Don't Take Your Legs for Granted
By Brad Scott
Most people take their legs for granted and do not give their legs the attention they deserve in their strength and conditioning program; especially men. The largest and most powerful muscles in your body are in your legs.
Your legs are made up of an intricate maze of muscles grouped into three main categories: quadriceps, hamstrings and calves. The quadriceps consists mainly of four large muscle groups that allow you to extend (or straighten) your legs, as well as, the capability to cross one leg over the other. Your hamstrings consists of many muscle groups extending from the hip to the knee and allow you to contract (or curl) your legs. Lastly, your calf muscles run from the knee to the ankle and control contraction, extension and flexion of the foot. This is an oversimplified description of the major leg muscle groups. There are several muscles in the leg that control everything from sitting in a chair, running 5-miles or simply wiggling your toes.
Due to the complexity of the leg muscles and the daily abuse you put your legs through, you need to understand why and how to keep them strong and working for you. Let's start with the why. Image just for a moment your legs were not strong enough to support your weight and daily needs. Walking around, standing, sitting, and running all becomes obsolete. And that is what we do daily with our legs. If you were to wear a pedometer for 1-week, you would be surprised how many miles you put on your legs. You treasure your legs and the capabilities they give you, but do you spend enough time training your legs?
Knowing that your legs are exercising with every step you take and every stand-up/sit down movement you make, you can understand that without even trying, your legs become the most powerful muscles in your body. How long do you think you would last if you had to walk around on you hands all day? So when it comes to training your legs, you have to push them past your typical comfort zone. Leg muscles should be trained at a high intensity. This elevated intensity can be caused with added resistance, increased speed, increased repetitions or a combination of any of the previous mentioned.
For example, you stand up and sit down several times throughout the day, so doing 1 body squat should not be a big deal. Now try doing 50 body squats in less than 60 seconds. Or how about doing 20 body squats on 1 leg. Or doing 8 body squats with 135 pounds on your back. Any of these exercises will overload your leg muscles and cause them to adapt which means and increase in strength for you. And that is the goal.
As you grow older, you want you legs to be able to carry you past your golden years. In order to do this, take the time in your strength and conditioning program to work on your legs. Provide them with muscular strength training and muscular endurance training for good balance.
Live for the Moment.....Exercise for Life
About the Author:
Brad Scott is Owner and President of Sport and Life Fitness in Melbourne Florida. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and is a Certified Fitness Trainer and Specialist in Sports Conditioning with the International Sports Sciences Association. With over 20 years of experience, Brad offers a wide variety of fitness solutions for most anyone. Visit him online at www.SportAndLifeFitness.com today and start your fitness journey.