Each leg exercise for men, performed in the gym, is necessary to create the relief of the lower extremities and gain an athletic appearance. But unfortunately, not all people know what they need to do in order to achieve the desired goals. In fact, there are many exercises that can be performed in the gym or at home, aimed at working out the muscles of the lower extremities.
Basic leg exercises
The first step is to consider the complex, which includes various squats, lunges and bench press. All these are basic exercises on the legs, without which to achieve the desired results is simply unrealistic. They are the main and most effective, because they work simultaneously on several muscle groups.
Squats
Start with squats. This leg exercise for men aims at developing volume as well as strength. In the case of a strict adherence to the execution technique, buttocks, quadriceps, as well as the posterior thigh will be involved. Additionally, the back is also loaded here. It is because of this that squats are called a universal exercise. Below are some of their varieties. Although at first glance it seems that only women perform these exercises, in fact this is a big mistake, since for men they are also important.
With dumbbells
The first thing to consider is squats for men, which are usually performed by athletes with back problems, or simply in the absence of a special frame for the barbell.
Here, the working weight is in the hands, not on the back or chest. Taking the dumbbells, hands should be lowered down, and the legs should be placed shoulder width apart. Then, when you inhale, you should go down, bending the lower limbs, but at the same time keeping your back in an even position. Squat is necessary until the dumbbells reach a level just below the knees. Immediately after this, it is required to return to its original position, while exhaling.
Since this exercise relates to power, the working weight here must be selected very carefully. Beginners are advised to first try to take dumbbells no more than 5 kilograms in order to master the technique, and only then increase the mass of shells.
Squats with dumbbells should be performed in three sets of 12-15 repetitions. If desired, the number of the former is allowed to be increased, but only if the execution technique is perfectly correct.
Frontal
An excellent leg exercise for men, without which no full lower limb training should be complete - frontal squats. Here, the projectile will need to be placed not on the back, as many people are used to, but on the chest, thereby slightly shifting the load on the target muscle group. In addition, in this position of the rod there will be practically no load on the spine.
Front squats with a bar are performed as follows:
- Stand in front of the bar, grab it in your hands and place it on the top of your chest, supporting your arms below with your arms crossed.
- Position the legs slightly wider than the shoulders and turn the socks to the sides, and raise your head and direct your eyes straight and up at the same time.
- On inspiration, go down until you manage to maintain balance.
- As you exhale climb back.
Quadriceps is very well worked out here. Most importantly, it’s convenient to take the projectile at the very first stage, so that the balance is normal and it is possible to squat until the hips reach parallel with the floor.
This exercise should be performed in 3 sets of 15 times. In this case, the very first approach is best done with an empty bar (20 kg) in order to stretch and understand the technique.
In Smith's simulator
The following popular squats for men are performed in Smith's simulator. This exercise is performed, as a rule, in specialized rooms, since not everyone can buy such a device at home. This simulator is good in that it controls the movement of the working weight up and down, so that a person does not have to worry about balancing. In addition, this makes it possible to do deep squats, thereby working out the muscles better.
Squats on this wonderful machine are done quite simply. To do this, you need to raise the bar to the level of the shoulders, stand with your back to it, cuddle tightly and hold your hands a little wider than the shoulders. At the same time, the legs should be extended half a step forward and the socks should be pulled apart. On inspiration, you should go down so that the pelvis moves in a straight line. You need to squat until stretching allows it - most athletes bend their legs completely, and some squat only until the lower limbs form a right angle. On exhalation, you must rise, also without moving the pelvis to the sides, forward and backward.
Smith's simulator also has some drawbacks. First of all, it is the difficulty of performing the exercise for people with an almost complete lack of flexibility. The second caveat - stabilizers are not involved here, since the machine itself sets the trajectory of movement.
As for the number of approaches and repetitions, the first should be at least three, the second - about 13-15. At the same time, as in the previous exercise, for the first approach, you should not add pancakes, as this can lead to injury to the athlete.
