One of the most dreaded workout days for many people is leg day. After an intense leg day workout, you may find that you are shaky on these legs after pushing them to their limits.
However, if you are truly wanting to build up muscles in your legs, then you will find that there is no real way to avoid doing leg day. However, there are a few tips that you can use that are going to help you make the most of your leg day so that you gain the benefits of this workout.
Believe it or not, you will find that when you variate your foot placement, you may find that the leg muscles are worked even better during the workout. You will find that during leg presses or squats, that if you lower your feet on the platform that this is going to result in the quads being focused on more. However, if you place them higher on the platform, then this is going to work your hamstrings and glutes more. In addition, if you are doing standing exercises for your legs, the closer your legs are placed, then the more that this is target the outer thigh, whereas a wider stance is going to target your inner thighs.
During the leg workout, you are putting a lot of strain on your joints. You are going to find that the squat exercise is going to really place some force on your joints. That is why you need to watch the way that your toes are placed. For example, if you put your toes inward or too far outward, while doing a squat you could find that this affects your knee. It can lead to a lot of knee pain if you are not careful.
You are going to find that no matter how you are doing your leg exercises, all of us are either right or left dominant. During the exercise you will find that the left or right side of muscles are working harder. How can you eliminate this? You will find that adding in isolation exercises that focus on one side of the body at a time such as lunges or split leg squats can help to work those weaker sides even better.
While you may be doing leg day as a way to build up your muscles, you still want to work on flexibility and mobility with these group muscles as well. You will find that the more flexible that you are, this can actually help your leg muscle workout. Be sure that you stretch before your workout to help get these muscles warmed up and ready to go. To help with the flexibility and mobility, you may want to consider exercises like foam rolling and static stretching.
You will find that stabilizer muscles are meant to help keep you physically stable. If these muscles are too weak, then you are going to find that this can lead to injury. For example, if the hips and thighs are unstable, then you are going to find that while doing squats, it could result in the knee to collapse. Be sure that you are working on these stabilizing muscles as well for a complete leg day that benefits your entire body and prevents injury.
For those who are going to be doing leg day soon, check out these tips and integrate them into your workout routine to benefit your entire body.
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