And it’s frustrating when you train them week after week but you’re not seeing the results you want. Your quads and hams just aren’t growing at the rate your upper body is.

That’s why in this post, I’m going to give you the best leg workout for beginners to ignite muscle growth.

You’re also going to learn some simple methods that you can start doing right now to gain more mass in your legs. And I’ll explain these in more detail below.

Mass Gains Leg Workout for Beginners

Here’s the best leg workout for beginners:

• Warm-up with Leg Extensions: 2 x 10
• Squats: 5 x 8-10
• Leg Press: 4 x 12
• Lying Leg Curls: 4 x 10
• Leg Extensions: 4 x 15
• Seated or Standing Calve Raises: 5 x 15

Now let’s dive deeper into each exercise. I’m also going to share some additional methods that you can use to gain more size and strength in your legs.

Warming Up Before Squats for Beginners

I know, I know, you want to jump into the rack right away and start pumping out some heavy squats. But I strongly recommend that you do some type of warm-up first.

You can start by doing a couple of light sets of leg extensions. 2-3 sets of 10-12 reps should do the trick.

• Set 1: Light weight for 10 reps
• Set 2: Light-moderate weight for 12 reps

You can throw in a third set if you like. And once you get more advanced, you may even want to perform leg extensions with working sets before you squat (I personally do this now).

Another warm-up method you may want to consider is doing 10-15 minutes of walking on the treadmill. Or you could ride the recumbent bike as a warm-up. The idea is to get the blood flowing in your legs and warm-up your muscles and more importantly, your joints.

Squats: Why They’re Crucial for Beginners

Squats are the king of exercises. That’s been said by countless bodybuilders, powerlifters, and other top-tier strength athletes.

Squats are going to be the key to building your foundation of muscle mass. Getting good at this exercise will help you get stronger and build more muscle in other areas as well.

Can you gain size without squats? Sure, but understand that squats are more than just a leg exercise. Squats are a full-body exercise and that will help you pack on more overall muscle mass.

Make squatting every week a priority. And as a beginner, go for 4- sets of 8-10 reps on squats.

Leg Press for Beginners: The Dos and Don’ts

Leg press can be an excellent exercise to build mass for beginners. You can load up some decent weight and pump out more reps.

But leg press can also be the worst exercise for legs.

As you’ve seen, most guys will pile on as many 45 lb. plates that will fit on the leg press machine. And you know what happens after that. They lower the platform down about two inches and call that a rep.

These guys usually have stick-legs. Why? Because they’re not performing leg press the right way.

If you want to get bigger legs with leg press, you have to two things:

• Do more reps
• Do controlled reps

You will more than likely find that your legs respond best to higher reps, in general. And they will definitely respond better to higher volume (more sets and reps, overall).

Also, doing controlled reps is what’s really going to make your legs grow. Especially on the leg press.

Controlled reps simply mean forcing your muscles to work harder. You’re taking a little more time throughout each rep and making sure that you feel your quads, hamstrings, and glutes working rather than just lifting the weight from point A to B.

Isolated Leg Exercises for Beginners

After squats and leg press, it’s time to move on to some isolated exercises. You now want to directly target your quads, hamstrings, and calves.

Here are the basic exercises you’re doing:

• Leg extensions for quads
• Leg curl for hamstrings
• Calf raises for calves

As a beginner, you do need to focus more on compound exercises like squats. However, it’s also good to integrate these isolation exercises, especially if you’re going the bodybuilding route and want that muscle mass and definition.

The biggest thing here is don’t overthink these exercises. Just do anywhere from 3-5 sets of 10-15 reps each.

For leg extensions and calf raises, try the higher reps (12-15). For leg curls, you may find that doing 10 reps is more effective. Your hamstrings may respond a little differently from quads and calves, which require more volume.

What About Deadlifts for Legs for Beginners?

Deadlifts are another full-body exercise and are preferred for building your foundation for size. However, when you’re just starting out, I would rather you do deadlifts on another day.

The reason for this is both squats and deadlifts take a lot out of you. Trying to tackle them on the same day along with the other leg exercises you’re doing isn’t a good idea.

You could do deadlifts on back day or do them on a different day. If you’d like to read more about deadlifts and other compound exercises for beginners, read my post: Fundamentals of Weight Training.

More Leg Training Tips for Beginners

You’ve got an awesome leg workout for beginners and we broke down each type of exercise. Now let’s dig into some additional strategies that will help you gain more muscle mass.

• Do some type of squat every leg workout! Never stray from the basic principles for building muscle.
• Add more volume to your leg workouts (you can do this by simply adding another set to each exercise).
• Increase your reps, especially for exercises like leg extensions and even leg press – you may find your legs respond better to higher reps.
• Alternate different foot positions on the leg press (wide, regular, close – you’ll see this example in the workout below).
• Remember to control the weight as you’re lifting; don’t let the weight control you.
• Spend 5-10 minutes stretching your quads and hamstrings after each leg workout.
• Give yourself at least 4 days before training legs again. The once-a-week rule works as well.
• Go heavy but not to the point where you’re sacrificing your form or safety.

Also, as you gain more experience you can start adding techniques like drop sets and rest-pause sets to make your workouts more intense. At that point, you’ll be ready for one of my premium training programs.

Faster Results and Nutrients Needed for Building Legs

Before we get into this next part, please understand that there’s nothing that replaces training hard and consistency. Nothing. Period.

And there’s no magic pill or supplement that’s going to give you unrealistic gains. However, there are some things you can do to get faster results, as long as you’re doing everything else right…

You need to ensure that you’re giving your body the proper nutrients (and balance of those nutrients) to gain muscle and size.

When you workout hard, you deplete your body of these nutrients. Especially on leg day because remember, leg training takes a lot more effort than training your other muscle groups.

And not only do you need to replenish those for muscle growth, but you also need more than the average person that doesn’t train hard (or at all). Because you’re certainly not average.

Here are the nutrients that you need to gain more size in your legs (and gain muscle, in general):

• Vitamin D
• Zinc
• Magnesium
• B vitamins

Those are the must-have vitamins and micronutrients needed for muscle growth. And it’s a good idea to get into the habit of taking these as a beginner (those good habits will carry forward).

These essential nutrients can also help boost your testosterone naturally. And if you want to take it further, you can add ingredients like DAA (D-aspartic acid), fenugreek, and BioPerine.

