Tutorial on How to Make Your Legs Bigger

Your legs are among the largest and strongest muscles of your body. And they have to be to support your body weight all day. These muscles are also very resistant to fatigue, as they must constantly work to allow you to walk with ease. Learning how to make your legs bigger is actually quite simple. The difficult part is the time and effort needed to get bigger legs. You must train your legs one to two times per week on a weekly basis. The results should become noticeable if you maintain a consistent training regimen lasting at least 12 weeks.

  1. Front Thighs

    • The largest of the leg muscles are your quadriceps in your front thighs. Training these muscles can be strenuous but surely satisfying. Squats, leg presses, lunges and leg extensions are four key exercises for building this muscle group. In each exercise, you bend and extend your knees. Your quads contract during the extending phase of each exercise. This muscle group best responds to a middle repetition range, such as 10 to 15 reps. Do three to four quad exercises per workout and complete three sets per exercise.

    Rear Thighs

    • The back of your thighs are comprised of the hamstrings. Unlike the quads, this group of muscles best responds to lower repetitions because the muscle fiber composition of the hamstrings is primarily fast-twitch. So, you must keep your reps between six and eight using maximum weight. Also, doing the reps fast and in an explosive fashion will better target the hamstrings. Perform two to three exercises, such as the standing leg curl, lying leg curl and straight-leg deadlift and do three sets per exercise.

    Lower Legs

    • The main muscle group of your lower legs is the triceps surae. It is located at the back of your lower legs. Two of the muscles, the gastrocnemius medial and lateral heads, best respond to a middle-rep range between 10 and 15 reps. The other muscle of the group, the soleus, best responds to higher repetitions, in the 25 to 50 rep range, due its more slow-twitch fiber composition. Do two exercises for the gastrocnemius muscles, such as the standing calf raise and the bent-over calf raise. As for the soleus, do one exercise, such as the seated calf raise. Perform three sets per exercise.

    Tips

    • Before each leg workout, do a 10-minute treadmill or cycling warm-up. Do a similar cooldown to finish off your workouts. You can train all your leg muscles during a single workout, but it is recommended you do your quadriceps on one workout and your hamstrings and lower legs in a separate workout. This will allow you to focus on each muscle group sufficiently, without rushing through the exercises just to get them done.