your quads.
6. Never Lock Out Your Knees! Your body is always seeking the path of least resistance when it comes to any physical activity. When it comes to compound leg movements like the leg press or any variety of squat, the natural tendency once the muscles become extremely fatigued is to take the tension off them and allow them a very quick “break” by locking out your knees at the top of the rep. Don’t do this, as it takes the stress completely off the quads and puts it all on the knee joints and surrounding tissues. Over time this can contribute to tendinitis and even arthritis. As someone with both, trust me when I say you don’t want them!
Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram
DISCUSS ON OUR FORUMS
SUBSCRIBE TO MD TODAY
GET OFFICIAL MD STUFF
VISIT OUR STORE
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
ALSO, MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW US ON:
YOUTUBE
Click here to view the article.