That leads me to one supplement that contains all of this (and more). It’s actually more cost-efficient to take as opposed to having to buy all of those supplements individually.

If you’re like to learn more, click here: Recommended Test Booster for Mass Gains

Nutrition for Leg Gains

Lastly, although this probably should have been first, you need to make sure you’re eating plenty of quality foods to gain muscle mass as a beginner. Develop those good eating habits now.

Here are some nutrition tips for beginners for mass gains:

• Eat 5-6 meals a day
• Make sure you’re getting plenty of protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats (yes, you need all macronutrients)
• Eat a meal (or drink a shake) with high protein and some simple carbs for post-workout
• Make sure you have adequate fuel before you train

You can also check out my Sensible Muscle Building Meal Plan in my shop. That’s the only nutrition guide you’ll ever need.

Train with Passion,

Jason

Think about it. Most guys train their upper body at least 3-4 times a week. You’ve got chest, back, shoulders, and arms. Now, think about how many days a week you train your lower body? Exactly.

But more important than the frequency of training is the effort put into your lower body workouts. Maybe you can get away with training those muscles once a week but only if you go all-out on leg day.

The problem is most don’t. And it’s not that most don’t want to train hard. They just don’t know how to train their lower body for maximum gains.

In this post, you’re going to get 5 awesome lower body workouts that will help you pack on more muscle mass and get stronger.

You’re also going to get the strategies to make your leg workouts more effective for muscle growth. And by default, your lower body strength will also increase.

Proper Way to Train Legs

Before you we get to the workouts, let’s talk about proper lower body training.

How many times have you seen someone stack the leg press machine with endless 45 lb. plates only to look down and see that they have skinny legs?

It’s clear that what they’re doing isn’t working too well.

Though lifting heavy does play a ‘huge’ role in your lower body growth, that’s only a small part of the equation. There are certain techniques that you need to apply during your leg workouts.

If you’re not putting proper effort into your lower body you’re missing out on some serious gains in both muscle size and strength. Your legs are such a powerful muscle, or at least they should be.

Here are the concepts to gaining quality size in your lower body:

• Don’t just do low reps with heavier weights. Make sure you’re also integrating higher reps.
• Legs, especially quads, respond best to higher volume workouts (for most people).
• Make sure that the muscle is doing the work by controlling the weight as you lift.
• Mentally push yourself when training. More than often, your mind will give out before your legs do. You can go a lot further than you think!
• Don’t get sloppy on your form. This goes for all body parts but especially for legs, and especially for exercises like squats, deadlifts, and leg press (anything where you’re using a substantial amount of weight).

**Also, make sure that you drink a pre-workout drink that helps give you mental focus, like PreFierce pre-workout.

Lower Body Workouts for Mass and Strength Gains

Now it’s time for the lower body workouts! These workouts are meant to be alternated and used together as they each serve a slightly different purpose.

For example, one leg workout may focus more on strength and power while another focuses more on higher reps and volume.
I’ll show you some ways you can do his at the end of this post.

Important Notes:

• These workouts do not include warm-up sets. You can do a few sets of light leg extensions or start with lighter sets of the first exercise to warm up.
• The foundation for your lower body training is based on squats and deadlifts, so you’ll see at least one of those exercises in each workout below.
• Rest about 2 minutes between the major like squats and deadlifts.
• Rest between 45 seconds to 1 minute between all other sets (unless otherwise specified).
• Be sure to read all of the notes below each workout for any special instructions or different techniques you’ll be using.
• Spent at least 5 minutes stretching your leg muscles after each workout.

Workout 1: Leg Builder

*Perform a drop set on the final set.

This is an awesome and extremely effective bodybuilding leg workout. You’re starting out with some proven mass-building exercises for both quads and hamstrings.

Remember in the notes above how I talked about making your muscles do the work? This is crucial with the 2nd exercise, stiff-leg deadlifts. Make sure you’re consciously activating your hamstrings to pull the weight back up

This is where the mind-muscle connection comes in. I have another post on that here: How to Build Your Mind-Muscle Connection for Bigger Gains

Workout 2: High Volume Leg Day

This leg workout is going to increase your level of building muscle, strength, and conditioning. That last part is important for lower body training; conditioning.

Upping your level of conditioning is going to help you push harder and go further in your leg workouts. This type of workout can also help you burn more fat while building muscle.

You’ll start out with just a few sets of squats. After that, it’s 7 sets of everything else. And the caveat here is to only rest 30-45 seconds between those 7 sets.

This comes from the FST-7 concept that many professional bodybuilders use, but of course, this particular leg workout is quite different. If you’d like to read more about FST-7 training, check out my post: FST-7 Full Workout Routine for Mass Gains

Workout 3: Leg Power Hour

This leg workout is all about strength, mass, and power. You’re going to start out almost as if you were doing a powerlifting routine with squats and deadlifts.

But you’re not going to stop there. After the heavy work is done, you’re going to finish with some isolation exercises.

It’s safe to say this workout will also build up your level of conditioning because its tough!

Workout 4: High Rep Leg Day

This will be a brutal leg day, or sure! You’re going to be pumping out a ton of reps.

Obviously, you won’t be going heavy on these exercises. That being said, you’ll see that squats are towards the end.

For squats, take a weight that you can normally do 10 easy reps for, and cut that in half. Your legs are already going to be fatigued at this point.

The magic behind this technique is that it forces your leg muscles to work harder than they ever have on squats.

If you’re interested in more high volume leg workouts, you can read this post: Brutal Leg Workout: High Rep Leg Day

Workout 5: Big and Strong Lower Body

**Do a rest-pause set on the final set (you can read more about this method here).

You’re going to start out with a powerlifting-style strategy for this leg workout. It’s going to be a heavy leg day, for sure.

After that, you’re going to focus more on building the muscle tissue with isolation exercises (after leg press).

And you’ll also be doing the rest-pause method, which will have you wobbling out of the gym.

Leg Workout Program

Now it’s time to put it all together and create a program that you can follow. There are a couple of ways you can do this:

1. Do a different leg workout each week (1-5 above)
2. Train legs twice a week having one heavy day and one higher volume or higher rep day.

