If you’re an athlete and you want to build leg size, you
need to ensure you check off a few essentials.
- Firstly, you must find your 1 repetition max (the maximum
load you can perform a single rep with).
- Then you should be performing the
given exercise at atleast 65% of your 1 rep max.
- Then you need to think about
rep ranges and the number of sets. For muscle hypertrophy (building muscle), 6-12
reps has been shown to give best muscle building results, completing 4-6 sets.
- Finally, the quality of reps is also important; during the eccentric (lowering)
phase of the movement, you should look to perform this slowly and under control
whereas the concentric (lifting) phase of the movement should be performed with
more speed and explosion.
Now you’ve got your checklist, you need to cover each movement
that the legs create and choose the right exercises to build leg size:
I prefer my athletes to separate leg days into two categories
– Hip dominant and knee dominant
Hip dominant day:
Sumo deadlift 6 sets x 8 reps
Barbell clean 6 sets x 6 reps
Glute ham raise 6 sets x 8 reps
Barbell bench step ups 6 sets x 8 reps
Knee dominant day:
Leg extension 4 sets x 12 reps
Prone ham curls 4 sets x 12 reps
Leg press 6 sets x 8 reps
Nordic ham curls 6 sets x 8 reps
There are many more exercises you can do, but the above are
my favourite as I feel they tackle all the muscles of the legs.
Further thoughts
During hypertrophy training, you will be causing extensive
damage to your muscles and so will need to increase protein levels to aid your
body in building muscle. I recommend using MyProtein because of the high
quality protein shakes they offer. CLICK HERE to have a look at some of their
products.
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Have a good day
Matt
