Adding these exercises in your fitness routine will give you thighs that are as strong as tree trunks in no time!
Let’s admit it, you don’t like the leg day. Well, no one does really. Most of us just look it as the necessity than something to boast about. Whether you like it or not, you need to train your legs to maintain a healthy balance between your upper and lower body. Not only does a strong base help when you’re training other body parts at the gym, it also helps you look great when you are with your woman in bed (if you know what we mean!).
Coming back to training your legs, quads are one of the most important parts that you shouldn’t avoid. So, here is the list of five of the best exercises that’ll help you build God-like quads.
Leg Extensions
- Choose your desired weight on the leg extension machine and sit with your legs under the pad (feet pointed forward) and the hands holding the sidebars.
- Make sure the pad falls on top of your lower leg, just above your feet. Your upper and lower legs should form a 90-degree angle.
- Using your quadriceps, extend your legs to the maximum as you exhale. Ensure that the rest of the body remains stationary on the seat.
- Pause for a second on the contracted position and slowly lower the weight back to the original position as you inhale, ensuring that your legs do not go past the 90-degree angle limit. This is one rep. Do as many reps as your trainer suggests.
Barbell Back Squats
- Load your preferred weight on the barbell and begin with it supported on top of your traps. Chest should be out and the head facing forward.
- Adopt a hip-width stance with the feet turned out as needed.
- Keeping your torso as upright as possible, descend by flexing your knees. Refrain from moving the hips back as much as possible. This will require your knees to travel forward, so ensure that they stay aligned with your feet.
- Continue all the way down, keeping the weight on the front of the heel. At the moment your upper legs come in contact with your lower legs reverse the motion, driving the weight upward. This is one rep. Do reps as suggested by the trainer.
Leg Press
- Having seated yourself comfortably on the leg press machine and loaded up the appropriate weights, plant your feet a little wider than shoulder-width on the platform. Grasp the handles, maintaining good spinal position with your chest up and your head looking forward. This will be your starting position.
- Driving through the heels of your feet, extend through the hips and knees to push the sled upward. Do not lock out your knees.
- After holding the top position for a movement, return to the starting position without fully returning the weight to the stack. This is one rep. Do reps as suggested by the trainer.
Lunges
- Begin standing with your feet shoulder-width apart and your hands on your hips.
- Step forward with one leg, flexing the knees to drop your hips. Descend until your rear knee nearly touches the ground.
- Your posture should remain upright, and your front knee shouldn’t go beyond your front foot.
- Drive through the heel of your lead foot and extend both knees to raise yourself back up. This is one rep.
- Step forward with your rear foot, repeating the lunge on the opposite leg. Do reps as suggested.
Box Jump
- Begin with a box of an appropriate height that’s one to two feet in front of you and stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Perform a short squat in preparation for jumping, swinging your arms behind you.
- Explode out of this position, extending through the hips, knees, and ankles to jump as high as possible. Swing your arms forward and up.
- Land on the box with the knees bent, absorbing the impact through the legs. You can jump from the box back to the ground or preferably step down one leg at a time. This is one rep.
- Keep going for four sets of 10 reps each.
