What is a good beginner routine for legs? My legs are pretty weak at the moment. I workout at home and all i have in a bench, that has extensions, curls, and ive been using the incline rack for doing some light sqauts, but i just need a simple leg routine to follow to get my legs stronger so i can get into some hardcore lifting. I also need to tighten up the but a little,so if you got any ideas on this let me know. Thanks T-Men!
Get Ian King’s video at T-mag or read the articles. You can do alot of very effective stuff for legs without necessarily having to squat heavy, though I’d still get a rack if I were you. You can do his one leg squats, ski squats, stiff deads, regular deadlifts, good mornings, static lunges, dynamic lunges etc.
Read the “short topic” article on the Lions Den from a couple of issues ago.
Tuesday:
1 set 6-10 reps deadlift
1 set 6-10 reps leg curl
Saturday: 1 set 6-10 reps squat 1 set 6-10 reps leg extension 1 set 6-10 reps stiff-leg deadlift
Warm up properly beforehand. Always do more reps or more weight (increase weight a bit when you hit 10 reps). Works well for me.
I was about to tell you the same stuff about one legged squats etc, but then I saw Paul’s answer, so I won’t repeat it. However, as someone who had weak legs, but now has good ones, I’ll add what made the difference for me, and that is Volume !
The German Volume Training method works very well on legs. Using light and moderate weights, you can still achieve superb results in size and strength. Quite simply, you have to work the legs using compound exercises like squats (one legged if you have no equipment), and dead lifts. Aim for 10 sets of ten reps for the legs. E.g. 6 sets of squats, 3 sets of deadlifts, 1 set of hamstring curls. Use the GVT varient, where you perform “1.5” reps per rep using a 412 tempo. E.g for squats, perform a “full ass to grass” squat, taking 4 seconds on the downward movement. Pause 1 second at the bottom, then come up on a count of 2. At the top, go halfway back down, and come up again. Thats one rep. Repeat for ten reps. Thats one set. If you can only perform 7 to 8 reps in subsequent sets,thats good ! As soon as you can perform 10 reps each set, increase the weight slightly. I found this method really works, and its safer for the back than heavy squatting because you use a ligher weight. Unfortunately, it only works for about 6 weeks or so, then the body adjusts, so then you’ll need to move on to heavy squatting, but it will make a big difference in that first six weeks.