#leg-workout

It’s no secret that muscular legs come down to this dreaded fact: You have to train legs. Not only do you have to train them, but you have to train them hard. (Photo: Getty Images)

Sick of being known as the guy with chicken legs? This article will teach you how to do so efficiently with specific leg workouts for men.

This means you have to dish out punishment in an intelligent way so that the leg muscles are forced to grow but so that you don’t spend the next six days moving around in a wheelchair. Yes, we’re going to make you sore, but being sore for longer than three or four days is a clear sign that you overdid it.

Tip No. 1 - Split Your Week Up Into A Quad-Dominant Day & Hip-Dominant Day

If your legs have been a tough body part for you, then begin by splitting your quads and hips (when I say “hips” I’m referencing the hams, lower back and glutes) into separate workout days.

On a five-day split, you could train quads on Monday and hips on Friday. This method allows you to give equal attention to the front of your legs and back of your legs.

Here’s a sample leg-prioritization training split:

Monday - Quads priority + one hip exercise Tuesday - Chest + abs Wednesday - Back + calves Thursday - Off Friday - Hips priority + one quad exercise Saturday - Shoulder, bicep and tricep exercises Sunday – Off

A quad-dominant day could include single joint leg exercises like leg extensions and multi-joint exercises like leg presses, back squats, front squats, forward lunges, reverse lunges, one-leg squats, wall squats, hack squats, Bulgarian-split squats, smith-machine squats, vertical leg press and all single limb variations.

A hip-dominant day could include single joint exercises like leg curls or back extensions, and multi-joint exercises like deadlifts, sumo-style deadlifts, stiff-leg deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, feet wide/elevated leg press and all single limb variations.

Tip No. 2 - Prioritize Your Legs For At Least 6 Weeks

I’m getting really tired of having guys approach me to say, “Man, I wish I had your legs.” I always shake my head and think to myself, “You could — if you stopped training chest three times a week!”

Many people are afraid to take time away from their upper body in fear of “losing” their gains. That couldn’t be any further from the truth. The only way you’ll lose size on your upper body is if you stop training it completely. So throw that fear out the window.

Once you get your legs going twice a week, not only will you have a more proportional and symmetrical physique, but everything else will grow, too, because of the effects of hard training on your hormone levels.

Start training your legs regularly and hit your lower body with the right intensity and frequency, and your entire body will keep on growing. Six weeks of dedicated leg training, two times per week, will get you growing for weeks.

Tip No. 3 - Pre-Exhaust With Leg Extensions on Quad Day and Leg Curls on Hip Day

Although no one has the same ratio of muscle fiber types, the muscle fibers activated during quad training are predominantly slow-twitch (Type II fibers). Believe it or not, I rarely ever squat more than 225 pounds, and my legs continue to grow.

Many guys see their legs grow once they use loading parameters that are different from the ones they use for the rest of their body. Higher reps are not associated with muscle growth, but when it comes to quad training, it makes a big difference.

Kickstart your quad workout with 4 sets of 15-20 reps, with a 5-0-1-1 tempo (take 5 seconds to lower the weight, no pause, 1 second to rise to the starting position and then pause 1 second before performing another repetition). Rest 45 seconds between sets.

Technique Tips for Leg Extensions: Keep your glutes locked down, sit upright (you can lean forward slightly to increase difficulty), keep your patella pointed to the ceiling, go through a full range of motion (weight stacks should be a cm apart) and don’t bounce the weight up.

Conversely, hamstrings are predominantly fast-twitch (Type I fibers) so they will respond better to explosive and lower rep ranges such as 4-6 and 6-10. Kickstart your hip workout with 4 sets of 5-8 reps with a 40x1 tempo (take 4 seconds to lower the weight, no pause, “X” means as explosive as possible, then pause 1 second before performing another repetition). Rest 60 seconds between sets.

Technique Tips for Leg Curls: Shove your hips into the pad, don’t move your glutes, keep your toes pointed (to eliminate assistance from your calves), prop yourself up onto your elbows (which makes it instantly harder).

Tip No. 4 - Use The Old-School 5x5 Protocol: 5 sets of 5 reps with 4-0-1-1 Tempo & two-minute Rest

After your legs are warmed up, limp on over to the squat rack to use one of the most famous rep and set protocols responsible for making generations of athletes stronger. The idea here is to start your first set of five once you have found your ideal work weight. You should hit failure on your first set of five to make this work for you. This might take one or two warmup sets to prime your legs. The reps and tempo dictate the load so a typical set might look like this:

Set 1- 5 reps at 225 pounds Set 2 - 5 reps at 225 pounds Set 3 - 5 reps  at 225 pounds Set 4 - 4 reps  at 225 pounds Set 5- 3 reps at 225 pounds

Increase the weight 5%-10% when you accomplish 5 sets of 5 reps with a 4-0-1-1 tempo and 2-minute rest between sets. The idea is to not increase weight until you can successfully complete the goal reps and sets, and, most importantly, the tempo and rest periods.

On hip day, you can do the 5x5 method on any deadlift variation of your choice. I recommend trying an exercise you haven’t tried for some time.

