Thigh Workouts
Sports science has proven that great thigh workouts are the key to building your entire physique and burning fat, so to not work them properly you are losing out big time.
First I’d like to explain the point above, and then I’ll get into how you can go about quickly building your thighs into the big, shapely, and powerful muscles you want.
Not only is having a huge and powerful pair of thighs great for aesthetic purposes, but if you are a sports participant, then they can boost your performance immensely. In fact, the only sport I can think of, off the top of my head where big strong thighs probably aren’t important, is darts!
The thighs (also known as the quadriceps) are the largest, most powerful muscles in the entire human body. You are probably aware of the fact that exercise produces testosterone and growth hormone, which is the key to building muscles. Well, by working your thighs to the point of fatigue, you’ll experience a huge boost in testosterone and growth hormone which will flood your entire body – meaning other muscles you’ve worked, such as the biceps, chest, etc, will also grow. So, skimping on the thighs is a huge mistake.
Not only this, but growth hormone is known to help burn fat – so if you are interested in losing fat and shaping up, you’d be nuts to pass up on the great benefits to be had from working your thighs.
Ok. We’ve established it’s great to build your thighs. Now, I’d like to show you how it’s done, as quickly and as safely as possible.
Right. Without doubt, the best exercise to help you build power in your thighs is known as the squat. It is performed using a straight barbell. In order to do this, I would recommend you go to a gym and use a proper squat rack or a power rack – and practice performing it using weights which aren’t challenging, for now.
It is very difficult to exhaustively explain how to perform this exercise; as entire chapters of books – complete with detailed step-by-step images – have been used to explain this in minute detail, but, I’ll do my best to give you some idea, including some important pointers to keep in mind.
The squat is performed using a barbell, and the movement begins from inside of a squat rack, or a power rack. The lift begins with the person getting under the bar, allowing the barbell to run across the back of their shoulders, supported by their hands at a comfortable position outside of the shoulder. The head should be facing forward at all times.
The stance should be feet at shoulder width apart or slightly more, toes slightly outward. Knees should be bent, and the back should be locked rigid (this is very important, never round the back at any time during squats.)
Now, powering up using the thighs, keeping your stance and back set, still facing forward, lift the bar from the rack and straighten up – and if you are in a squat rack, take a few steps forward to where you’ll begin lifting.
Now, standing upright, once again, set you feet shoulder width apart, toes outward again. Keeping your face looking forward, your back locked out, slowly descend until the crease of your groin/thigh is slightly lower than your knee. DO NOT BOUNCE.
And, in a smooth, controlled motion, push back up into the starting position. While doing this, try to keep your shinbones as perpendicular to the floor as possible. That is, not inward, or outward, but straight up. It is perfectly normal, and inevitable that your shinbones will lean forward during the movement, and also, depending upon your physical dimensions (long legs, short body / short legs, long body) your body will find it’s position of balance to perform the squat – so don’t expect to be able to perform it in the exact same way as someone with different physical dimensions to you.
Like much of weightlifting, it’s about how you can perform lifts comfortably for your own body type, and do so safely, that counts.
For a combination of strength and size, performing 5 reps for 3 sets is a good place to start. And because the thighs are capable of recovering very quickly, it is perfectly fine to do squats up to 3 times a week, providing at least one day of rest is had in between.
Try it, and I guarantee you, within a few months you’ll have bigger, stronger thighs than you’ve ever had in your entire life.
