Learn why swinging your legs is important and how to properly train your hips to kickstart the growth mechanism for your entire body. The legs are the largest muscular group in the human body. If the question of whether it is important to swing legs before the girls is not worth it, then men do not really like to pump them. However, in doing this and trying to pay all attention to your arms, chest, abs or other muscles, you will quickly notice the imbalance of the top and bottom. In addition, progress may slow down due to a lag in the development of one group. Agree, a man with powerful shoulders and thin legs cannot be considered attractive.
Is it important to swing your legs and why?
We already noted at the beginning of the article that the legs are the most massive muscle group in the human body. If you haven't wondered yet about the right leg training program, there is still a lot to learn in the science of bodybuilding. Legs take an active part in everyday life, and for this reason alone, they should be developed. If this is not enough for you and the question of whether it is important to swing your legs has not been removed yet, then we will continue.
Working with large weights involves the participation of the leg muscles, even if the training is aimed at other muscle groups. When you do squats, your body has to synthesize large amounts of anabolic hormones. As a result, it affects the growth of other muscles.
With girls, everything is much easier, because each of them understands that slender legs increase attention from the opposite sex. However, by pumping the lower body, women accelerate the lipolysis processes and can quickly get rid of excess fat. The point here is all in the same anabolic hormonal substances.
Here are the main reasons why men should work on their leg muscles:
- Promotes an increase in the rate of testosterone production, which has a positive effect on body mass gain.
- The human body is a single whole and can only develop harmoniously. If the leg muscles lag significantly behind in their development, other muscle groups will also slow down progress.
- To increase the size of the biceps by one centimeter, the athlete needs to gain a total of four kilograms of mass. It is not possible to do this only by pumping hands.
- All muscles must rest, otherwise their growth will stop. On a day when you are not working on curls or other muscles, you can do your legs.
- Scientists believe that thanks to the legs, the heart muscle is able to ensure normal blood circulation throughout the body. Thus, by training the lower limbs, you improve the functioning of the cardiovascular system.
- Healthy legs will significantly improve the overall tone of a person, and you will feel good until old age.
- To make your body look as attractive as possible, you need to develop it harmoniously.
Leg muscles anatomy
Below we will talk more about the rules for training leg muscles, but first it is worth talking about the anatomy of this group. Such information will allow you to compose a competent training process and get excellent results. This muscle group can be divided into four smaller ones, and now we will talk about each of them.
Quadriceps
Also, this group is called the quadriceps muscle. It contains a large number of small muscles that are located along the entire length of the outer thigh. The name of the group is associated with the presence of four distinct divisions:
- Medial department - a wide, thick muscle, located just above the knee joint.
- Middle department - the weakest muscle and almost invisible.
- Lateral section - is located on the outer surface of the thigh and responds well to training.
- Direct department - is located on the front of the thigh and is the largest muscle in the legs. The rectus muscle takes its origin at the ilium and is a tendon. Then it crosses the entire front of the thigh and becomes a tendon again.
The main tasks of the quadriceps are flexion-extension of the knee joint, as well as rotation of the leg in the hip joint. This suggests that the stronger your quadriceps muscle, the less problems there will be with the above joints.
Hip biceps
This group of muscles is sometimes also called the hamstrings. It also consists of four muscles that are smaller than the quadriceps:
- Hip biceps.
- Semitendinosus muscle.
- Semi-membranous muscle.
- Short section of the biceps of the thigh.
Shin
Consists of three small groups:
- Calf muscle - originates in the area of the knee joint and stretches downward, where it is attached to the heel tendons.
- Flounder muscle - is located directly under the calf and works when bending the knee joint.
- Anterior tibial muscle - located in the front of the lower leg, and its main task is to provide lifting to the toes.
Buttocks
What woman doesn't dream of toned and firm buttocks? Men pay much less attention to this muscle group, but it is necessary to train it if you want to have a truly beautiful figure. The gluteal muscles are divided into three sections: medium, small and large. The task of this group is to rotate, flatten and pull the thigh.
