The hips and thighs are areas that contain muscles known as the abductors, adductors, quadriceps and hamstrings. Although numerous machines can target these areas individually, the best bet for sculpting is a machine that targets all of these areas at the same time. An exercise of this nature is called compound because it works more than one muscle simultaneously.
Leg Press
The leg press is an exercise machine operated from a seated position. When you use it, you are forced to work your entire lower body, which includes your hips and thighs. You even have to contract your abs to generate force and stabilize your spine.
Proper Execution
The leg press has an adjustment for the seat. To begin, sit on the seat and place your feet about shoulder-width apart on the steel plate. Make sure you are upright, your back is tight to the backrest and you have a 90-degree bend in your knees. If not, make the proper adjustments. Once you are in the right starting position, grasp the handles next to the seat, tighten your abs and push into the plate forcefully. Stop when your legs are fully extended, but do not lock your knees. Slowly return to the starting point and repeat for a set of repetitions.
Action of Muscles
When you do the leg press, you perform hip flexion and extension, and knee flexion and extension. Hip and knee extension take place when you push the plate out and straighten your legs. These motions work your glutes, hamstrings and quadriceps. Hip and knee flexion take place when you move your thigh toward your stomach and bend your knee. These actions predominately target your hamstrings and quads. The adductors and abductors forcefully contract to maintain stability throughout the exercise. The adductors are on the inside of the thighs, and the abductors are on the hips.
Resistance
When you use a leg press, you have two ways to increase the resistance, depending on the machine you use. Either slide weight plates onto a cylinder or slide a pin into a weight stack. Weight plates come in sizes that start at 2-1/2 lbs. and run all the way up to 45 lbs. Weight stacks generally start at 5 lbs. and increase in 10-lb. increments to well over 100 lbs. When you perform leg presses, use an adequate weight to tax your muscles. A resistance that you can only lift eight to 12 times is favorable.
Isolation Machines
Aside from the leg press, you can also include isolation machines in your workout to target your thighs and hips. A leg extension singles out the quadriceps, a leg curl machine targets the hamstrings, an abductor machine targets the outer hips and an adductor machine targets the inner thighs.
Member Comments