Here’s a simple lower body training schedule for the first option:

• Week 1: Workout 1 – Leg Builder
• Week 2: Workout 2 – High Volume Leg Day
• Week 3: Workout 3 – Leg Power Hour
• Week 4: Workout 4 – High Rep Leg Day
• Week 5: Workout 5 – Big and Strong Lower Body

The 2nd option has you training legs twice a week, alternating a more heavy training day with one that has more volume:

• Monday: Workout 3 – Leg Power Hour
• Thursday: Workout 4 – High Rep Leg Day

You could continue repeating this pattern or mix it up the following week with something like this:

• Monday: Workout 5 – Big and Strong Lower Body
• Thursday: Workout 2 – High Volume Leg Day

There are several ways you can do this.

You may be wondering why I’m recommending mixing up the workouts each week. You don’t necessarily have to do that. But changing things up is a good way to prevent your muscles from adapting to the same workout.

It’s also a great way to keep yourself challenged and excited about your workouts. And you’re not completely changing the workout, you’re just making subtle changes.

This is the exact method used in my Hardcore Muscle Building Program.

*Be sure to check that out now!

Train with Passion,

Jason

You’re proud of leg definition and striations but there’s one problem…

One quad is slightly bigger than the other!

That’s okay, I’m going to help you so keeping reading…

The best way to improve your leg symmetry is by doing some single-leg exercises for your quads. And in this post, I’m going to give you a specific workout that you can do to help make both of your quads the same size.

Now, this is not going to replace your current leg day. You’ll do this workout as a 2nd leg workout each week, about 3-4 days after your normal leg workout.

And at the end of the post, I’ll also show you how to use these training methods with your regular leg workout without taking away from your dual-leg exercises (like squats).

Why Your Quads Are Not Symmetrical

Having uneven quads and muscle imbalance, in general, is a problem most every bodybuilder and physique athlete will face at some point.

You may be saying:

‘I do squats, leg presses, and leg extensions and put the same effort into both legs…how are my quads unsymmetrical? It doesn’t make sense!’

There are a few reasons for this:

• One side (or one leg) may naturally be a little stronger than the other.
• Often times you’re subconsciously putting more stress on one leg than the other.
• You may have a prior injury to where you’re more cautious of one side of your body (back and knee injuries can cause this).

This can cause you to compensate for the weaker leg during your leg exercises. And you probably won’t see it right away, but over time you may notice one leg that’s just a little bigger than the other.

The best way to even your quads out and get that symmetry is by doing some single-leg exercises. But we’re actually going to take it to the next level in this post.

I want to make sure you can look in the mirror and see both quads huge, ripped, and symmetrical!

Single-Leg Quad Workout

You can watch the workout video above, but I’m also going to write everything out for you and further explain each component.

After that we go through the workout, I’m going to show you something you can do on your regular leg day (aside from this workout) to improve symmetry and make your looks look more balanced.

Important notes about the workout:

• For starters, this is not a full leg workout; this is meant to be done in addition to your regular leg workout, about 3-4 days later.
• In this specific quads workout, you’re only going to be doing 3 exercises.
• However, you’re going to pump out more sets for each exercise.
• Your rest time between sets should be about 45 seconds.
• Rest between exercises for about 2 minutes.
• Don’t stay seated on the machine between sets. Get up and walk around between sets and exercises.
• Don’t rush through the reps! Make sure you’re controlling each rep and contracting your quads throughout each rep. This is crucial for leg development!
• There are notes and tips below that pertain to each exercise.

I want to reiterate that this is not meant to be a complete leg workout. This workout is going to be your 2nd leg workout of the week.

So do this about 3-4 days after your regular leg workout (I’m going to give you some tips to make that workout more effective for balanced quads as well!).

Here’s an example of how you can schedule your leg workouts for the week:

• Monday: Chest and Biceps
• Tuesday: Legs (your regular leg workout)
• Wednesday: Back
• Thursday: Shoulders and Triceps
• Friday: Single-leg quad workout
• Saturday: Rest
• Sunday: Rest

This is the typical Monday-Friday training schedule but you can cater it to your schedule. For example, many like to have a rest day in the middle of the week so you could do that and move your 2nd leg workout (for quads) to Saturday.

I’m a big fan of training legs twice a week. It’s the largest muscle group in your body and too many bodybuilders don’t spend enough effort on their legs.

You can read more about training legs twice a week in my post: Training Legs Twice a Week: How to Get Bigger Legs

Training Tips for Each Single-Leg Exercise for Quads

Now that you’ve got the workout, you’re probably ready to go hit the gym! I don’t blame you because adding this extra leg workout to your routine is going to make your quads grow, and help bring more symmetry to your lower body.

But before you head off to the gym, I want to take you through each of the 3 exercises in this workout. I’m going to show you some ways to make these exercises more effective for muscle growth.

These techniques are also specific to the workout above.

Single-Leg Leg Extensions

Personally, I always start every leg day with leg extensions. It’s a great way to warm up your quads and get the blood flowing. And I actually find that I’m able to feel my quads more on every leg exercise thereafter because leg extensions also help pre-fatigue your quads.

For this quad workout, you’ll start out with single-leg leg extensions. And there are some things you can do to make this exercise build bigger and better quads:

Goal: 7 sets of 15 reps

• Start out with light weight
• Gradually go up in weight each set
• Do controlled reps, forcing your quads to work harder
• Flex your quads at the peak of each rep
• On the final rep for each leg, get a good squeeze and hold that muscle contraction for 4-5 seconds

I mentioned ‘pre-fatigue’ earlier. This is an awesome method to force your muscles to work harder during your workouts. You basically pre-exhaust the muscle with an isolation exercise that targets that specific muscle.

This will lead to substantial muscle growth and definition. You can read more about this method and get a full workout using the pre-exhaust technique here: How to Pre-Exhaust Your Muscles (Routines for Each Muscle)

Single-Leg Leg Press

What’s the most common thing you see people do on leg press? They load up the machine with as many plates that can fit; however, they usually do this with a poor range of motion (going down 2 inches, at best!).

Doing single-leg leg press is completely the opposite. There’s no room for ego lifting here. Your goal is actually to make light weight feel heavier and I’m going to explain how to do that.