On a hack machine
No less effective leg exercise for men, also performed on a special simulator, is liked by both men and women, although the former perform it much more often. According to the technique, it is very similar to ordinary squats, since here the same setting of the legs and the absence of load on the spine. At least quadriceps are involved here, and in addition, the load also goes to the buttocks and back of the thigh.
Squats on the hack machine must be included in almost every leg workout in the gym for men. Here the execution technique is very simple:
- Stand in the simulator with your feet shoulder-width apart and push your socks out of the platform.
- Hands hold the handles (can be located above or below), and with your shoulders rest against the rollers.
- When inhaling, go down as far as possible, while exhaling, go back up.
When lifting, it is necessary to monitor the knees - they should be directed to the sides and not move. In total, it is recommended to do 12 such squats in 3-4 approaches.
Leg press
Answering a question about how to pump up a man’s legs, experts always point to this exercise. It perfectly works the muscles of the lower extremities and allows you to increase strength. The bench press is performed as follows:
- Lie on the simulator, place your legs on the platform so that the socks are diagonally directed to its corners.
- On inhalation, you should bend your legs until the pelvis begins to rise.
- On exhalation, it is required to return to the original position.
When performing, it is undesirable to tear off the head from the surface, as this will slow down the rate of exercise intensity. The number of approaches in the press reaches 5-6, repetitions in each of them - from 10 to 17.
Lunges
Men usually like to perform this leg exercise at home, as the effect of it becomes noticeable very quickly. Quadriceps work great here, as well as buttocks and some other muscles. At the same time, the technique of doing lunges with dumbbells is not too complicated:
- Stand up straight and pick up shells.
- On inspiration, take a wide step forward and bend both legs so that they form right angles, but at the same time the front knee does not extend beyond the toe, and the second does not rest on the floor.
- On exhalation, return back, pulling up your leg.
- Do the same with the second leg.
There are lunges in three sets of 12 repetitions for each side. As a rule, they are done on the spot, but if you want, you can try to imitate their walking, pulling the hind leg, and then it takes a step forward.
Isolated exercises
This category of physical exercises is aimed at working out individual muscles, which receive little attention in the basic complex. The most relevant muscle group today is the gastrocnemius, since they really do not get the load when performing previous exercises. In addition, every man wants them to look chic, so you can’t leave them unattended.
How to pump calves to a man
To this end, you can perform lifting on socks in two variations:
- Standing up A fairly common exercise eliminates the appearance of pain in the back during its execution. Here you will need to find the right simulator, stand in it, with your feet shoulder-width apart and with your socks pointed forward. Then, on the first account, it is necessary to rise as high as possible, feeling the tension in the calf muscle area, and on the second, to lower so that the heels are below the level of the socks, while simultaneously feeling the tension in the same area.
- Sitting. No less effective, but, according to some athletes, a simplified exercise is also performed using special equipment. After finding him in the hall, you need to sit down, put the knees under the rollers, position the legs shoulder-width apart, and point the socks straight. Then, on the first account, you need to raise your heels as high as possible, on the second - lower it as low as possible. Due to the fact that in this case all the weight falls on the knees, the calf muscles are worked out without any other muscle groups.
For both of these options in each gym there are exercise machines. The most important thing is to do them at the end of the training, as otherwise there will be no strength left for the quality performance of basic exercises.
An ideal option would be to alternate these lifts through training. And you need to perform both of them in three sets of 20 repetitions. For beginners, the number of second ones is allowed to be reduced to 15, but after a couple of classes it is still necessary to reach the required 20.
Programs
Experienced athletes are able to compose a training program for themselves, but beginners often have problems with this. Therefore, in order to achieve the maximum effect, it is worth trying this training option (three lessons):
- Front squats + lunges with dumbbells.
- Squats on the hack machine + bench press + rise on toes standing.
- Squats in Smith's simulator + lunges.
It is enough to follow this program for one to two months - for this period it will already be possible to see good results. And after the sportsman will be able to independently change the training plan, taking into account all his achievements and approaching this issue is more reasonable.