leg exercises

FEELthePUMP

FEELthePUMP

New member
hey guys, been working out for the past 5 months or so. My workouts are long and i haven't been doing any leg workouts. I just started this week incorperating some into my workout. Squat, leg extension, and leg curls.

Does anyone have any better ideas? I'd like to keep it at 3 lifts if possibel.
 
I like hamstring raises instead of leg curls, Squat (full), Leg press, and my coach now has me doing lunges with one foot on a Bosu.
 
Leg curls are more or a waste of time- IMO- especially since you are doing squats.
Do you have deadlifts in there somewhere? Good for many things but the legs are one of them.
 
I could do dead lifts there but they really don't have the right equiptment for it. I am however thinking of checkin out some other gyms to see whats out there, maybe a Golds or Press. The only cons of those are the whole, pool, sauna hot tub thing. But maybe i can do both.
 
For deadlifts, all you need is a barbell. They don't have free weights?

You could put the bar up on yoga blocks or something.
 
:iagree: it is a bit odd if the gym does not have free weights.

I do deadlifts as part of back day.
 
Back squats, front squats, conventional deads, romanian deads, bulgarian split squats, single leg squats, single leg romanians, SHELCs, lunges, split squats, step ups...

The list goes on and on.
 
Steve said:
, single leg squats, single leg romanians,
Click to expand...


Just out of curiosity- what advantage do the single leg workouts have?
my concern would be gaining more strength in one over the other and being imbalanced.

just wondering.
 
Name a sport besides rowing that doesn't have you exerting force with one leg.
 
Haha, or how about this...

Squat deeply with a conventional, bilateral back squat then squat deeply with a single leg squat.

Tell me if you feel a difference.

They're different animals really. Unilateral leg work recruits more muscle due to the involvement of stabilizers/neurtralizers.
 
I already figured that with the balance required and the overall stabilizer involvement would make the whole exercise so beneficial to overall strength.

I assume they would also do alot for the core also because there is no chance of not bringing it all into play.

One legged, deep squats kinda scare me- if that makes any sense. Dont want to fall over or anything like that.

I can only assume that these are commonly done with DB as opposed to BB due to the balance aspect.
 
Yea, no BB. Bodyweight is enough for most.

And progressing toward unilateral squats is a good idea. Not many would be ready to bust them out right off the bat.
 
Steve said:
And progressing toward unilateral squats is a good idea. Not many would be ready to bust them out right off the bat.
Click to expand...

Had to have known this question was coming....

How does one progress to unilateral squates?
If it is something I can meremly google let me know but i really do not see how I could progress- I read as transition, to a point- from conventional squats to unilateral.

or are you simply referring to the standard try one- if you can do one without difficulty try 2 and so on...
 
There's no hard fast way to do it that's right for everyone. Most can't do them due to individual hinderances such as poor mobility in the hip or ankle, for instance.

With that sort of stuff aside though, a simple progression *could* look something like...

split squats -> bulgarian split squats -> bodyweight unilateral box squats (decrease height of box when comfortable) -> unilateral squats with assistance -> unilateral squats

Just an idea.
 
ok.
that makes sense. Are they ever done weighted?
I know i am putting the cart so far before the horse it is silly but I am just wondering.

I have made a lot of progress with leg strength in the last several months between squats, deads and running and I am always looking for a new challange.
 
I've personally found that bilateral strength doesn't translate well into unilateral strength. You'd be surprised.

I know more 400 lbs squaters that can't do a single leg squat than there are people hating G Dubwa.

And sure, you can do them weighted. Weight vests are handy in this regard.
 
Steve said:
I've personally found that bilateral strength doesn't translate well into unilateral strength. You'd be surprised.
Click to expand...
Really? At the risk of having an actual discussion, why would that be?
I would think strength is strength regardless. Some balance issues and the like aside i do not see how the strength would not transfer laterally.
Steve said:
I know more 400 lbs squaters that can't do a single leg squat than there are people hating G Dubwa.
Click to expand...
Probably more 100x more people that hate good old G Dub than can squat 400.....
 
Bigguy said:
Really? At the risk of having an actual discussion, why would that be?
I would think strength is strength regardless. Some balance issues and the like aside i do not see how the strength would not transfer laterally.
Click to expand...

Some certainly.

Just b/c your prime movers are getting really strong with bilateral squatting, you're only as strong as your weakest link in the chain. So if your stabilizers are weak and not used to stabilizing loads in the face of unilateral balance... guess what: You're probably not going to be able to squat on one leg.

Training is very specific, always.

Just because you're strong with 2 legs on the ground doesn't mean you will be strong with one leg on the ground.

Sure, if you took the need for balance and stabilization out of the equation and do one legged leg presses or the like, the transfer of strength would be apparent. But that should be a no brainer, b/c without stabilizing you're really only using the prime movers which is what you trained predominantly with bilateral squats, thus removing the weakest link.

Again, it's all about specificity and function.
 
This is the same thing as incorporating the db bench into the workout right?
You need to stabilize the db in order to press it and that makes it more difficult than the bb bench.


I am really intrigued by this now.

Would unilateral squats help with overall leg strength the same way as db bench has help with my bb bench?

In other words- are they beneficial or just a really nice trick to show your friends?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top