Goal: 7 sets of 12 reps

• Like with leg extensions, start out with light weight
• Gradually go up in weight each set
• Take your time on the negative (eccentric) part of the rep, making sure you’re controlling the weight – this is super important for this exercise!
• Don’t press with the ball of your foot; focus more on pressing with your heel (this helps prevent knee pain and also helps you contract your quads more during the rep)

Dumbbell Lunges

Your final exercise is going to be dumbbell lunges. You can do these one of two ways:

1. Walking dumbbell lunges (if you have room to do this, or you can do this outside)
2. Doing them in one place

I prefer the walking lunges but that’s not always feasible in the gym, and many gyms aren’t going to let you take the dumbbells outside. Either way, this is a powerful exercise for building up your quads.

Goal: 4 sets of 10 reps

• Choose a moderate weight; don’t try to go too heavy on these (I typically stick with that same weight for every set on this exercise)
• Make sure your movement is with intent – in other words, don’t allow your body to fall or use momentum to perform the exercise – focus on forcing your leg muscles to do the work
• Be sure to step forward far enough so that your knee does not go too far over your foot (this cause sometimes cause knee pain)
• Keep your quads flexed and engaged throughout each rep

Building Muscle and Symmetry During Leg Workouts

Again, what we just went over is in addition to your normal leg day. It’s not meant to replace your normal leg workout. You’ll do the single-leg quad workout 3-4 days after your normal leg workout.

But I also want you to implement some single-quad (and hamstring) work into your normal leg workout. This is going to help you have balanced leg muscles even more.

Complete Leg Working Using Some Single-Leg Exercises

As you can see, this is a high volume leg workout. So give yourself a solid hour and 15 minutes to do this workout.

You’re ending your leg workout with single-leg exercises for both quads and hamstrings. This is a great way to get that final pump in your leg muscles. And you’re also developing symmetry.

You’ll also notice that you’re doing higher reps for quads (with the exception of squats).

You may find that your quads respond best to higher reps because of the types of muscle fibers they have (more slow-twitch). And your hamstrings may respond best to the 8-12 rep range.

This method works for many bodybuilders but, of course, you’ll need to try different things to see what works best for you.

I hope that you try the single-leg quad workout! Remember, just pick a day 3-4 days after your regular leg day. You can even add this extra day on the weekend.

After about 6 weeks, stand in front of the gym mirror and pull those shorts up. You should notice that you have more symmetrical legs and balanced quads.

Also, if you’re ready to take your physique to the next level, be sure to check out my elite programs.

Train with Passion,

Jason

In fact, this is going to help you build a solid foundation for years of muscle to come.

Focus more on your leg training.

Most beginners want a big chest and arms but neglect the most important muscle – their legs.

The problem with that is the majority of your muscle mass (or lack of!) will come from your lower body.

In this post, you’re going to get a complete rundown of beginner leg training and a complete leg workout routine so that you can pack on more muscle mass early-on!

Leg Exercises that Beginners Should Focus On

Before we dive into your leg workouts let’s go over the core leg exercises that beginners should focus on. These are going to be basic movements that will help you build your foundation for muscle mass.

In fact, you can continue using nothing but these exercises and still make gains by just using a variety of methods to increase your intensity. That’s something we’ll get to later.

For now, just focus on mastering these five leg exercises (I’ll show you how to do each one next):

1. Squats
2. Leg Press
3. Stiff-leg Deadlifts
4. Leg Extensions
5. Leg Curls

In addition to the exercises, there are some bodybuilding concepts I want you to become familiar with. These will be the things you want to focus on during your leg workouts to build mass.

• Building muscles is not about moving weight from point A to B. Rather, you have to force your muscles to do the work; don’t just go through the motions.
• Don’t use momentum to perform the exercise; focus on your muscles you’re working.
• Focus more on the eccentric part of the rep (the negative part), especially on isolation exercises like leg extensions and leg curls
• Be sure to read my post about developing a mind-muscle connection after reading this post.

Now, let’s dig a little deeper into each of these leg exercises. You’ll learn the proper way to perform each exercise as well as some tips to make these exercises for effective for building mass.

Squats

Squats are crowned the king of not just leg exercises but all muscle-building exercises.

Doing squats will be the foundation of your mass gains for legs. So it’s important to learn how to do them correctly so that you can get the most out of them.

Tips for Squats:

• Point your toes slightly outward
• Have a shoulder-width, or just slightly wider than shoulder-width stance (but not too wide!)
• Take a big belly-breath of air and hold that air for the entire rep, then release once you’re back tot he starting point and take another big-belly breath
• In a controlled manner, squat down to at least parallel
• Have someone watch you when you squat so that you can make sure you’re going low enough
• As you’re squatting upwards, push your legs outward so that your knees do not have a tendency to go inward
• Press with your feet, focusing more on your heels; do not press with the balls of your feet
• Keep a slight arch in your lower back as you’re squatting

I do recommend wearing a weightlifting belt when doing squats. You can see which belt personally use on my gym gear page.

Leg Press

Leg press is another basic leg exercise and a great mass-builder.

Naturally, you will be able to leg press more than you squat. Be careful to not leg your ego get in the way and make sure you’re performing the exercises correctly, forcing your muscles to do the work and not just going through the motions.

Tips for Leg Press:

• DO NOT be one of those people who load up the leg press machine, trying to look cool, and only go down 2 inches!
• Keep a similar foot position as you do with squats, about shoulder-width apart
• Put more emphasis on pressing with your heels so that you don’t press with the balls of your feet
• Use a controlled motion to lower the weight
• Don’t lock out your knees at the top (this will take pressure off of your muscles and apply pressure to your joints, which is something you do not want)

Also, be sure to read this post as it will help you: 5 Leg Pres Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Stiff-leg Deadlifts

Hamstrings are often forgotten, especially when you’re just starting out lifting weights.

One of the best exercises to build your hamstrings is stiff-leg deadlifts.

When done right, you can really target those muscles and that’s going to give your legs a more mass and symmetry.

Tips for Stiff-leg Deadlifts:

• Start by grabbing the bar and standing straight
• You can have a slight bend in your knees as you perform the exercise, but don’t bend them too much
• Keep the bar close to your body as you bend forward
• Bend down at least to your chins (it may take time to getting used to this exercise and going lower)
• As you pull the bar back up to standing position, force your hamstrings to pull the weight

Leg Extensions

Leg extensions are an isolation exercise that really targets your quads. When done right, you can build some big quads.

The key to this exercise is how you perform each rep, which we’re going to get to below.

