Imagine the gym parking lot if everyone did arms and chest day together. Totally packed, cars on cars on cars. Now imagine leg day. Almost empty. Leg day is exhausting and painful, and the next two days of recovery are often even worse. Guys with fantastic arms and abs aren’t so hard to find, and hell yeah women love them. Guys who have legs to match are a little harder to find. Muscular legs, strong knees, hips, and ankles benefit you in numerous ways. Your legs are the biggest muscles you have, and working them out burns calories and releases hormones that help build up muscle all over your body. You’re also less prone to injury and much stronger overall. Here are 7 tips for how to pump up your chicken legs.
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Hit your full range of motion.
One of the most common mistakes in squats is partial squatting. You need to squat deep in order to challenge as many muscles as possible. You’ve got to have good form to get good results. Even if you’re listing heavy weights, if you’re not getting low, you’re not getting the most out of them.
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Make micro gains.
It’s tempting to load up the weights as fast as you possibly can. Don’t give into that temptation. Research shows that you actually make more gains to slower you up your weights. Think upping your weights by a mere 5 percent workout to workout.
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Try out unilateral training.
In other words, make sure that every once in a while you work out one leg at a time. Think single leg squats or lunges to make sure your legs are getting equal treatment.
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Quit cardio.
Good news: you don’t have to combine cardio and leg day. Actually, you’re much better off avoiding cardio altogether for 24 hours post-leg day. Cardio cuts down on your leg gains because it makes it much more difficult to recover. If you’re really looking for muscle growth, decrease your cardio time through the week.
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Eat up, young man.
If you want to get big, you’ve got to feed your body. Dig into lots of protein to ensure that what you’re gaining is muscle, not fat. On average, adding 500 extra calories to your diet allows you to gain about a pound a week.
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Get more sleep.
Sleep is absolutely necessary for so many reasons, and bulking up your legs is one of them. This is because growth hormone is released by your body the most while you’re asleep.
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Be patient.
It can be frustrating to put so much work in only to feel like you’re seeing no results. It’s much worse to push yourself too hard and fail to recover and build muscle. The worst thing is when you push yourself so hard you end up in a cast or on the surgery table. Follow these tips, lift weights, eat well, and wait it out. If you’re still not seeing gains, your body may just be content the way it is.
