Your legs are the larger muscle groups of your body, including your glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, adductors and calf muscles. Build the size or mass of your leg muscles by using weights you can lift no more than 6 to 12 repetitions per set, according to the American College of Sports Medicine. Perform five to six sets per leg exercise, resting for one to two minutes between sets.
Train Legs on Monday
Do your leg workouts on Mondays, reducing your chances of skipping your leg routine. You have more energy at the beginning of the week compared to saving your leg exercise for a Friday workout, after several days of exercise training.
Use Primarily Barbells
Stick with barbell exercises to build your leg muscles. Do squats, straight-leg dead lifts, barbell lunges and good mornings as your main leg exercises at the beginning of your leg session. Include dumbbell and machine exercises to vary your workouts, incorporating them at the end of your leg routine.
Eat Plenty of Calories
Eat plenty of calories to fuel your leg workout. If you are an active male, you must consume a minimum of 23 calories per pound of body weight per day to fuel your normal activities. If you want to add 1 to 2 lbs. of muscle per week, including building your leg muscles, you must eat 350 to 700 calories per day beyond your daily caloric requirement for normal activities.
Limit Cardio
Continuous aerobic exercise such as running and cycling decreases your ability to build the mass of your leg muscles. If you do a lot of non-stop aerobics, you will condition the cells of your leg muscles to perform better at endurance exercises instead of performing better at strength and muscle-building exercises. This means you reduce your capacity to build the size of your leg muscles, because you are unable to lift multiple sets of sufficiently heavy weights.
Do Two Sprints and a Walk
Include sprint training to maintain the health benefits of raising your heart rate while limiting the detrimental effects of endurance training. Sprinting relies on the powerful and rapid contraction of your muscles, enabling you to increase the size and mass of your legs. Sprint all-out for 30 seconds and walk for 90 seconds, totaling no more than 20 minutes two days per week. Take a brisk 30-minute walk one day per week. These sprint and walk sessions may be done on a treadmill, a track or across an open field.
References
- American College of Sports Medicine: Progression Models in Resistance Training for Adults
- "Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning"; Thomas R. Baechle and Roger W. Earle; 2000
- "Exercise Physiology, Energy, Nutrition & Human Performance"; William McArdle, Frank Katch and Victor Katch; 2007
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