The developing lagging leg let you down about your workout? Ok, the three fast fixes by Jim Stoppani, PhD will help you, they include Fine-tune your quad, hamstring, and calf training.
Yeah, I suppose to cover a big picture when it comes to leg training, which is: the big lifts of big weights for the biggest amount of muscle mass. This is a proven notion. And the three most problems to most of exercisers include the quadriceps “teardrop”, the inner hamstrings, and the outer calves. So if you are in trouble with any of these areas, here is where you can get effective solutions.
Quadriceps “teardrop”
According to fashion trends, this is favorite place for board shorts, however, this doesn’t mean that the lower quads appear to be invisible when you wear a pair. The area which tends to be visible most is the teardrop muscle which is just above the knee, on the inside side of the leg. There are some exercises and tips for you to deal with this area more strictly.
Firstly, don’t make too much focus on barbell squats when you are planning to improve the teardrop. It has been proven that as the range of motion is limited, the focus of the lift will change to more the quads, then to the glutes and hamstrings.
This, generally, opposes two different choices: Focusing on your squats and stop enhancing teardrop, or reducing the range of motion and sacrificing hamstring and glute strength. But here you will be taught to gain both without any sacrifice or lose. Yeah, let’s change every other squat workout by either lifting heavy weight with a limited range of motion or reducing weight and going full depth.
The tow exercises which specifically deal with the teardrop most effectively are leg extensions and leg presses, which require your feet to turn outward during the execution. So remember to add both of them to your routine on a regular basis if you target to improve your lower-body.
Inner hamstrings
Most guys assume that there’s only one muscle back hamstring. But the fact happens differently. While the biceps femoris accounts for a great number of your hamstring mass, there are two different muscles that make up the hammies, they are the semimembranosus and semitendinosus, which are important components of the inner hamstrings. So if you direct most of your workouts to leg curls, then your outer hamstrings will probably neglect your inners.
To deal with this imbalance, let’s add Romanian deadlifts to your ham workouts, which will help for overall mass building, especially the area of the hip joint, and the seated leg curls as well, which more emphasis the semimembranosus and semitendinosus than the biceps femoris do. Plus, as you do lying leg curls, turn your feet in further so that the focus will be toward the inner hams.
Outer calves
It is no doubt that calves are one of the most toughest muscle group to reinforce. While many people assume that their genetics are due to poor development of, it’s the poor work ethic that is the culprit. As you put in the work consistently, your calves will certainly recreate. It means that every guy, even those who are in decent calf size has the medial gastrocnemius more developed than lateral gastrocnemius. This demonstrates a study discovering that the inner calf head get supported more than the outer one when it comes to a standard calf development, where the toes are pointed straight ahead.
However, another study shows that turning your toes in while performing calf raises directs more focus on the outer head. So, it is advised to adjust your feet around hip-width apart and your toes turned in toward each other the most possible, and then you will get a cow with your calf raises!
Final verdicts
It’s time to wrap up my article. Are you clear about the three powerful fixes for lower-body? Let’s set schedule to implement them for more attractive low-body.
Diana Paul is a certified nutritionist who writes for leading health blogs. She is a master herbalist, yoga teacher, forager, and wild-crafting writer She is focused on helping people transform life blocks to opportunities. Based in NYC, she often holds health seminars and lectures.