See ya later chicken legs!

I was training legs the other day and in between sets I had a look around to see what other people in my gym were up to (who doesn’t?). I noticed this one huge guy who looked like some villain from the Terminator film! He had these bulging biceps (not far of the size of my head!) and vascular veins popping out – thicker than my fingers! Then I looked at his legs…

Oh boy they were literally like stick insects, it looked as though someone had plonked a hench upper body on two pencils (no joke!). It looked very odd!

Building the wheels… 

If you look at the picture at the top of this blog you can see that back in 2012 I had chicken legs (cock-a-doodle-doo!). Seriously Kate Moss had bigger legs than me back then. The reason why? well I barely trained them and when I did I didn’t train them properly. I’ve worked hard the last 4 years to build up the strength and size of my wheels and it’s paid off! I’d like to help those of you who want a pair of quadzilla’s (mahussiveee legs!) and that’s what inspired me to write this blog…

How to Build an Athletic Pair of Wheels! 4 Quick Training Tips for Legs…

1) Compound Lifts

Compound lifts give you the most bang for your buck as they recruit more overall muscle mass. There’s no doubt about it that the ‘squat’ is the Mac Daddy of all leg exercises (if you do them properly!). Nothing will add thickness and size to your overall legs quicker than these mass building movements. Exercises like the squat, Romanian deadlift and leg press will work wonders at slapping on thigh muscle tissue. Make-sure you log your lifts and aim to progressively get stronger and watch those twigs turn into solid oak trees!

2) High Reps, Low Reps and Everything in between…

I’ve found that mixing up rep ranges works wonders for leg growth. I typically start my leg sessions with heavy work for example I’ll do squats. As I progress through the session my rep range increases at each exercise. For example i’ll do something like this:

1. Squat (low reps 5-8)
2. Leg press  (medium reps 10-15)
3. Leg extension (high reps 20-30)

The aim is to recruit maximum muscle at the start of the session using a heavy compound lift (low reps) and then to progressively fill the muscle with blood (higher reps). For my last exercise, which is typically a leg extension I will complete anywhere between 20 and 30 reps (occasionally 50 if i’m feeling brave!).

3) Frequency is Key 

I talk about this a lot and i’m going to talk about it some more! If you want to grow muscle you have to practice, frequency is a great way to bring up a weaker muscle. At the moment I train legs 2x per week, however last year I was training them on average 3x per week and they grew like crazy. If your only training your legs once per week your missing a trick! I’d recommend doing 2-3 sessions to make them pins grow!

4) Sprint like Usain bolt on Redbull

Something i’ve only really incorporated the past 2-3 months but wowza! What a game changer! Ever since i’ve done sprints my legs have shot up to a whole new level. I’m a BIG fan of track sprints (100m, 200m and 400m). The aim of sprint sessions is maximum speed, and effort. Sessions are typically short but extremely intense. I also like to do sprints on the spin bike (more forgiving on the knees!). Here’s a couple of typical sprint sessions that i’d do each week:

1. Session 1: Track Sprints – 2 x 100m sprints (rest 60s between sets), 2 x 200m sprints (rest 60s between sets), 1 x 400m sprint (and then collapse on the floor!)
2. Session 2: Spin bike – 20s cycling as fast as possible followed by 40s slow cycling (to recover), repeat this 10x, totalling 10 minutes

NOW Go & Build Some Fine Oaks…

Apply these 4 tips for the next few months and I promise you that you’ll be able to say “Adios to those chicken legs!”

I hope you enjoyed reading, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to give me a holla – Email Me Now or feel free to leave a comment below (whatever suits you best amigo!)

👱💪 Nick