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There is no doubt that all females who work out want to have killer legs. In this Killer Legs series, I am going to break down your leg training regimen to make sure that you ladies are doing the best things you can to get those killer pipes. What are you doing to achieve this goal? What is lagging? Is it your quadriceps (quads), hamstrings, or calves? What part of your legs do you want to look better? Well, no matter what your answer to that question is we are going to discuss it either in this article or in the upcoming articles. In this article, we will discuss the quadriceps muscles, and in Parts Two and Three we will discuss the hamstrings and calves respectively.

 

Just in case you are not familiar with the quadriceps, they are the four muscles in the front of the legs (aka your thighs). Those four muscles are the vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius, vastus medialis, and rectus femoris. The muscle that many females want to see be “more toned” is the vastus medialis. That is the muscle that is on the inside of your knee. It can also be one of the hardest muscles to develop with most current training programs. Many people overdevelop their outer quad muscles and under develop their vastus medialis. However, we will focus on ALL of the muscles equally in this article.

 

Three Exercises to Blast Your Quadriceps

 

1. Front Squats: The Queen of all Quadricep Exercises

 

Squats, squats, and more squats! In our most recent article we discussed the importance of squatting for females. However, the squats I want to focus on for your quadricep development is front squats. The front squat places more emphasis on your quadriceps because of the bar placement and because you maintain a more upright back position. The bar is on the front of your shoulders instead of the back (usually placed right above your collarbones). Thus, it involves your quadriceps more because it is farther forward in the frontal plane. Also, the bar placement will not allow you to bend over that far at the hips otherwise the bar will fall off your chest forward. Thus, you must stay more upright, placing more emphasis on your legs than the regular back squat will. The emphasis here should be on staying in the 3-8 rep range. Breathing can become very difficult when doing front squats, which is why I recommend that rep range. You want the focus here on your quads, not on your breathing.

 

2. Static Front Squat Holds

 

This is an exercise that is not used very often, but can be used to really place a large emphasis on your quads. You perform a regular front squat, but once you are at the hardest point (the sticking point) you just stay there for approximately 10-30 seconds. Try to perform 3 sets of 1 repetition (of 10-30 seconds). This sticking point is usually right at or just above parallel. You will know it is a great spot to do the “hold” at because your quadriceps will most likely begin to shake after about 15 seconds. They may even begin to shake sooner depending on your current leg development and fitness level.

 

3. Leg Extensions + Holds

 

It has been discussed at length that leg extensions can be bad for your knees. They can be bad for your knees if they are done incorrectly. Yes, they can place a lot of torque on your knee. However, I am going to recommend another variation of the regular movement. I am going to recommend a leg extension with a hold at the end. The part of the leg extension that causes the torque is right in the middle (when your leg is still halfway bent). However, when it is completely straight, it is a complete nonissue again. So, let’s do a set of 5 regular leg extensions, but at the end of each one hold it (with your leg completely locked) for 5 seconds. I call this the 5x5x5 set/rep scheme. That is 5 sets of 5 reps plus a 5 second hold at the end of each rep. This is one of the most difficult exercises I have ever done!

 

By the 5th set my legs are crying for mercy. Normally I would begin with front squats or front squat holds, so by the time I got to this exercise my quads were already feeling like Jell-O. Start off lighter with this exercise because it is harder than you think! Plus, it can cause a crazy amount of soreness if you have not done any sort of static holds before. So, if you are relatively new, start off really light. If you are a really well conditioned athlete – go ahead and go to max! You will see what you are made of in a hurry.

 

Summary

 

The three exercises I recommended were: Front Squats, Static Front Squat Holds, and Leg Extension + Hold (5x5x5 style). I am guessing you are not implementing these exercises. The reason I say I bet you are not, is because I don’t think I have ever seen a female doing ALL three of these exercises, let alone even one! If you want to see MORE results in a certain area, you must do more specific work with that targeted muscle group. These three exercises will get you well onto your way to getting your thighs looking a lot better.

 

Obviously you are going to be better off if your diet is in order and if you add cardiovascular training into your regimen. Those are sort of the unwritten rules of shaping your legs the way you want them. As long as you are disciplined with your leg training and you train smart, you can see the results you want.

 

Be sure to watch out for Parts Two and Three of this series to learn how to take your hamstrings and calves to the next level.

 

Jessica Gereau – Jessica has a BS in Kinesiology from San Francisco St. University. Before becoming a certified personal trainer she achieved a personal weight loss of 60+ lbs, and this has motivated her to help others obtain similar goals. She founded Gym Class Fitness Studio in the Bay Area as a place where people can learn what she learned along the way - that cookies are a part of life, and the hard way is the only way. Jessica currently carries certifications for ACSM and NASM.