Got Legs? Leg Workouts for Beginners

This one needn’t be long or complicated. It is after all, for beginners.

So a lot of you are new to the whole fitness game thing. That’s cool. Welcome to what could be the best self-loathing addiction of a lifetime you’ve ever signed up for.

I’m going to save you a whole heap of trouble right now and let you know that if your newbie ass is skipping on legs workout for the purpose of focusing solely on upper body development, then congratulations, you are royally fucking yourself. Do you want to end up as Johnny Bravo? Good as his hair looks, you may or may not have actually noticed the fact he never actually gets the girl. Guess why? Chicken bitch ass legs. That’s why.

That seems sexist in retrospect. As though all my readers are teenage males. They probably are. But for political correctness’ sake let’s assume you’re a reader of the female variety. That’s right, a vagina owner. Reading this. Right now. On my blog. I knew it would happen if I waited long enough! I gotta call my mom and let her know!

So ladies, did you know that in order to get that crazy ass Brazilian booty, then exercises such as squats are your new BFFs? Weight lifting creates muscles, which in turn stretches your skin, burns fat and gets that booty poppin’ and those legs rockin’!

Keep in mind, this post isn’t a biblical text on all things legs. Merely an introduction to the most basic (yet most influential) exercises to perform to build a solid foundation. Now that we’ve given you reason and motif, let’s get down to business!

Squats = Booty + Strength + Shape + Glory

Hands down, there is no single compound exercise that delivers more impact all over your lower body than your classic squats. As a compound exercise, it activates multiple muscle groups simultaneously, resulting in the release of Growth Hormone [GH] (famous for its ability to torch stored fat and add muscle mass). Squats trigger your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors, calves and even your core into action. As one of the classic compound workouts, it’s also a classic mass gainer. If you have a flabby ass or shabby legs, this is the exercise to perform to counteract that.

The exercise can be performed with your very own body weight (with numerous variations) or free weights using a barbell (front or back) or dumbbells. You can also use the smith machine or the leg press machines for the same results (albeit with less impact on your stabilizer muscles and core)

Squats are all about the perfect form:

1. Make sure your feet are shoulder width if you’re performing a classic squat (especially if you’re going heavy with the weights).
2. Make sure your knees never extend beyond your feet on your way down.
3. Make sure to inhale going down and exhale going up.
4. Make sure that the motion is coming from your hips and that you’re squeezing your glutes to get back up.
5. Make sure you don’t over-extend beyond the 90 degrees angle on your way down.
6. Make sure to trigger your core into action by focusing on using it for stabilization when using free weights.

Lunges = Definition + Loud cursing + More Glory

At first glance, lunges may appear ridiculous, like they’re meant as some sort of warm up exercise or a stretch. Do not be mistaken youngling, this exercise will give you a run for your money. Big time.

This one is also a compound exercise with arguably more localized focus on the hamstrings and glutes than anything else but it still activates muscle fibers all over your legs. This exercise is notable among gym goers and Leg day addicts for the “cuts” or definition it brings about one’s legs. Squats may add the size, but lunges give it the tone!

Lunges are - like all exercises ought to be - all about that right form. Getting both your legs in the 90 degrees angle is crucial to both maximize the benefit of the exercise as well as to stave off possible injury or imbalances. That being said, some experts argue that changing your angle of descent (by expanding or narrowing how far apart your legs are from each other) can impact your individual muscles differently with narrow descents focusing more on the quads and hamstrings while the wider strides give your glutes the workout of a lifetime.

If you’ve always skipped legs day or just never saw the purpose behind those workouts, I hope the above has managed to persuade you to at least give it a shot sometime this week.

Let me know how it goes, and above all, perform everything in perfect form, have an experienced lifter show you how it’s done, and stay safe!

Welcome to my bubble: Favorite Workouts

Another semi-personal article today. And boy is this one going to be lengthy.

If I were stuck in an island and had to pick specific exercises to perform and could only perform one or two exercises per bodypart, well, aside from kicking whatever genie threw me on that godforsaken islands in the balls, I’d pick me some compound ones (exercises that incorporate many muscle groups simultaneously) and a handful isolation ones (one muscle group only).

A foregone conclusion in this piece is that you have been shown how to do all of these exercises in perfect form. I’ve attached a few videos along the article to help guide you but they are never a replacement of being shown how to do them by a seasoned veteran in real life to ensure you are doing them in perfect form.

Note: Compound exercises are also notable for boosting overall metabolism and triggering increased hormonal secretion for Growth and Testosterone hormones which are crucial for promoting muscle gain and boosting fat burning.

This one will tackle my number one exercises for the major muscle groups. Once again, this is not a list of directives nor does it portray bias towards any exercise over another. This is just the list I’d pick of what works best for me and what largely contributes to improving my physique.

This post isn’t meant to tell you how to do them I’ve posted videos for that, but always have an experienced lifter show you how to execute them safely and properly. This is merely a list of my favorite workouts.

Chest

Bench Press: Ah, a classic. Just saying it brings historically brilliant chests to mind such as Arnold or Serge Nubret. This workout is arguably one of the best in the world for contributing to upper body and pectoral development. The workout can be performed by barbells or dumbbells and some machines are actually decent enough to give you your money’s worth for this workout but I personally prefer the iron pump.

