The All Important Leg Muscles
It is imperative that you include your legs as well as your upper body when you are putting together a muscle building workout. There are 3 major leg muscles that need to be isolated and developed. The major muscle groups of the legs are the calves, hamstrings and quadriceps. A serious workout of these muscles will build incredibly strong and durable legs and complement your upper boy development.
Quadriceps
As it turns out, most leg exercises workout each of the three muscles at least to some degree. Squats are probably the most important exercise for building strong and powerful legs, especially the quadriceps. To get the most out of this exercise, it is important that you perform this with good technique. In the squat exercise you place weights on a barbell, rest the barbell on your neck, then squat down and return to a standing position. Other good exercises for your quadriceps include leg extensions, leg presses, dumbbell squats and dumbbell lunges.
Hamstrings
Now for your hamstrings, there are at least three great muscle building workouts you can do. One is lying leg curls. For this, you lie face down on a leg curl machine and lift your legs up. Two other exercises that isolate the hamstrings are barbell stiff-legged dead lifts and the dumbbell stiff-legged dead lifts.
Calves
The calves are responsible for giving you the ability to leap. For their size, the calves can lift an incredible amount of weight. The calves are important muscles to include in your muscle building workout. Several exercises can be included in your calve building workouts. One of the most effective exercises for calves are the calf raises, either standing or seated. Calf raises are quite simple to do. You just stand on your toes and raise yourself up using your calf muscles. You'll want to load lots of weight on the barbells, (which rest on your neck) or dumbbells. Other good calve exercises include calf extensions, standing one-legged calf raises and the leg press.
Putting It All Together
One way to integrate leg exercises into your workout regimen is to add your calves and hamstring exercises to your day for your chest and back workout. Then, you can add your quadricep exercises to your day for your arms and shoulder workout. Now you have a great workout that includes the all important leg muscles.
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