By the healthiergang writer , student in Physiotherapy.
Dry Legs ... And War Be!
Legs are the most feared training session ever. Even the most daring at the awareness of a leg training session feel a little bit of enthusiasm mixed with fear.
The great thing about training your legs is that you can push your skills to the limit and see what you are really capable of. In addition, the legs are large and strong muscles; this means that they hardly fall into overtraining.
The harder they are trained, the more they respond, and the satisfaction of reaching the limit is unique.
About the squat Tom platz diceva “You have to demand that much, and when you do, the nice thing about that is that… YOU GROW”.
These words express well the spirit and the value that underlies the training of the leg muscles. Training the legs is not only a physical effort but it is also a mental effort.
Lower body training is something essential even if your sport is calisthenics.
Muscular legs represent a big disadvantage in bodyweight exercises but that only means that you will have to put more effort into your workouts. Imbalances between the upper and lower body cannot develop.
The Best Exercises
Leaving aside the benefits that follow from training the legs, let's go directly to the best exercises to achieve the goal. The keywords in leg training are simplicity, technique and commitment.
You don't have to look for complicated exercises, rather you have to rely on basic, simple and multi-joint exercises. The lower body is like a unique machine which works best when all its components work together.
La technique is crucial as high loads could become a major risk factor for the joints. Finally, the commitment represents the intensity that goes into these workouts. You have to give it your all. All time.
The best exercises are the squat, deadlift, Glute Ham Rise and lunges. The repetition spectrum is very variable. The legs respond well to each repetition number. It therefore ranges from series of triples or doubles up to series of 20 repetitions.
The composition of the muscle fibers is mixed and the use of a broad spectrum of repetitions is the best solution. Personally I believe that the front squat is superior to the squat because it allows you to work the front of the leg better and does not endanger the lower back.
The deadlift allows you to train the entire posterior kinetic chain in the pelvic extension function while the Glute Ham Rise mainly works the flexion of the thigh. Lunges work both quadriceps, hamstring and glutes in one exercise.
Below is a weekly workout routine that stimulates the lower body twice a week. The days indicated are only those dedicated to the legs, it is understood that the upper part of the body must also be trained.
Day 1
Front squat: 5 series of 6-8 repetitions in super sets with ...
- Hang on the bar: 90 seconds (these 90 seconds are the recovery time between one set and another, rather than sitting down you hang from a bar and take full, deep breaths. In this way you go to release the vertebral compression given by the squat and at the same time the forearms are trained).
- Bulgarian squat: 3 drop sets per leg of 8 + 8 reps (use, for example, two 20 kg dumbbells and do 8 reps, as soon as you finish, change the dumbbells to 2 10 kg and do 8 reps. Do the same thing for the other leg . Do a total of 3 sets as described per leg resting 30 seconds between one leg and the other).
- Walking dumbbell lunges: 4 sets of 15 reps (per leg) 60 seconds of rest.
Day 2
- Deadlifts: 5 sets of 5. 90 seconds of rest.
- Glute Ham Rise: 4 sets of 6 (if you are unable to perform a repetition focus on a slow and controlled eccentric phase) in super sets with
- Glute Ham rise isometric: reach an adequate flexion angle and by contracting the hamstrings, maintain the position for 20 seconds. 90 seconds of rest
- Reverse lunges with dumbbells: 3 sets of 15 repetitions 60 seconds rest. (rather than bringing the leg forward, bring one leg back and lunge and then return to the starting position)
