Quickest way to build leg muscles?

[Sugarj]

The quickest way to build leg muscles is weight training. You'll need to do squats, leg extensions, a hamstring machine and a calf raise machine.

Work three times a week with a rest day or two between each session. You'll be looking to work in the rep range of 6-10 reps and make sure the final rep in the set is as many as you can do. Increase the weight when you can do 12 reps of each exercise.

If you want really quick results, really whack up your protein intake to 2g for every kg of bodyweight and knock any other cardio/boxing exercise on the head until you get the desired results. A month of this should see some serious improvement in leg strength........but warning; it won't help your distance running!

[Prince Mongo]

Thank you very much.

I'd love to be able to tell you that i plan on hitting it as hard as i can and do a killer workout and believe me i'd love to be able to do that but in all honesty im a total noob when it comes to weight lifting and it will probably take me a bit of time before i can get into it properly, which is why i wanted to know if i could do them more than once a week.

Also i'm not looking to make my legs go huge, it's more just wanting to make them stronger. Tbh i didn't want to use any supplements, would i still make them decently stronger without whey protein?

Thanks again for a very helpful post mate.

To make your legs HUGE takes a huge amount of work and time if you are not using roids which you don't want to do. So don't worry about getting huge because that is not going to happen. The idea of whey protein straight after the workout is at that point your body has it's greatest protein absorption capacity so you really want to take advantage of that opportunity. You can do it without suplements but you want a lot of protein in your food and in an ideal world have lots of small protein stacked meals rather than a few big ones that way your body has constant access to protein.
I was trained by a friend who is a personal trainer and basically once I got the technique down he wanted me to go as heavy as I could and not hold anything back. He used to take me way past where I was happy to go to the point that after the workout was over where I was shaking I actually felt ill and puked up on a couple of occasions. But the gains were beyond anything I had experienced and you have to pay the price. Rest and nutrition is vital and although you may be adverse to suplements there is nothing really weird about protein shakes and they really do help. He also gave me a workout drink which replaces the electrolites you sweat out that help you keep going. The workout should take no more than an hour. You don't want big rests between excercises the idea is to exhaust the muscle group and keep on nailing it,it is the sets where you are close to done that get the results.
After workout you should not be able to workout the legs in the same week. if you can you are not working out hard enough. Tom Platz Mr Legs could not workout his legs again for 12 days. As I said you can workout long or hard but not both. Dorian Yates only worked ot 3 times a week for 1 hour each time but his workouts tere total commitment. Slaughter youself and you won't be able to work the legs in the same week.

[Danny Gunz]

Squats and deadlifts and going heavy is the way to go. You can train long or hard but not long and hard and leg muscles are your biggest muscle group and take the most out of you. If you go heavy after a warm up and do a killer workout there is no way you can train the legs more than once a week,if you can do 2 you are not working out hard enough. Make sure you are well rested before the workout so you can hit it with everything you have and mean business and be agressive.
Hit the cycle machine to warm up and do stretching then do a warm up set on leg extensions then 3 sets heavy 6 -8 reps then leg press 3 sets 6-8 reps heavy with slow negitives. This guy has very good technique to study.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJGl3rtLF18

Then hit squats preferably with a partner to spot. Warm up set then 3 sets of 6 -8 reps heavy or 20 straight squats without stacking the heaviest weight you can do 20 with.

Squat technique

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPBgdk9uxzg

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDa34zWwMgA

Then hamstring curls in first video warm up set then heavy 3 sets 6- 8 reps with slow negitives.
Then calf raises,work them to exhausion 3 sets.

On alternating weeks you slip in deadlifts instead of squats.Again heavy with over under grip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26eFf5roDFw

After a hard core heavy leg workout you have nothing left and are done and may experience shaking. As soon as you finish take your whey protein and make sure you have plenty of protein in your food and rest and you will grow.

Eh, idk about that. I have been lifting legs (everything for that matter) twice a week and it has been fine. For one, doing it once a week will leave you relatively sore 2-3 days a week which is annoying. Since I started doing them twice a week I barely ever get bad DOMS.

Also recovery takes about 36-72 hours so working legs twice a week would be fine and you should be fully recovered by the second workout.

My gains have also been much better ever since doing them twice a week.

[Prince Mongo]

]

Eh, idk about that. I have been lifting legs (everything for that matter) twice a week and it has been fine. For one, doing it once a week will leave you relatively sore 2-3 days a week which is annoying. Since I started doing them twice a week I barely ever get bad DOMS.

Also recovery takes about 36-72 hours so working legs twice a week would be fine and you should be fully recovered by the second workout.

My gains have also been much better ever since doing them twice a week.

Danny, Are you doing 2 legs only workouts a week or are you mixing up your routine with other excercises for other muscle groups? There is no way I could do 2 all out leg workouts in a week without diluting the workouts. I workout twice a week but it will be legs one day and other upper body muscle groups on the other day but I never mix them.