This article was written by Vince Del Monte and was originally published on AskMen.

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Beyond the squats.

Everyone already knows one way to tone your legs: squats, squats, and more squats. But to learn about some other, not-so-basic moves, the Cut called upon Jackie Dragone, director of FLEX Barre at FLEX Studios, to teach us some of her favorite leg-leaning tricks. Here, in the GIFs below, are five moves to tone your butt and legs that you can do at home, no weights required. (Do 12 to 15 reps of each move for two rounds.) 

Related: 8 Superhuman Trainers on Their Killer Workouts

Move 1: Dragone calls this the “single-leg balance to flat back,” a move that targets your glutes and quads. Keeping your weight in your heels and your hips square, extend your hips and legs back. Be careful not to push your standing knee over your toe and draw upon your abs to help with balance. As a modification, you can also tap your foot on the ground when you extend your leg back.

Related: 30 Chic Workout Items to Up Your Fitness Game

Move 2: The back-cross lunge works on your quads. Notice that Dragone keeps her hips stable — they don’t move, even as she crosses her legs to lunge. 

Related: How to Do a Two-Minute Cardio Workout Without Running

Move 3: In the butt lift, the key here is to lift your leg using your hamstring and glute, and not your knee. Keep your hips square, activate your abs, and don’t kick your weight out. Also, be careful to keep your weight even in both hands as you lift your knee — don’t sink into your left hip. You should feel this move right in the section where your butt meets the back of your thigh.

Related: How to Work Out Your Whole Body in 20 Minutes

Move 4: With the kneeling side-kick, lift your leg using your inner thigh. The key here is more about using your inner thigh to lift, rather than lifting your leg as high as you can. If you’re doing the move correctly, you should also feel it in the stabilizing leg.

Related: 5 Easy Workout Moves That Will Make You Stronger

Move 5: When doing the shoulder bridge, be careful to keep your hips in a straight line and avoid tilting your pelvis. Make sure to keep your hips up; don’t let them drop. 

By Kathleen Hou

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The best part about these leg slimming exercises is that they require no equipment! (Photo: Hilmar Meyer-Bosse )

I know—your thighs are the place where all your guilty food pleasures love to hang out. Whenever I over-indulge—usually by eating too much dessert—I see the results in my thighs. The backs of my thighs begin to lose their smoothness as the hints of cellulite threaten to turn them into “cottage cheese." When my jeans feel too tight, I know I need to cut back on desserts and step up my workouts. In just 2 weeks, the backs of my thighs resume their smooth, toned appearance and my jeans feel roomy again. (Stuck with cellulite? Here are the 7 best science-backed ways to get rid of it.) 

Many women find long, lean sexy legs hard to get. One reason is that before menopause, most of us store a disproportionate amount of fat in our lower bodies, particularly in our hips and thighs. Thousands of years ago, excess hip, butt, and thigh fat served an important purpose. During drought and long winters, women burned this fat to fuel both pregnancy and lactation. Women with more lower body fat tended to survive harsh conditions and consequently passed on their genes to their children, whereas women with more slender proportions did not.

(Drop 30 pounds in 30 days with the Body Fat Breakthrough!) 

In modern times, we no longer need this fat reserve because we have plenty of food. Unfortunately, our bodies simply haven’t caught up with the times.

Not to worry. These exercises will firm your body’s largest muscle group and give you sleeker legs.

Do two sets of 10 to 12 reps on each leg, 2 or 3 times a week (be sure to sneak a rest day between workouts). 

Single-leg squat

(Photo: Hilmar Meyer-Bosse ) 

 A. Standing with your feet together and arms by your sides, shift your weight onto your right foot. Rest the toe of your left foot next to your right foot for balance. Don’t let the knee of your squatting leg extend past your toes

(Photo: Hilmar Meyer-Bosse ) 

 B. Keeping your back straight, bend at your hips and knees, and slowly sit back onto your right leg, raising your arms straight in front of you as you lower. Stop when your thighs are almost parallel to the floor, and hold for a second. Then press into your right foot through the heel and stand back up.

Related: Your 5-Minute Routine For Killer, Ageless Arms 

Double-leg lift

(Photo: Hilmar Meyer-Bosse ) 

 A. Lie on your left side with your legs stacked on top of each other. Prop yourself up on your left elbow. Rest the fingertips of your right hand in front of you for balance. B. Raise your right leg about 12 inches (not shown), then slowly raise your left leg to meet it. Hold for 2 seconds, then lower each leg separately and repeat. Don’t… roll your hips too far forward or backward

Related: 10 Moves For A Perkier Butt 

Lean leg stretch

(Photo: Hilmar Meyer-Bosse ) 

 Standing in front of a chair, raise your arms overhead, slowly bend forward at your hips, and rest your hands on the back of the chair. Keep your back flat, and lift your buttocks toward the ceiling so you feel a stretch down the back of your legs. Hold for 20 seconds, then repeat once.

By Denise Austin

This article ‘3 Simple Moves For Slimmer Thighs’ originally ran on Prevention.com.

More from Prevention: 

9 Yoga Moves For Stronger, Slimmer Abs