LEGS & GLUTES, Part 2: Beginner | Intermediate/ Advanced
MOST MEN HAVE A SIMPLE PHILOSOPHY when choosing their lower-body exercises: The more weight plates they can pile on, the better the lift. But choosing your exercises based on the amount of weight you can heft is a lot like timing your 40-yard dash on the moving sidewalk at O'Hare.
That's because the most popular exercises for your lower body machine exercises like leg presses, leg extensions, and leg curls allow you to lift heavier weights than their free-weight counterparts. Why? Because they give your body a mechanical advantage.
So even though you're able to lift more iron, you're using less muscle. That puts you at a disadvantage when you're trying to maximize your lower body strength and size.
This chapter will gives you exercises that force your muscles to work without help from well-designed machinery the same way they work in sports and real life activities. You'll hold the weights in different positions behind your legs, in front of your shoulders, above your head and prepare your body for virtually any task. Plus, you'll work your muscles more intensely than you have before, which will stimulate them to grow.
When you see the end results of this program, we're guessing you'll have some new favorite exercises.
THE REST OF YOUR WORKOUT
Do the leg and butt exercises described here before working any other muscle groups. You can do the rest of the lifts in your workout in any order. Try to increase the amount of weight you lift in each exercise by 5 to 10 percent each week.
Most important:
Build strength and muscle size with equal effort on both sides of your body. Working the front and neglecting the back is a recipe for injury.
Some suggestions:
BEGINNER
Do a total-body workout two or three times a week. After you finish these leg and butt exercises, you can try one set of eight to 12 repetitions (except where noted) of the following exercises:
INTERMEDIATE
Divide your program into two workouts, one for upper body, one for lower. Alternate between the two workouts, taking a day off after each. For example, do the lower-body workout shown here on Monday and Friday and an upper-body workout on Wednesday; the following week, do the opposite.
Upper-body workout
Choose one exercise each for "horizontal pulling" (seated or bent-over row), one for "horizontal pushing" (dumbbell or barbell bench press), one for "vertical pulling" (pullup or lat pulldown), and one for "vertical pushing" (dumbbell or barbell shoulder press). Do two or three warmup sets and two work sets. (A work set means you're using the most weight you can for that number of repetitions. The warmup sets should be percentages of that weight—maybe 40, 60, and 80 percent of the work-set weight. Do fewer repetitions in each warmup set.) You can finish with exercises for your biceps and triceps.
Lower-body workout
Do the exercises described here, followed by abdominal exercises.
ADVANCED
Divide your workout into three parts. Do each part once a week, with a day off between workouts.
That's because the most popular exercises for your lower body machine exercises like leg presses, leg extensions, and leg curls allow you to lift heavier weights than their free-weight counterparts. Why? Because they give your body a mechanical advantage.
So even though you're able to lift more iron, you're using less muscle. That puts you at a disadvantage when you're trying to maximize your lower body strength and size.
This chapter will gives you exercises that force your muscles to work without help from well-designed machinery the same way they work in sports and real life activities. You'll hold the weights in different positions behind your legs, in front of your shoulders, above your head and prepare your body for virtually any task. Plus, you'll work your muscles more intensely than you have before, which will stimulate them to grow.
When you see the end results of this program, we're guessing you'll have some new favorite exercises.
THE REST OF YOUR WORKOUT
Do the leg and butt exercises described here before working any other muscle groups. You can do the rest of the lifts in your workout in any order. Try to increase the amount of weight you lift in each exercise by 5 to 10 percent each week.
Most important:
Build strength and muscle size with equal effort on both sides of your body. Working the front and neglecting the back is a recipe for injury.
Some suggestions:
BEGINNER
Do a total-body workout two or three times a week. After you finish these leg and butt exercises, you can try one set of eight to 12 repetitions (except where noted) of the following exercises:
- Lat pulldown
- Dumbbell chest press
- Cable or dumbbell row
- Seated alternating dumbbell press
- Cable triceps extension
- Dumbbell biceps curl
- Crunch (15 to 20 repetitions)
INTERMEDIATE
Divide your program into two workouts, one for upper body, one for lower. Alternate between the two workouts, taking a day off after each. For example, do the lower-body workout shown here on Monday and Friday and an upper-body workout on Wednesday; the following week, do the opposite.
Upper-body workout
Choose one exercise each for "horizontal pulling" (seated or bent-over row), one for "horizontal pushing" (dumbbell or barbell bench press), one for "vertical pulling" (pullup or lat pulldown), and one for "vertical pushing" (dumbbell or barbell shoulder press). Do two or three warmup sets and two work sets. (A work set means you're using the most weight you can for that number of repetitions. The warmup sets should be percentages of that weight—maybe 40, 60, and 80 percent of the work-set weight. Do fewer repetitions in each warmup set.) You can finish with exercises for your biceps and triceps.
Lower-body workout
Do the exercises described here, followed by abdominal exercises.
ADVANCED
Divide your workout into three parts. Do each part once a week, with a day off between workouts.
- Vertical pushing and pulling
- Lower-body exercises, plus abdominals and calves
- Horizontal pushing and pulling