[Danny Gunz]

]



Danny, Are you doing 2 legs only workouts a week or are you mixing up your routine with other excercises for other muscle groups? There is no way I could do 2 all out leg workouts in a week without diluting the workouts. I workout twice a week but it will be legs one day and other upper body muscle groups on the other day but I never mix them.

Yeah I hit every muscle group twice a week.

Monday is upper body power day, and tuesday is lower body power.

Wednesday off

Thursday is Shoulders and back; friday is legs again; Saturday is Chest and arms

I only did one a week for a while but started doing everything twice about a month and a half ago. So far I have been getting good results, my deadlift and squat numbers are going up very nicely which pleases me.

[D-MiZe]

I want to build my leg muscles as i feel they are not strong enough to support all the running i do. What is the quickest and most effective way to build them?

Isn't that a paradox?



I don't understand why you'd need to build leg muscles if they're not strong enough to support your running, are you overweight?

[NearHypnos]

You can lift hard and be recovered by the end of the week... Depends on how you eat though... Whey protein isnt needed at all, whole food is better but there's also alternatives (good ones at that). I do IF so there's not just one single way to get your nutrition, do what works...anyway..You can do squats ass to grass (on the tips of your feet too). I prefer pyramid sets. Pistol squats are insane if you've got the strength and fitness.

Calf raises are also great off a platform but if you dont have one thats fine too just dont go all the way back down on your heels. If you do weight training i use the leg press machine from the tips of my feet and do them like that. S hits intense...you could also use the platform on the machine itself to do calf raises ...suffice to say you wont be doing that with your regular leg press weight...have to lower that ish.

I do my workouts basically pushing movements (chest, tri, shoulder) one day, legs the next, pulling the next (biceps, back) and rest, rinse repeat. I like splitting it with legs to give my upper body that extra little day of rest between. I do abs usually on pulling days since I can work it in with my pullups for leg raises, but I really dot worry too much about it.

[NearHypnos]

You can lift hard and be recovered by the end of the week... Depends on how you eat though... Whey protein isnt needed at all, whole food is better but there's also alternatives (good ones at that). I do IF so there's not just one single way to get your nutrition, do what works...anyway..You can do squats ass to grass (on the tips of your feet too). I prefer pyramid sets. Pistol squats are insane if you've got the strength and fitness.

Calf raises are also great off a platform but if you dont have one thats fine too just dont go all the way back down on your heels. If you do weight training i use the leg press machine from the tips of my feet and do them like that. S hits intense...you could also use the platform on the machine itself to do calf raises ...suffice to say you wont be doing that with your regular leg press weight...have to lower that ish.

I do my workouts basically pushing movements (chest, tri, shoulder) one day, legs the next, pulling the next (biceps, back) and rest, rinse repeat. I like splitting it with legs to give my upper body that extra little day of rest between. I do abs usually on pulling days since I can work it in with my pullups for leg raises, but I really dot worry too much about it.

[Mike_Erm]

Everyone has good stuff.... If you have had shins splints for a year this is what you need to do starting tonight ice your shins tonight 3 times for 20 minutes then elevate your legs at a 45 degree angel for 30 mins. Another good thing to do is walk on your heels around the house "Duck Walk". Invest in some new shoes and STOP jumping rope and running all together, until its better then once your shin splints are gone do one of these workouts.. If you follow these steps they will be gone in a week.

[Roy Jones Jnr]

Isn't that a paradox?



I don't understand why you'd need to build leg muscles if they're not strong enough to support your running, are you overweight?

Nah i'm not overweight, i honestly don't know pal but it's just a hunch I've had for a while. When i land on my legs it feels as if i'm putting too much pressure on the shin bones if you get what i mean. I'm no expert and even though my physio told me my leg muscles were fine i'm still not sure. Something definitely doesn't feel right when i land on my legs. It feels as if they're not strong enough to support my upper body. Something daft like that. So i'm just guessing that maybe my leg muscles are not strong enough to support my upper body.

Also another thing is i have been doing bodyweight exercises of my upper body for many years now stuff like push ups/pull ups etc and even the odd few months of weight training but i've never done any type of specific leg training. Of course all the running i've been doing playing football and boxing training etc will have been working my legs but i've never done anything specific for them. All the muscle they have is simply from the running/walking i've been doing in football/boxing whilst my upper body has had specific training.

Like i said, i'm a total noob when it comes to **** like this but i'm going off purely a hunch. It just feels as if everytime i'm landing on my legs when i'm running that i'm putting too much pressure on my shins and they aren't for whatever reason strong enough to handle it which is causing my shin splints.

I don't know if building my leg muscles will get rid of the shin splints but given how i've tried nearly everything else and nothing has so far worked i figured i may as well give it a go.