How to swing your legs correctly?
Knowing the structure of the muscular system of the legs, you can determine the most effective exercises for pumping them. This is what we'll talk about now, because you already know the answer to the question - is it important to swing your legs? However, we will start by looking at the main mistakes that prevent many athletes from achieving positive results.
Using ineffective exercises
Often, builders spend a lot of time on simulators and perform a large number of isolated movements. However, they can only be useful as an aid to heavy basic movements.
Violation of the technique of performing movements
This is a rather voluminous topic and now we just want to remind you that every novice athlete must master the technique of all strength exercises and only then can we proceed to the progression of the load.
Doing a lot of repetitions
As a result, the growth of all muscles in the body slows down. There are specific rep ranges to help you gain mass or increase strength.
You must remember that to gain mass, you need to perform basic movements with working weights that are 80 to 85 percent of the maximum. Other training methods will be effective only when using sports pharmacology. It should be recognized that the use of steroids allows you to level a large number of errors contained in the training program. However, the rapid growth of muscles and their strength under the influence of anabolic drugs increases the risk of injury to the joints, since connective tissues do not have the same ability to adapt to the increase in load, as muscular ones.
However, do not think that natural athletes cannot achieve good results. Of course, their figure will be significantly different from the physique of bodybuilding stars, but many people do not need such huge muscles. To keep your leg workouts effective, follow a few simple guidelines.
Do basic exercises
Only multi-joint movements can provide a powerful hormonal response to strength training. Perform them with a number of repetitions of 4-6 or 5-7.
Use exercises that allow you to safely use the principle of load progression
Every natural athlete should remember that muscle growth is possible only with an increase in strength parameters. This can be achieved through the application of the progressive overload principle, which implies a gradual increase in operating weight. However, not all exercises are suitable for heavy weights, such as leg curls in a machine. This is due to an increase in the negative load on the knee joints.
The more weight is used, the less repetitions should be
This recommendation relates to the need to give the muscles a certain amount of time to recover. The heavier the weight is used, the longer it takes to recover. Otherwise, you will find yourself in a state of overtraining. Based on practical experience, we can recommend that when working with weights of 80-85 percent of the maximum for 5-7 days, perform from 60 to 70 repetitions. This recommendation applies to all major muscle groups in the body.
Now let's move on to the best leg exercises. The first of these is definitely the squat. By performing the classic version of the movement, you can strengthen not only the legs, but also muscles other than the chest. You can also recommend front squats, which are excellent at loading the quadriceps, and at the same time, the negative impact on the knee joints is reduced.
Barbell lunges are often used by exercise machines, since the movement works well for the buttocks and hamstrings. Men can also recommend it, because the body must develop harmoniously. For working out the hamstrings, the Romanian Deadlift is a great choice.
Not everyone knows about the Bulgarian split squat, and we highly recommend mastering this movement. With its help, you can work out the hamstrings qualitatively, as well as increase the one repetition maximum in classic squats. GACK squats can be very helpful, especially if your quads are lagging behind. Given the minimum load on the lumbar back, this movement can be safely included in the training program.
Leg presses are also performed in the machine and help strengthen the quadriceps. To effectively work out the buttocks, girls can be recommended to lift the pelvis with an emphasis on a bench. You can work without burdens or with them. Without doing socks, you will not be able to work out the calf muscles qualitatively. The exercise should be performed in a sitting and standing position.
In conclusion, here is an example of a workout program to strengthen leg muscles:
- Barbell Shoulder Squats - Three sets of 4-6 reps for men and 8-10 for women.
- Front squats - three sets of 4-6 and 8-10 repetitions for men and women, respectively.
- Bulgarian split squats - the number of sets and repetitions is similar to the previous movements.
- Standing Calf Raises - three sets of 8-10 repetitions.
- Raising the pelvis with an emphasis on the bench - three sets of 8-10 repetitions. Girls must do the exercise. And for men at will.
You will learn more about why swing your legs from the following video:
