Workout Anatomy - Thigh and Leg Muscles
I found without a doubt the most amazing Instagram page, called feet_n_legs.
Most of my day yesterday was spent thoroughly examining this page, while only one thought kept repeating in my head, which was nothing other than thanking God, the responsible person, for the fact that I was born a man, and basically thanking women and the sight of their legs.
I couldn't really say anything better than women on this earth, and if these female bodies weren't inhabited by a mixture of Beelzebub, the gods of tantrums, and the most destructive dragons, then... Then it would be too good to be true. The previous chapter of the Training Anatomy series discussed exercises for the gluteal muscles, which I wrote with no less enthusiasm, because the glutes are the most powerful desire-enhancing accessory for our reproduction.
If I were a woman, I would invest incredible energy into shaping my glutes and legs, into maintaining my body, because I would know that if these are in order, and my inner self is not dwelling in abysmal depths, then I am indeed a valuable woman who can achieve anything and get anyone she wants in life.
Unfortunately, I cannot dissuade a single woman from their "whore walks," but I can do a thing or two to transform women's appearances. One with this leg and thigh muscle post, and everything else with all the other parts of the Training Anatomy series.
Basics
When training any muscle group, secondary and tertiary muscle groups are also involved, which means that if you, for example, work your abdominal muscles, then the upper part of your anterior thigh muscles will also be involved as a secondary muscle. This chain-like nature can be said for all other muscles as well, which is why I constantly say that the entire body must be kept in training, and every muscle group must be worked. If a secondary muscle is underdeveloped, it will also affect the primary muscles.
I will try to explain it more clearly.
If your legs are weak, you cannot shape your glutes. You use your leg muscles for every glute exercise, and your gluteal muscles are also involved in every thigh and leg muscle exercise. But I would say something else. For an exercise to be effective, you need to hold your body at the correct angle and perform the exercises that way. A correctly executed squat requires not only the strength of your legs, but also the muscles of your back, which you must keep straight under all circumstances, you will need your trapezius, and last but not least, your shoulders. So what follows from this?
Again, just the fact that you need to keep your entire body in training because you will need it to
1. be able to perform the exercises correctly
2. your secondary and tertiary muscles can adequately support your primary muscles, which you are currently training.
Support
No war has ever been won without supplies. Even the strongest army needs continuous supplies and the support of resources to serve its soldiers. Fighter jets need aircraft carriers, soldiers need food, weapons need ammunition, and tanks and all vehicles need fuel.
No support, no victory. If your supporting muscles lack strength, your main muscles cannot work effectively, and development will also lag. Support is the most important, be it diet, a suitable training plan, the fitness of related muscles - the whole body - or even the use of food supplements.
Leg and thigh muscles
But if there's such an overlap between the muscles of the body, especially the legs and glutes, why do we need to separate glute and leg workouts? Because we're fine-tuning, that's why. It's like how a sculptor doesn't use the same chisel to chip off larger pieces as they do when carving out tiny details. We want to achieve beautiful results in detail, and if we want to shape our bodies in detail, then we will need localized loading and focused exercises. By localized loading, we mean training the smaller muscles that make up the larger muscle group.
The thigh is a huge muscle, but it's not a single muscle, and that's the key here. We can break down the thigh muscle into 4 separate parts, and we can specifically and focally train these 4 parts with separate exercises.
Anterior thigh exercises
Leg extensions
Those who believe in "the one" should believe in this exercise, with the difference that this exercise actually exists. It is by far the best quadriceps development exercise. A big advantage over lunges, which, when performed correctly, also tear the thighs apart, is that this leg extension exercise is very difficult to do incorrectly. The only thing you need to pay attention to is that the padded part at your ankles is at the right height. That is, not at your shoelaces and not around your shin. Exactly at your ankle. I would have used a soccer analogy here, but LOL, you wouldn't understand anyway.
Pendulum lunges
This exercise is not like the border protection system of the European Union, because this exercise is effective. I personally really like this exercise because it's effective, and even performed without weights, it places extreme stress on the anterior thigh muscles, which is exactly what we need. You need a minimal sense of balance for the exercise.
Hamstrings
Hamstring exercises are responsible for lifting the buttock line and reducing cellulite. If I were a woman, I would certainly pay attention to this part of the post.
Lying leg curls
The number one hamstring exercise, when it comes to exercises performed on machines. Make sure your knees are not on the pad during the exercise.
Seated leg curl
Less effective than the previous one, but still, most women will do this exercise instead of the previous one, because in my experience, most women feel distinctly uncomfortable doing the same movement lying down. There are some things you simply can't pry women away from, and it's useless to even try. As long as a woman remains a woman, she will always believe that everyone in the gym is looking at her, and the scale will be the primary confirmation point of her body transformation. That's how it is, and that's how it will always be.
Standing leg curl
What headbands are at festivals, is the top tied around your waist in the gym. It's a truly essential accessory while doing hamstring exercises. It's very important that your feet are not pointed, but rather held as shown in the picture. If your foot position is wrong, the entire exercise will work your calves.
Cable leg curls
Machine exercises --> Cable exercises --> Free weight exercises
All cable exercises require more difficult and controlled movements than those performed on machines. Only start showing off with cables when you have the knowledge for it, not to mention free weights. I'm saying this because of injuries, please listen to me. Always listen to me. Unless you ask me if you can ride a motorcycle in winter. Then don't listen to me.
Outer thigh
For five years. For five years I've been working with women, and for five years I've been confronted with the enormous grind and frustration a woman feels when an extra layer of fat accumulates on the outer part of her thigh. This is when the evergreen question of "what exercises can I do to get rid of this?" arises, to which my answer is usually diet and well-structured workouts. There's no cream, no wrapping in foil, no UV lamp, no microwave, no life without a brain.
Regarding the removal of extra fat deposited on the outer thigh, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that there is a solution. The bad news is that dieting and exercising alone may not be enough, as extra fat deposits can also indicate a hormonal imbalance. But this is not the bottom of the pit yet, as the change can also be genetic, so then you're in trouble, but even then you don't have to despair. Everything can be changed, at most the magnitude of the change will vary from person to person. But for this change to even happen, you have to do something for it. So do it. First, with these exercises.
All forms of abduction. All forms of side lunges.
Machine hip abductions
A classic exercise. Even someone who has never been to a gym knows this machine exists and what it's for. However, what masses know and love to do can almost certainly be said not to be known for its effectiveness. This valuable knowledge is the wonderful legacy of Ica Bíró and Alexandra Béres, where almost only more effective forms of movement exist, but at least this one is known, so they do it. You know. It's not a problem if something is bad, as long as there's a lot of it.
But if abductions are so ineffective, what is it doing in a series of posts that presents the most effective exercises? It would be a huge mistake to think that abductions are ineffective. They are very effective, but the WAY women do this exercise, that's how it shouldn't be done.
Because how do they do it? They take a women's magazine, after 2011 a smartphone, and they browse velvet.hu and other smart sites. They sit in, then abduct eighty times with weights that cause no exertion whatsoever. They do this about three times, then get off the machine with satisfied faces, thinking they've had a great leg workout.
Disaster.
After all, these are the only things to pay attention to in this exercise. These should be paid attention to in every exercise, but in this exercise, it becomes most apparent how big the differences are between one workout and another. So when you don't understand why there's no change, why your body isn't developing even after months, it's not the system that's wrong, but you're doing it wrong, or at least ridiculously.
Do it correctly. If it doesn't hurt, you won't develop.
Side-lying leg raises
After the last few lines, I think I mention in every Training Anatomy post at least once that we need to perform focused, concentrated workouts. Here, too, you cannot just simply lift your leg. As I write these posts, the idea is growing in me more and more that I will also make videos for each exercise to show what huge, awful differences there are between one movement and another.
Tension, hold, resistance in the negative range, loading normal weights, paying attention to breathing and rest periods. I could write this after every sentence, it's that important.
Use ankle weights for this exercise.
Standing cable side leg raises
Your body is stable. Only the leg you are working with moves. Your upper body doesn't move, nothing moves, ONLY THE LEG you are working with.
Inner thigh
Let me show you why it's important to keep your inner thigh and your entire body in shape.
If your thighs don't touch, it can be incredibly sexy. Trust me, I've been looking at women's legs for 16 years, and so do other men.
Inner Thigh Abduction
I can say the same thing as for outer thigh abduction.
Cable Inner Thigh Adduction
Stable body, ankle defines the arc, but you pull in focusing on the inner thigh.
Lying Abduction
:))))))))))))))))))))))))))))). This exercise is amazing, and I specifically ask you to do it. Of course, no one will, because, well. :))) I'm dying. So the point is that this is a very effective exercise. Huge respect to the woman who will do this in the gym, and if you do it, do it with straight legs only.
Holding Exercises
Do these. These are wonderful exercises, and there is nothing more effective for the inner thigh muscles. The exercise is very simple. You place the medicine ball in the lower third of your inner thigh muscles and don't let it drop. YOU DO NOT PLACE IT BETWEEN YOUR KNEES.
Start with smaller weights and gradually increase the weight of the medicine ball.
Holding Standing
Holding Seated
Holding with Squats
This is a more advanced level. Start this when you can confidently hold the ball standing for at least 1 minute.
Done. With this post, I have reached the end of the Training Anatomy post series. It was a lot of work, but I feel it was worth it. Now I can write a butt-shaping workout plan.
