The muscles chain that makes up the thigh is the most powerful muscle region of the human body. The quadriceps and the gluteus maximus are the two most powerful muscles of this region, but they are also helped in most of their actions by the hamstring muscles, the adductors, the sartorius, the small and mid-glutes as well as by a series of internal postural muscles at the hip. In short, a large muscle mass to ensure the actions of the lower limbs.
Of course, developing a big muscle does not have the same implications as for a smaller muscle. If you want to develop a finger flexor, it can give you a good digital cramp, but the amount of blood, cells, metabolites needed for optimal development is not going to take your heart out of your chest ... On the other hand, if you wish to develop your quadriceps, it will certainly be the case! If you have more muscle cells, they can also take turns and so you may have to increase the number of sets and the total workload to get a visible result.
This is also often the problem, many hate leg workout because it's hard! It is exhausting for the muscles, you may have a hard time walking for the next 2 days, you may feel that your heart is coming out of your chest and you may also feel nauseated. Because of this, casual athletes will not work their legs enough, they will target the ribcage and hide their legs with training pants. However, in a swimsuit, nothing is more disconcerting than to see a man with a jacked chest with underdeveloped legs. In bodybuilding, harmony is the key…
In general, women want to work their legs in priority while men try to skip this training... It's up to you to understand what it means.
Yet working your legs can have a consequence on the development of your other muscles. Your fitness, your heart capacity will increase significantly and these qualities may be useful to you in the training of other muscle groups. The legs are powerful muscles, so you will handle heavy weights. Getting used to heavy weights with your legs can also affect your progress in other muscle areas.
So how can one expect to see progress in his thighs? First of all, a thighs workout without squats is not a complete workout. The squat is the pivotal exercise of bodybuilding. Someone once said that if you had to remove all bodybuilding exercises and keep one, it would be the squat: everything works: thighs, calves, glutes, hamstring muscles, upper back, lower back, arms, abs, shoulders .. It is therefore an important exercise in bodybuilding. On the other hand, for some people who have pain (non-muscular) when squatting, you will have to pass... Never perform an exercise that gives you pain other than muscular pain. You may miss a great development exercise, but you will not be at risk for more serious injuries. For the others, on the other hand, this exercise is a must! Many dismissed this exercise, especially realized in its complete form. Yet studies on this subject undoubtedly show that the complete squat is better for the joints than the half-squat.
On the other hand, sometimes your morphology or your stiffness will not allow you to realize a perfect exercise either. Be careful not to alter your good form by picking weights too heavy for you. Make a GOOD squat: half or full but always with perfect form. You will increase the load once you have perfected your form.
Next to the squat, there are many good exercises: Split squats, horizontal press, inclined press, squeeze press, leg extension ... they can also be done in different ways to move the intensity on one or the other part of the muscle.
As we suggested above, the thighs require a greater number of reps than other muscles. To increase their volume, you won’t do too much by pushing up to 20 reps. Some go up to more than 25… The right number is exceeded when you do not feel any more congestion in your thighs. If that happens, you went too far. For your next training, you’ll know how much reps to do. Of course for strength or endurance, there is less congestion and each training will be adapted to the goal as with each muscle, but always with a little more work for this region.
A tactic that also gives good results is to split the training of the legs in two sessions: one for the thighs and the other for the hamstring muscles. This way you can focus on two different regions that too often we tend to put in the same basket, sometimes even to neglect.
The intense cardio can also allow you to target your thighs and give them a better definition.
In short, the legs are a complex area and you should not spare your efforts if you want to progress. Proper nutrition is also an important key in your progress. A large, well-trained muscle will consume more energy, more calories, more vitamins, minerals and amino acids. A supplement such as QNT’s "Recovery" will surely help you to support your hungry muscles with intense workouts.
Now, go do some squats!
