LEGS
Your legs contain some of the largest muscles in your body. For the purpose of weightlifting, most experts divide the legs into four separate muscle groups: quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and anterior tibialis. The quadriceps and hamstrings act at the knee joint, and the calves and anterior tibialis act at the ankle joint.
Quadriceps: The large group of muscles on the front of the upper leg, often referred to as the thighs. Your quadriceps are so named because they are a group of four (quad = four) different muscles: the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, and vastus intermedialis. The quadriceps run along the front of the thigh, starting at the hip joint and ending at the knee joint. The quadriceps' primary function is to flex the hip and extend the knee, very important in walking, running, jumping, climbing, and pedaling.
| Muscles worked: |
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Primary: Quadriceps
Secondary: Hamstrings, Buttocks |
| Instructions: |
- Stand before a bar set on a rack at about chest height, grasping a barbell with palms down.
- Place the barbell behind and below your neck and evenly across your trapezius muscles and shoulders.
- Your back should be straight, your feet hip-width apart with toes pointed forward.
- Your knees should be slightly bent and your back should have a slight forward lean.
- Squat down keeping your shins close to perpendicular to the floor until your thighs are approximately parallel to the floor.
- You should be looking upwards, your upper torso slightly leaned forward and your lower back slightly curved inward or straight.
- Now stand up to the starting position forcing your hips in and your head up.
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| Don'ts: |
- Don't allow your back to hunch over at any time. Try to keep good posture with your upper back straight and your lower back slightly arched.
- Don't allow your knees to move farther forward than your toes. This increases the risk of a knee injury and throws of posture.
- Don't squat down farther than your quadriceps being parallel to the floor.
- Don't bounce or jerk your body in an attempt to gain momentum.Always move in a very slow, controlled manner.
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| Alternate exercises: |
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| Note: |
- Be sure to wear a weightlifting belt on this exercise for back support.
- This exercise is advanced and therefore should only be done by experienced weightlifters. We strongly recommend having a certified personal trainer instruct and watch you perform this exercise to assure that you are using proper technique.
- We recommend having a "spotter" to assure your safety and give you verbal feedback on your lifting technique while performing this exercise.
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Below is a list of the most effective strength-training exercises for your legs. Included with each exercise is the specific muscle group/s worked, a thorough explanation of how to do each exercise, common mistakes you should avoid, and a list of alternate exercises that work the same muscle group. Also, to assure safety and effectiveness, those exercises that are advanced, that require the use of a weightlifting belt, or that require a spotter are so indicated.
 This site takes advantage of the latest QuickTime technology to display our exercise video demonstrations. If you're having problems viewing these video demonstrations, you can download the latest version of QuickTime by clicking here, FREE of charge. And always feel free to e-mail us if you'd like our help.
 If you'd like to view and print out all of these exercise instructions in an easy-to-follow "manual" format, please click here for the PDF version. Each and every exercise includes the beginning and midpoint images of the video demonstration so that you'll have a visual to compliment the text instructions. You'll need the Adobe Acrobat application, but this is likely already installed on your computer. If not, please go to http://www.adobe.com to download the latest version, free of charge.
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