Tips for Leg Extensions:

• Make sure you’re seated firmly in position
• Don’t attempt to go too heavy on this exercise
• Instead, focus more on forcing your quads to work harder (this will help you build more muscle in your legs and help keep pressure off of your knees)
• Don’t let our legs just fall back into the starting position; control the weight on the eccentric part of the rep

Leg Curls

Leg curls are an isolation exercise that targets your hamstrings directly.

There are various types of leg curl machines you can use such as seated leg curls, standing leg curls, and lying legs curls as see in the image.

But the concepts of the movement are the same for all of these versions of leg curls. It’s all about making your hamstrings do the work.

Tips for Leg Curls:

• Make sure that you set the leg pad in a comfortable position above under your calves (or calf, if you’re doing single-leg curls)
• Use a controlled motion throughout each rep; don’t use momentum or jerk the weight
• When you’re doing leg curls, think of your hamstrings as the biceps of your legs; this will help you use your hamstrings more during the movement

Should You Train Calves as a Beginner?

You should absolutely train calves directly. In fact, I encourage you to train your calves 2-3 times a week.

Like leg curls, there are similar variations for calve exercises.

• Standing calve raises
• Seated calve raises (plate-loaded and machine)
• Donkey calve raises

I have a ‘secret growth’ method you can use for calves. You’ll see that in your workouts below.

Beginner’s Leg Workout Routine

You’ve got the exercises down and now it’s time to put everything into a workout routine that you can follow.

You’re going to train your legs twice a week. There are two reasons for this:

1. Your legs are your largest muscle and need more attention to build mass.
2. This will help you gain more muscle mass sooner for reason mentioned above.

You’ll want to make sure there are at least two days between leg workouts. There are two training splits below to use as examples.

In addition, here are a few notes to review about your leg routine:

• For the most part, you’ll be doing higher reps as legs tend to respond best to high rep ranges.
• You’ll squat heavier (8 reps) for your first workout but then you will go a little lighter and do more reps (12) for your second leg workout.
• Give yourself about a minute and a half rest between sets of squats. For the rest of your exercises, rest about 45 seconds to one minute between sets.
• You’ll start both leg workouts by warming up with leg extensions; go light on these just to get the blood flowing. You could also opt to walk on the treadmill or ride the recumbent bike for 10-15 minutes as a warm-up.

Here’s an example of how you can make this training split work for training legs twice a week:

5-Day Split

• Monday: Leg Workout 1
• Tuesday: Chest and Biceps
• Wednesday: Back
• Thursday: Leg Workout 2
• Friday: Shoulders and Triceps
• Saturday: rest
• Sunday: rest

4-Day Split

• Monday: Leg Workout 1
• Tuesday: Chest, Delts, Triceps
• Wednesday: rest
• Thursday: Leg Workout 2
• Friday: Back, Rear Delts, Biceps
• Saturday: rest
• Sunday: rest

These training splits are just examples. You can arrange your training days to fit your own schedule.

Leg Workout 1

Leg Workout 2

For this calve workout, you’ll be do one huge set of 75 reps using the rest-pause method. Here’s how it works:

• Choose a weight that you can do for about 20 reps
• Do as many as you can do
• Rest for 10-15 seconds
• Perform another set using the same weight
• Repeat until you do a total of 75 reps

It sounds brutal, and it is. But it will force your calves to grow!

**I recommend that you follow this for beginner leg workout routine for at least eight weeks.

Focus More on Leg Training

The best thing you can do as a beginner is what most beginners neglect. Focus more on your leg workouts.

This is going to help you build more overall muscle mass. It will also give you a more symmetrical physique later as you become more advanced in bodybuilding.

Next, be sure to read my complete guide on bodybuilding for beginners.

And when you’re ready for the next level, be sure to check out my elite programs.

Train with Passion,

Jason

There’s a good reason for that. Doing squats will help you pack on some serious muscle mass. And they help you gain overall strength, even on your other lifts.

But the problem is there are some mistakes that will keep you from getting the full benefits of squats. In fact, some of these mistakes can lead to injury that can put you out of the gym for weeks or more.

In this post, I’m going to share 6 common squat mistakes that I see many people make in the gym (some of which I have made, myself)!

You’ll also learn how to fix these mistakes and squat properly so that you can make gains.

Mistake #1 – Not Squatting Deep Enough

The most common mistake I see in the gym is people not going deep enough on their squats. This leads to two things…

1. Fooling yourself into thinking you can squat more than you can
2. Potential back and knee issues

Let’s be real. It feels good to step out of the rack with a bunch of weight sitting on your traps. The problem is you may feel like you’re going far enough down when oftentimes you’re not.

Another part of this mistake is letting ego get the best of you. We all want to be stronger, and, of course, it’s a natural high to lift heavy. But going down only a few inches does not look cool. Rather, it looks like you don’t know what you’re doing!

In addition, not squatting deep enough screws up the natural form of the lift. Stopping the movement prematurely can put more stress on your lower back and joints.

You don’t necessarily have to go ass-to-ground, although that method indeed has its place for strength gains, per Dr. Aaron Horschig’s article ‘Are Deep Squats Bad For The Knees?‘. But you should at least squat to parallel, and a little beyond parallel.

Going through the rest of these mistakes and correcting them will actually help you squat deeper, with confidence. So keep reading…

Confession Time: I listed this squat mistake first because I was guilty of this for years!

What ‘woke me up’ is I had an experienced powerlifter-buddy watch me closely during a set of heavy squats. I felt I had gone parallel – he assured me that I was not even close to parallel.

That was kind of embarrassing. But from then on, I lightened the load and learned how to squat properly before trying to go heavy again.

Mistake #2 – Rounding Your Back

If there’s one thing you should avoid above everything else, it’s rounding your back during squats. This can cause major back problems.

The main cause of disc herniation or prolapse in the lower back is repeated lumbar flexion, or rounding, adds spine specialist Dr. Stuart McGill. Avoid rounding your lower back and you shouldn’t have to worry about squats causing injury.

‘Are Squats and Weightlifting Bad for Your Lower Back?’ by Mike Samuels on livehealthly.chron.com

Elite powerlifter and strength trainer Alan Thrall shows you how to fix the problem with rounding your back, which is also referred to as the ‘butt wink.’

