10
Minute Leg Exercises For Great Legs
From eDiets - The premier online diet, fitness, and healthy living
resource
Are you making the most of your leg workout? Seriously, do you
really know what you’re doing or are you just going through the
motions?
Veteran fitness expert Brad Schoenfeld has
found that far too many clients slap together a few random lower body
exercises, then grunt and sweat without any real method to their madness.
They do lunges... they do squats... without
knowing squat about what makes an exercise routine effective!
“The thigh is complex. It’s not
just one muscle,” Schoenfeld, the author of the bestselling
Look Great Naked: Slim Down, Shape Up and
Tone Your Trouble Zones in 15 Minutes a Day (Prentice Hall Press),
tells eDiets. You have to target all areas properly without overlapping
exercises.
"The exercises need to work synergistically
with each other to maximally target the thighs. This is one of the biggest
training mistakes people make. They do any three leg exercises: squats, lunges
and leg presses.
“What happens is that you’re
basically working the legs in the same type of movement. There’s not much
difference. They’re all terrific exercises. You just don’t want to do
them in the same workout because the exercises are overlapping each other.
"To have optimal leg development, you have
to hit the leg at different angles. This gives you symmetry and also reduces
the potential for overtraining the legs.”
That’s not the only no-no when it
comes working the thighs.
Schoenfeld says there’s plenty of room
for error when you don’t know what you’re doing. That’s why
he’s here to set the record straight.
His expert advice for great-looking
legs:
DON’T lock your knees when training
your thighs! All too frequently, women completely straighten their legs at
the finish of a rep. Not only does this take stimulation away from the thigh
muscles, but it also places a great deal of stress directly on the joints.
DO stop just short of lockout, keeping
continuous tension on your thighs at all times! There always should be a
slight bend in your knees at the finish position of each move.
DON’T over-exaggerate foot position
when training your thighs! In an effort to work various aspects of the
frontal thigh, it is common to turn the feet in or out during exercise
performance. However, the benefits of this practice are rather subtle, and the
overall effect will be limited. Certainly, you should avoid exaggerating these
foot positions, as it can cause damage to the knee. This is especially
important during closed chain movements where the feet are immobile (such as
the squat, leg press, etc.).
DO keep your feet turned slightly
outward during all closed-chain movements (such as the squat and leg
press)! Doing this allows the patella (knee) to move to its natural arc,
maintaining the integrity of the joint. If you choose to experiment with
different foot positions, do so only in open chain movements, (such as leg
extension) and make sure to stay in a comfortable range.
When done in tandem with healthy eating and
cardio exercise, you can achieve lean, muscular legs. Schoenfeld suggests doing
the following workout one to three times a week with at least 48 hours rest
between. Perform 12 to 15 reps of the Step Up. Without resting, perform 12 to
15 reps of the Seated Leg Lift. Then move onto the Side Lunge without any
rest.
Once you’ve completed all three
exercises, rest one minute and perform the entire set again. Then rest another
minute and perform a final superset.
 Step
Up
Begin by grasping a pair of dumbbells and allow them to hang at your
sides. Stand facing the side of a flat bench with your feet shoulder-width
apart.
Pushing off your right leg, step up with
your left foot and follow with your right foot so that both feet are flat on
the bench.
Step back down in the same order, first
with your left foot and then with your right, returning to the start position.
Seated Single Leg Lift
 Begin by attaching a leg weight to your right ankle. Sit on the
floor, leaning back slightly and supporting your weight with your hands. Bend
your left knee and keep the left foot planted on the floor. Straighten your
right leg and let it hang down a few inches from the ground. Slowly raise your
right leg upward as far as comfortably possible. Contract your right quad and
then reverse direction, returning to the start position. After performing the
desired number of reps, repeat the process on your left.
Side Lunge
 Begin by
assuming a stance slightly wider than shoulder width. Grasp two dumbbells and
hold one in front and one in back of your body.
Keeping your left leg straight, slowly bend
your right knee out to the side until your right thigh is parallel with the
floor. Then, slowly rise back up and repeat this process immediately on your
left.
Look Great Naked: Slim Down, Shape up and Tone Your Trouble
Zones
in Just 15 Minutes a Day
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