As a compound exercise, it activates muscle fibers in your front deltoids (shoulders), triceps and pectorals.

Flys: Another instant classic in the world of pumped chests. This move works by increasing the density of muscle fibers laterally across your pectorals - making them wider and more flat and less muscular tits. So that’s good. We want that.

You can perform those either using dumbbells or on specialized flys machines. Between bench press and flys, there really isn’t much else your chest need to develop. Obviously changing the degree of incline from flat, incline to decline depending on which part of your pectorals you want to hit.

Back

Lat pulldowns: Easily the machine equivalent of the classic pull-ups - albeit in reverse. This move works nearly every major muscle in your back and can be made quite different and fresh by using different grips and widths which can help focus on specific areas of your back and help you achieve more overall volume.

Deadlifts: Ain’t nothing like a compound classic to work your back and legs and get that growth hormone booming all throughout your body. This move is entirely dependent on perfect execution due to the load placed on your lower back and hips which aren’t exactly structurally powerful areas of your body. It’s important to nail down the form on this workout in order to really reap its benefits and better yet have an experienced lifter show you how to do it right. Don’t go overboard with weights on this one, a little can go a long way!

Shrugs: Although most people would rather hit their trapezius muscles on shoulder day, I find that traps are more closely related and activated more commonly during back day. There is a wide variety of ways, forms and grips to perform shrugs so be sure to check out some varieties on YouTube for reference.

Shoulders

Barbell/Dumbbell/Machine Shoulder Press: Arguably the best way to get some serious mass and development on your frontal deltoids (the biggest and most prominent part of your shoulders) You can dish out this workout using a barbell, dumbbells or a machine, whatever works for you really. Machines are recommended for beginners since they help you nail down the right form with dumbbells being a favorite for helping to strengthen the stabilizer muscles used for balance.

Lateral Raises: My personal favorite on shoulder day! Nothing gives your shoulder that nice round globe shape quite like lateral raises and when it comes to me personally, I find that  drop sets work out best where I dish out 4 sets of 12 reps, dropping the weight by 20% every 4 reps.

Rear deltoid raises: It’s not really a “round” shoulder without putting some focus on the rear side of it now is it? These are best performed using specialized rear deltoid machines or dumbbells. Make sure to really squeeze at the top of your reps to gain maximum impact.

Arms

Bicep Curls: An oldie but a goldie. No brain work needed there. Some muscles need the basics and not much else. It’s what works best for me personally.

Triceps Rope push downs: Possibly my absolute favorite to isolate my triceps as it works all aspects of the muscles quite nicely and gets that lactic acid pumping faster than anything else.

Abdominals

Plank: I’ve already spoken extensively about planking in previous posts and I will repeat myself here. There is no workout I attribute my core development to over the past years more than planks. It is a static exercise which really engages your entire core region and increases overall core strength which in turn helps you out in a wide variety of other workouts which call upon a strong and reliable core.

Hanging Raises: Keep in mind this workout is usually reserved for individuals operating at more advanced levels. Many, even experienced folk, make the mistake of utilizing momentum to drive the movement in this exercise but that’s something you should strive to avoid. This workout engages your entire core area by virtue of your abs raising your legs and lowering them (in a controlled motion) rather than a spring action in which the legs are driving the movement.

Legs

Squats: No squats? No booty! No other workout hits your entire lower body and aids in the development of your quads, glutes and hamstrings altogether at once. It’s another compound classic which pushes your body to release testosterone and growth hormone and aids in overall development of muscles and fat loss.

Leg extensions: Arguably my favorite in terms of quads isolation over any other exercise. It really helps with quad developments and more advanced individuals can even do this exercise one-legged (with a significant drop in weights!)

Leg curls: Deadlifts may hit your hamstrings hard but if some isolation is what you’re looking for, look no further than the legs curls machine to really get those hammies burning up. Once again you can do this exercise one-legged but be careful to maintain perfect form and not to place any stress on your lower back or hips.

Walking lunges: A classic from the golden age of bodybuilding back when your weights were rocks and tree logs. This workout can work your quads, hamstrings, glutes as well as your hip flexors and stabilizer muscles but be prepared for a crazy burn.

Calf Raises: Calves are type II muscles which means that you need to go hard and you need to go heavy if you want to overcome the fact that you’re not genetically predispositioned to have big diamond shaped calves.

Body weight (General)

Push ups: If you want to add some core strength and shake your workout routine up a bit when it comes to your chest, look no further than push ups. There’s a ton of variation you can input into your push ups all the way from beginner on your knees style to one handed-one legged ones. Push ups hit your chest, triceps and shoulders all at once in addition to engaging your core for stability.

Pull ups: You want a V-shaped taper type deal on your upper torso? Then you best make pull ups your new best friend. Near infinite variation in terms of forms and grips which can help target specific areas of your back.

Dips: Hands down the best thing that ever happened to both my chest and triceps. Arguably the best contribution it offers is to your lower pectorals as it helps make them more shapely. A definite must have in your chest/triceps day.

So there you have it folks. These are my favorites. Obviously there are other ones I add to the mix but these should give you a pretty general idea about the most important ones to include in your weightlifting routine to get an overall tone going.