To recap Alan’s points from the video that relate to back-rounding…

• Make sure you’re moving the bar in a straight line, over the mid-foot
• Prevent falling forward (causing back-rounding) by placing the bar properly on your mid-traps and keeping tension throughout the lift
• Breathing into your belly – we’ll talk more about breathing later…

Mistake #3 – Too Wide or Too Narrow Stance

Another area many have trouble with is their squat stance. More than often, people tend to use a wider stance because they feel that it allows them to squat more.

The problem with a wide stance is that it can cause pain in your groin area. This is definitely not something you want and you’re not going to get the full benefit of the squat.

On the flip side, some people squat with a stance that’s too narrow. This makes it difficult to break parallel, which was the first mistake we talked about in this post – not going down ar enough.

The proper stance for squats is simple – keep a shoulder-width stance. This will allow you to keep the bar straight throughout the lift, as we talked about in mistake #2. And it also helps you keep the muscles engaged.

Shoulder-width Stance. Squat with your heels directly under your shoulders. This creates room for your belly to pass through your legs when you Squat down. It makes breaking parallel easier. If you have long thighs with a short torso like me, your heels should be slightly wider apart than if you have short thighs with a long torso. But your heels should always be about shoulder-width apart when you Squat.

‘How to Squat with Proper Form: The Definitive Guide’ by Mehdi on November 18, 2018, stronglifts.com

Mistake #4 – Letting Your Knees Go Inward

Many have a tendency to let their knees cave in when squatting. As it may be obvious, this can lead to knee injury.

Here’s how to avoid this mistake:

• Have a correct stance (follow the tips above from mistake #3)
• Point your toes slightly outward
• As you squat upward, push your knees outward
• Press the weight using your heels – do not let your heels lift off the floor

TIP: If you continue to have the tendency to let your knees come inward, try squatting with a rope band around your legs. Place it right above your knees.

This will force you to push your knees outward as you squat. I learned this technique from an advanced powerlifter friend in my gym as I was having this issue.

Mistake #5 – Not Breathing Properly During Squats

Squatting properly requires a specific breathing and bracing technique.

Breathing and bracing is all about teaching your body how to support weight. This is crucial when you squat as the weight is directly over you, working in conjunction with gravity.

In the video below, there’s another elite powerlifter and strength trainer I want to highlight, Brian Alsruhe. He uses a can of Monster as an example of how breathing and bracing works when squatting.

Brian goes into the details of how you need to breathe when lifting in the video below…

To recap the experiment from the video…

• When the can is full and unopened, it can support a tremendous amount of weight
• When the can is open and empty, it will not support that amount of weight

The result is you should brace yourself with a lot of air in your belly before you squat. You also need to push your stomach out mimicking a can, so that the weight is supported.

You can release air once you get back to the starting position. But you’ll need to take another deep belly breath before performing the next rep.

This is why you don’t hear ‘real lifters’ yelling and screaming in the gym. They know that to lift the max amount of weight properly they have to hold that deep belly breath so that they can support the weight.

Not only is yelling in the gym annoying, but it’s also counterproductive. So don’t be that person!

Mistake #6 – Not Being 100% Mentally Focused

You can have the proper methods and techniques down but there’s one thing you absolutely must have when squatting…

You must be 100% focused!

Squats are completely safe when you do them correctly. But if you’re not focused, you’ll be prone to making one or more of the other five mistakes we talked about.

Most pre-workout drinks have specific ingredients like caffeine, acetyl l-carnitine, and theanine that give that mental boost. One of the pre-workouts I recommend is PreFierce by TrueFierce.

**You can read my review and experience here: Jason’s PreFierce review

Build More Overall Muscle and Strength By Improving Your Squat

When done correctly, squats are indeed the king of exercises. It’s tough for any other exercise to build muscle and strength like squats (an exception may be deadlifts).

Another thing you may want to consider is squatting twice a week. In fact, I’m a ‘huge’ believer in training legs twice a week, in general. Legs are the largest set of muscles in your body so it makes sense to give them more attention.

I give you some full leg workout routines you can do in this post: Training Legs Twice a Week: How to Build Bigger Legs

I hope this post helps you squat better and squat more! Please feel free to share it.

Train with Passion,

Jason

There are two awesome and unique benefits you’ll get this routine:

1. Because you’re supersetting with ab exercises, you’ll double-down on your workload without taking away any strength from your leg exercises.
2. The supersets keep you moving throughout your workout, which can help keep your body fat lower than usual when you’re training for mass.

In this post, you’re going to get a complete legs and abs workout for mass. I’m also going to give you some additional tips on how to make this workout even more effective.

Go make yourself a protein shake and maybe even get your pre-workout ready. You’re going to want to hit the gym after you read this.

Legs and Abs Superset Workout

We’re going to jump right into the workout below. I’ll list out the exercises, sets and reps.

After that, I’ll break down each part of the workout because there are certain legs and ab exercises that seem to work best together for supersets. And I also have some exercise-specific tips I want to share with you. I’ll explain all of that.

Pre-workout Notes

Let’s get into your workout, but first here are some things to consider before starting:

• Do some type of warm-up first. Walking on the treadmill or riding a recumbent bike for 10-15 minutes will do just fine.
• Do a little light dynamic stretching prior to your workout.
• You don’t want to do this workout on a full stomach!
• On the other hand, make sure you have the sustainability needed for this workout, such as a pre-workout meal with some protein and complex carbs.
• Consider taking a pre-workout drink like PreFierce

Your Workout

Each section below is intended to be supersetted. For example, in the first round of exercises you’ll do a set of leg extensions then do a set of standing calve raises.

There are 4 total rounds of supersets in this workout. You don’t necessarily have to rush to the next exercise you’re supersetting with. But it does need to happen quickly so don’t stop to chit-chat on your way to that exercise.

Plan to rest about 45 seconds to 1 minute between each round of supersets.

Superset 1

Superset 2

Superset 3

Superset 4

You may have noticed there’s not a ton of focus on hamstrings with this particular workout.

There are 2 things to note:

– I train legs twice a week and the 2nd leg workout I do has more hamstring work involved

– You can use this concept I’m sharing with you and make it work for any exercises if you want to change things up.

Legs and Abs Workout Video

Below is a YouTube video I made for this exact workout (I actually made the video and this blog post the day of this work!).

