If you have never trained legs, you may not understand the importance of leg training and ask, "Why do you need to train legs?"
In bodybuilding, the legs are one of the most important body parts, because the muscles in the legs are larger than those in the upper body, so they are more visually appealing.
Leg muscle anatomy
Leg muscles can be simply divided into front thigh, inner thigh, back thigh, buttocks and calf.
Front thigh
The muscles on the front of the thigh include the quadriceps femoris, tensor fascia lata, and sartorius, but the quadriceps is the most visual and the easiest to grow, so the muscles on the front of the thigh are mainly the quads.
The quads consist of four different muscles, the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medius, and vastus medialis.
These 4 muscles have different origins. The rectus femoris originates from the ilium (the edge of the pelvis), and the vastus lateralis, medius, and vastus medialis all originate at the top of the femur (bone of the thigh), but they all attach to the same point - the tibia Tuberosity (= lower end of knee).
Inner thigh
The inner thigh muscles refer to the adductors, and the adductors include the adductor brevis, long adductor, and magnus.
The adductor muscles are not as visual as the quads, and when doing other leg exercises, the adductor muscles will also be driven to a certain extent, so there is no need to do special adductor muscle training.
The adductors all originate at the lower end of the pelvis and insert on the medial posterior aspect of the femur.
Back of thigh
The muscles on the back of the thigh are referred to as the hamstrings, which in turn include the biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus.
The hamstrings are also one of the muscles with a strong visual sense, so training on the back of the thighs should focus on the hamstrings.
The hamstrings all originate at the lower end of the pelvis and insert at the top of the tibia.
Buttocks
The gluteus consists of 3 muscles, the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus.
The gluteus maximus is the largest and strongest of all muscles, so it also has a strong visual sense. The gluteus medius and gluteus minimus cannot be seen with the naked eye because they lie beneath the gluteus maximus, but their development can also make the buttocks fuller.
The gluteus maximus originates from the sacral border on the back of the pelvis and inserts on the back of the femur. The gluteus medius and gluteus minimus originate from the back of the pelvis and insert at the top of the lateral femur.
Calf
The muscles of the calf include the gastrocnemius and soleus.
Many people ignore the calf muscles, thinking that they are so small and useless. Big mistake! If a bodybuilder has thick thighs, but not enough calves, it will look very awkward, and the training of the calf muscles can improve the flexibility of the ankle joint, which will definitely help the health of the squat and knee joints.
The gastrocnemius muscle originates behind the lower end of the femur and ends at the heel. The soleus muscle originates from the back of the tibia and fibula and inserts into the heel.
So, for leg training, we should focus on the most visible muscles, which include the quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves.
Next, let's take a look at how to practice these 4 muscles.
How to train leg muscles?
The principle of exercising a muscle is very simple: know its starting and ending points, understand its function, use its function, and add resistance.
Quadriceps
The quadriceps, as mentioned above, starts at the top of the femur and inserts at the top of the tibia, so its main function is to extend the knee.
So any knee-bending movement can work the quadriceps, such as squats, kicks, seated leg extensions, lunges, etc.
Hamstrings
The hamstrings originate at the lower end of the pelvis and at the top of the tibia, so its main functions include extension of the hip joint and flexion of the knee joint.
So any knee-bending movement can work the quadriceps, such as squats, kicks, seated leg extensions, lunges, etc.
Gluteus
The main functions of the gluteus maximus are extension of the hip joint and external rotation of the femur. The main functions of the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus are external rotation of the femur and abduction of the hip joint.
So any hip flexion and knee flexion can work the hamstrings, such as deadlifts, squats, push-ups, seated leg curls, etc.
Calf
The primary function of the calf is the extension of the ankle joint, or more simply, the lift of the heel. So calf raise can train to the calf.
How to create a leg training plan?
Training action
Summarizing the above information, the following conclusions can be drawn:
To get a full leg workout, you have to work the front thigh, back thigh, and calf.
The front of the thigh is the quad, and the quad has to be flexed and extended with the knee.
The hamstrings and glutes are on the back of the thighs, and the hamstrings and glutes use hip flexion and extension.
The calf includes the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles, and the calf uses ankle flexion and extension.
Therefore, if you want to train your legs, you have to practice three movements: knee flexion and extension, hip flexion and extension, and ankle flexion and extension.
So, not only do you have to choose a basic knee flexion, you have to choose a basic hip flexion, plus a calf raise. However, each movement mode has different training movements, which should be selected as the basic movement? If you're a man, I recommend choosing high bar squats and straight-leg deadlifts as basic exercises, and if you're a woman, I recommend low bar squats and sumo deadlifts.
Are squats and deadlifts enough? For some people, the squat and deadlift alone are enough to build big legs (provided they're doing enough volume with those two movements, of course). But for most people, doing squats and deadlifts alone is boring, so it's best to supplement it with some auxiliary training. In addition, auxiliary training can also be used to perfect muscle growth through different angles.
A good complementary exercise for the squat is the seated leg press or hack squats.
For deadlifts, either the barbell bend or the dumbbell Romanian deadlift are good complementary exercises.
Weekly training frequency
Legs are a large muscle group and need more time to recover each time, so you don’t need to train too frequently, and an average of 2 times a week is enough.
The calf is a small muscle group, and it recovers quickly. If you really want to grow your calf, you can practice it on average 3 times a week.
Weekly training volume
The amount of training each person needs per week depends on personal training experience, level, diet, and more, so the following recommendations are general ones.
For quad training, I recommend starting with 8 sets per week. If you choose high bar squats and leg presses, you can do 4 sets of each movement, or 5 sets of squats and 3 sets of leg presses, or 3 sets of squats and 5 sets of leg presses.
For glute and hamstring training, I recommend starting with 6 sets. If you choose straight-leg deadlifts and barbell bends, you can do 3 sets of each movement.
Training times per set
For basic movements, I recommend limiting the number of reps to 5-8. For assistive movements, I recommend limiting reps to 8-12. For single-joint movements, I recommend 15-20 reps.
Conclusion
If you want to train your legs, you have to train your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves.
To do quads, choose a basic knee bend, known as a squat, and an assist, such as a leg press or a hack squat.
To work your hamstrings and glutes, choose a basic hip flexion movement, known as the deadlift, and an assist movement, such as a barbell bend or Romanian deadlift.
If you want to train your calves, you have to do straight leg calf raises and seated calf raises.
The weekly training volume of the legs is about 15 sets, 2 times a week, and each set of 5-20.
