Legs workout for muscle growth: beginner level
Legs workout between all of them has been and it is still today considered the most painful and the hardest above all. As it is the biggest muscle group among all, the stress it’s the highest on the body, while working out. Let’s see some example of what to improve and how.
Starting concepts for beginner
It is necessary to set the base to success from the beginning. As any muscles, a performance increasing over a period of time ( given nutrition to be on point and sufficient ) will lead to muscle growth. For beginners, the main focus should be to build stability while training, and to activate correctly quads and hamstrings muscles. Failing to activate and stabilize will lead to a compound lift and therefore remove tension from the muscle you are trying to grow. Easiest way to build stability is to pre-activate your core. Once it is activated make sure it does stay engaged always and in each workout movement. From leg extension, to squat, to hamstring work and so on.
Suggested structure for beginner
As the main focus while starting is to build a strong foundation, the overall idea is to split your workout in a smarter way. I suggest to pre-activate both quads and hamstrings and after that start your actual routine. An extra tip is to alternate quads and hamstring in your workout.
An example
Quad activation - 2 x 15 with focus tension and quad work while in motion.
Hamstring activation - 2 x 15 with focus tension and hamstring work while in motion.
1st Quad exercise - an isolation to allow maximum tension and possibility to push harder while keeping the control of the movement.
1st Hamstring exercise - an isolation to allow maximum tension and possibility to push harder while keeping the control of the movement.
2nd Quad exercise - something more mechanical and harder to perform in order to use for real your quads into their function, top effort while keeping control.
2nd Hamstring exercise - something more mechanical that allows full control of your hip and maximum effort for your hamstrings.
3rd quad Exercise - Something that can be a strong movement but also easy to control for yourself and core easily engaged.
4th Leg work - maybe an hybrid while you engage both or as well a quad work with care for muscle tension.
How to build your optimal workout routine
I did avoid mentioning exercises on purpose. Everyone is looking for the best series of execution and movements and it is also the reason why so many fail to grow legs.
Understand your body structure, length of your legs, hips and ankle mobility. After that focus on exercises that allows you to fully control and feel the movements into the muscle areas you are targeting. Once you feel great and confident of your workout, you will be ready to add more weight to your exercises and increase so your performance. Maintain your feelings the same, if you double your weights and all you feel is lower back, clearly you are off target, and therefore, train your ego but not your legs.
Top tips to guarantee muscle growth on legs
Train often and consistently your core
Stretch regularly your muscles.
Keep your hips mobilized.
Make sure your hip flexors are not carrying tension. ( sport massage ecc )
Stretch your calves regularly.
Care for your hip mobility.
The day after you train legs take a day of rest to feed and recover.
Always control and feel each movement.
Knee pain means reduced work load on your legs or wrong position/execution.
Don’t rush the process.
It is a long and consistent process so don’t stress your body, train when you feel great and always enjoy what you are doing. Legs it is the hardest mentally but the most rewarding.