Now, let’s get into some additional notes about the workout below. I’ll breakdown each round of supersets to give you some deeper and more helpful info…

Leg Extensions Superset with Abs or Calves

It’s typical to start your leg workout with leg extensions. This helps warm up your knees before doing squats. And it’s also a great way to get your blood flowing.

In this case, you can gradually increase the weight each set. Here’s an example:

• Set 1: 90 lbs
• Set 2: 110 lbs
• Set 3: 130 lbs
• Set 4: 150 lbs
• Set 5: 170 lbs

By the time you get to that final set it should be challenging to get 15 reps.

Now, you can superset these with an ab exercise. However, in this particular workout, you’re supersetting leg extensions with calves. Any calve exercise will do.

For calves, you can follow the same pattern. Gradually increase the weight each set. That final set should be tough and make sure you perform those last few reps slower to get that deep burn.

TIP FOR BUILDING CALVES: This is not listed in this post, but at the end of every leg workout I like to do a method called 75’s for calves.

Choose a weight you can do about 20 reps with. Perform a set, rest for about 10 seconds and perform another set using the same weight.

Keep repeating that until you hit a total of 75 reps or more. This technique will force your calves to grow!

Squats Superset with Knee Raises

Any ab exercise is great to superset with squats. Having strong abs is essential for stability when you squat and can help prevent injury.

But one of the best ab exercises to superset with squats is knee raises.

This particular ab exercise forces you to keep your core muscles tighter throughout the movement. And a tight, strong core is what is needed for a better squat.

Squats…the king of exercises!

I’m personally a firm believer in doing squats every leg workout. Just the movement alone builds overall muscle and can also help with conditioning, and even fat loss because of the energy expenditure.

One thing I encourage you to do is to make sure you really feel your leg muscles working through each rep. This is key for building muscle, in general. But especially for squats.

Make sure you get that natural curvature as you squat, keeping a slight arch in your back, and focus on pressing the weight with your heels.

And flex those quads when you get to the top of the movement. Follow these tactics rather than just moving weight from point A to B.

Leg Press Superset with Rope Crunches

Now we go over to the leg press machine. And this is an exercise I strongly recommend for supersets.

The reason is because some have a tendency to sit on the leg press machine and play with their phone in between sets. Don’t do that!

Instead, get up and move around. And in this case, you’re going to be going over to the cable machine to do a set of rope crunches.

LEG PRESS TIP: Don’t be one of the many who loads the leg press machine with as many plates as it will hold only to go down just a few inches.

That’s not a rep, and it does absolutely nothing for building your leg muscles. Rather, get a full range of motion and force your legs to work harder.

Also, don’t be ‘that person’ who can leg press 1,000 lbs but can’t squat 225!

Leg Curls Superset with Knee Raises

Lastly, you’ll be supersetting your hamstrings with a lower ab exercise. In the workout, lying leg curls is listed. But it can be any hamstring exercise such as standing or seated leg curls, or even stiff-leg deadlifts, which is a great exercise for targeting your hams.

The ab exercise you’ll do in this workout is leg raises. You can either do these on the dip machine, as seen above and in the video. Or you can do hanging leg raises if your gym has a pull-up bar (most cable crossover machines have this in the middle, up top).

The reason these exercises work so well together for supersets is because they’re practically the opposite movement.

• With leg curls, you’re pulling with your hamstrings.
• With leg raises, you’re pushing your legs out in the opposing direction.

This somewhat gives you the benefits of training agonist with antagonist muscles together.

Tips for Supersetting Legs and Abs

When it comes to doing supersets, you really need to scope out your gym and make a plan. And this can be a challenge if the gym is crowded.

Here are some things that can help save you frustration before you start your legs and abs superset workout:

• Have a plan before you get to the gym (which I just gave you in this post!)
• Be prepared to make changes to your original workout plan based on the below
• Choose ab exercises that are in close proximity to each of the leg exercises you plan to perform
• Try your best to choose areas in the gym that aren’t as crowded at that time
• Again, be prepared to not only make changes to your original workout plan, but to also make changes on the fly

In some cases it may not be feasible to do a legs and abs superset workout. Especially if you train at prime time when the gym is packed.
If the gym is busy, someone is prone to taking your machine as soon as you get up to go to your superset, and that can cause problems.

If that’s the case, just do straight sets and alternate legs and abs. For example, do your 5 sets of squats followed by 5 sets of knee raises instead of supersetting those exercises. Just rest less, like 20 seconds, between your sets of abs.

Try this workout on your next day and see how it works for you. Also, fee free to share this post!

Excuses Don’t Build Muscle,

Jason

In this post, I’m going to share the 5 ‘huge’ mistakes when it comes to leg press. And making these mistakes can actually do more harm than good.

The awesome news is I’m also going to show you how to correct these mistakes. And you’ll learn how just a few simple changes can help you build bigger, more muscular legs.

Mistake #1: Lack of Range of Motion

The first mistake I noticed people doing on leg press is not getting a full range of motion. They go down a few inches and think that they did a rep. Nope, not even close!

There are two problems with restricted range of motion:

1. You’re not fully working your muscles and you’re basically cheating yourself from making gains.
2. You may be putting more pressure on your knees and joint by stopping your range of motion too soon.

One of the reasons people don’t get a full range of motion is because of the angle of the leg press machine. Laying back like that makes you feel you’re bringing your legs down further than what you really are.

Another reason for this is because many go way too heavy on leg press. I’ll talk more about that later, below.

You may also be more prone to injury when you don’t go at least parallel on the leg press. The stress of the weight is going to be constantly on your knees and joints if you’re just doing that short range of motion.

How to Fix Your Range of Motion:

– Film yourself doing leg press and analyze your form (you will be surprised and maybe even embarrassed, but it will certainly help you fix your range of motion!)

– Have a gym buddy, someone who will be honest with you, watch your form and range of motion

– Bring the weight down where you feel your quads working and contracting

Mistake #2: Improper (Wide) Foot Placement

Another common mistake, and I’m sure you’ve seen this, is going too wide with your foot placement on the leg press platform.

Many have a natural tendency to go wide. Why? Because it allows you to leg press more weight (we’re going to get to that next!).

The problem with going too wide is that you’re not working as much of your quads as you may think. In a sense, it makes the exercise easier.

‘Easier’ should not be the goal, though.

