Legs are the foundation of your whole body. That being said, more than 50 percent of the body’s muscle mass belongs to legs. This is why it’s very strange the fact that lots of trainees almost traditionally skip leg days and concentrate on their beach muscles such as arms and chest.
Being such a big muscle group, the legs need a lot of work (genetic freaks aside), to reach their full potential. It’s not unusual for many trainees to find out that their legs respond very good to volume work, as opposed to smaller muscle groups like chest, shoulders, biceps or triceps. And speaking of volume, the below workout will definitely help you blast your upper legs, break through plateaus, and spark some new growth.
The keyword of this workout is giant sets. A giant set really consists of three to four sets (usually of 10-12 reps) of four different exercises working the same muscle group. When performing a giant set, quickly move from exercise to exercise while you leave your worked muscle group rest for only about 10-15 seconds.
The Rules
1.You will do one exercise,
2.Rest no more than 10-15 seconds,
3.Go to the next exercise right away.
You will do four exercises in a row and this will be one giant set. After you finish one giant set, you can take a rest of 2-3 minutes tops and start a new giant set. After one warmup set you will do 3 working giant sets.
The Exercises
1. Barbell Squats – the king of the leg exercises . This is the exercise responsible for building slabs of muscle, not only on your legs, but your upper body too.
- Stand with your feet slightly wider than your shoulders, heels firm on the ground and the bar on your traps.
- Slowly squat down with your back straight and face looking forward (not up or down).
- Stop when your thighs get a bellow parallel to the ground.
- In a controlled motion go back up.
2. Stiff leg deadlift – a power move that will build strength and muscle in your hams, glutes and lower back.
- Stand straight, with the feet slightly closer than shoulder width. Grab a bar with an overhand grip, palms placed shoulder width.
- With your back straight and chest erect, slowly bend forward in your hips while keeping the bar close to your body.
- Stop when you feel a mild stretch and pain in your hams.
- Straighten back up while squeezing your glutes and lower back.
3. Leg Extension – while not so good exercise to build muscle and increase strength, the leg extension is used to pump some more blood in the muscles (which will stretch the fascia) after the squats.
- Sit on the leg extension machine and make sure your upper and lower leg forms a 90 degree angle. Make sure the pad is comfortable sitting right above your ankles.
- Extend the legs using your quadriceps and hold for a second in the upper position.
4. Lying Leg Curls – a good exercise to stretch your hams and pump some blood in them.
- Lie on the curl machine and make sure your legs fully stretched in the starting position. Again, make sure the pad is sitting right above your ankles.
- Contract your hams and curl your lover legs while your upper legs are sitting flat on the machine. Hold for a second.
- Slowly bring your lower legs in the starting stretched position.
After 3 working giant sets your legs should be burning with pain and you should be gasping for air. Be sure to take a good rest and feed before you hit the gym for your next workout.