In fact, you need to make the exercise more difficult by forcing your muscles to work harder. That’s how you build muscle.

How to Fix Your Foot Placement:

– Make sure your feet are about shoulder-width apart

– Point your toes outward a little

– Press the weight with your heels (this is a side-note but is extremely important and may save you from knee pain)

– Whereas going wide isn’t as effective at building muscle, you can try a narrow foot placement from time to time as this will work your outer quads and hamstrings; it’s also more difficult and you typically won’t be able to press as much weight.

Mistake #3: Ego Lifting

This is the most abused problem with leg press. And I know you’ve seen this just as many times as I have.

Heck, if you’re like me, you’ve even been guilty of doing this! And if you’re currently doing it, you’ll stop after reading this.

Many, especially guys, will load up the leg press with as many 45 pound plates that will fit. I get it…it looks cool.

But trust me when I say your ego is preventing you from building big legs.

Think about it. How many dudes in the gym have you seen doing over 1,000 pounds on leg press only to have skinny legs? That alone should tell you something.

The other issue we’ve all seen is these same guys leg pressing massive amounts of weights can’t even squat 225. That’s a ‘huge’ problem.

Here are the problems with trying to leg press too much weight:

• Go back and re-read Mistake #1 because this is the prime reason why people don’t do a full range of motion on the leg press
• Re-read Mistake #2 because you’re going to have a tendency to use a foot placement that allows you to press the most weight, not build the most muscle
• It’s downright dangerous and ineffective
• Your knees and joints are taking a beating for no good reason
• You’re only training your ego

How to Check Your Ego with Leg Press:

– Simply lighten the load and do full reps; you’ll be amazed at how much more muscle you gaining your legs

– Focus less on leg press and work on your squat

– Don’t worry or be bothered by what other people in the gym can leg press

Mistake #4: Pressing with the Balls of Your Feet

One way to really screw up your knees is pressing with the balls of your feet and letting your heels come up off of the platform.

This typically happens when the wrong foot placement is used. Many will place their feet too high or too low on the platform in an attempt to press more weight.

Rather, you want to keep your feet flat the entire time. You can even focus on pressing more with your heels as this will help prevent them from coming off the platform during the lift.

*Improper form and foot placement often tie back to Mistake #3, trying to leg press too much weight. Remember, your focus is on building muscle, not your ego.

Here’s a short video where former Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler talks about proper foot placement on the leg press:

How to Press and Have Proper Foot Placement:

– Focus on keeping your feet flat throughout the movement

– Put more pressure on the heels of your feet to prevent your heels from coming off of the platform

– Make sure you have a shoulder-width foot placement as this will help keep your feet flat throughout each rep

Mistake #5: Reps Are Too Low

This ties in with using too much weight on the leg press. But that’s not necessarily the problem all of the time.

The real issue is we tend to train our legs like our upper body, going heavy and sometimes doing lower reps for compound movements (think of bench press or barbell rows).

For legs, you need a different approach. Your quads likely have more slow-twitch muscle fibers, which means they may respond better to higher reps and more overall training volume.

For leg press, my personal recommendation:

• Never go below 12 reps. I’ve seen far more leg growth from higher reps than years ago when I was ‘ego lifting’ and trying to leg press as much as possible.
• Realize that your legs can handle a lot more than you may think. But because of how we typically train our upper body, you may be prone to stop your set short of what you can really do.

So push yourself further. You’ll be surprised how many more reps you can crank out, especially on leg press.

How too Correct Your Reps:

– As mentioned earlier, use lighter weights on leg press

– Push yourself to go to the next level and get those extra reps

– Use less rest between sets, and do more sets; this will condition your legs to handle the volume they’re built to handle

Leg Press the Right Way to Make More Gains

Leg press sometimes gets a bad rap because of these mistakes. But rather than neglect leg press, you should embrace it. Just make sure you’re doing it right.

To recap, the way to make more lower body gains with leg press is:

• Check your ego at the door (this will prevent you from making the majority of other leg press mistakes)
• Use proper foot placement and range of motion
• Push your legs to the next level and crank out some reps

Also, make sure you have extreme focus when doing leg press, and when doing legs in general. Leg training takes more mental effort so you need that clarity.

One of the ways to have that focus is to take a pre-workout like PreFierce. Chug a serving of this stuff about 15 minutes before the gym and you’ll be set.

*You can learn more about PreFierce pre-workout here.

One final note…

Don’t use leg press as a replacement for doing squats. In fact, you should focus more on squats than anything else. That’s going to build more muscle size than anything.

If this blog post helped you, please consider sharing it!

Excuses Don’t Build Muscle,

Jason

But can you train legs and back together on the same day?

The short answer is yes, you can, but you shouldn’t.

Why?

Legs and back are your largest muscles, therefore they require more energy to train. And it’s close to impossible to focus enough energy on legs and back in the same workout.

However, there is an exception to this rule, and I’m going to share that with you in this post. In fact, this ‘exception’ is going to lead to more muscle growth and strength gains for you!

**To maximize your results from the workout I’m about to show you, consider taking a natural testosterone booster like TestoFierce.

At the time of writing this blog post, I had been taking TestoFierce for about 5 weeks and have noticed some pretty awesome results.

GET JACKED AND HUGE HERE

Reasons Not to Train Legs and Back Together

Before we get into how you can benefit from training legs and back in the same workout, let’s go over some reasons why you should not do this.

And yes, I realize I just made a ‘huge’ contradiction. But I promise this will all make perfect sense when I show you this specific workout method!

• Both legs and back require more training volume to build muscle mass, which is not feasible to achieve in one workout
• Legs, especially if you’re doing squats, require complete focus and concentration; that’s going to be very difficult if you’re trying fit in another major muscle, like back
• Like legs, back also needs more volume than the rest of your upper body muscles so the same rule above applies to back
• It’s almost impossible to have enough energy and stamina to effectively train back and legs in the same workout
• Because both need extreme focus, training legs and back together makes you more vulnerable to injury

All that being said, you’re probably wondering what the heck I mean when I say there is one exception to this rule where you can train these two muscles together.

I’ll explain below, and I’m actually going to give you a full workout…

How and When to Train Legs and Back Together

The exception to the rule is simple:

• Have one workout dedicated to legs
• Have one workout dedicated to back
• Have another workout that same wee