Knowledge of the Quadricep Tendon and How to Strengthen It
By Zach Bashore of MightyBody.com
Let`s face it, a body with chicken legs looks awful and is the
cornerstone of all bodybuilding jokes. There is nothing worse than going to
the gym and seeing a bodybuilder with a huge upper body and legs that look
as if they`ve never been trained before. Prior knowledge dramatically
influences a person`s decision to train legs and if they don`t know how to
properly train them, then what is the use of doing it? This article is
intended for readers who are interested in improving their knowledge of the
quadriceps muscle and learn proper exercises to make them bigger and more
toned.
The quadriceps muscle consists of many different sections. The
psaos major and minor allows for flexion and lateral rotation. The iliacus
also allows flexion and lateral rotation, while the rectus femoris allows
for flexion and extension. When your hip is flexed, the vastus medialis,
intermedius, and lateralis all allow for extension. The adductor magnus
helps the quad rotate laterally and allows for adduction. Finally, the
adductor brevis and lognus both allow for adduction, medial rotation, and
flexion. These sections may be hard to understand but it`s important
information if you`re looking to build great quads.
Now that you`ve learnt the different sections of the quadriceps
muscle, it`s time to learn some of the exercises used to make them stand
out. Two good bodyweight exercise are the freehand jump squat and an
exercise commonly referred to as the wall sit where you sit on a wall like
there is a chair underneath you and stay in that position until you are
fatigued. My favorite exercises with a dumbbell are the dumbbell squat,
dumbbell lunges, dumbbell step ups, iron cross, plie dumbbell squat, and
dumbbell squat to a bench.
If you have access to machines, leg training is so much easier.
Some of the best exercise that you can do on a machine are the leg press,
leg extension, lying machine squat, hack squat, smith machine squats, thigh
abductor and thigh adductor. Make sure that you use proper form on all of
these exercises. Unproper form can prevent you from reaching your maximum
potential and can also lead to injury.
Alternate your leg workout every week. Change around the number of
reps and sets, do different exercises, change the amount of rest between
sets. Always open up your mind into trying something new. Training legs is
painful and very few people can bare the thought of training them. This is
where dedication comes in handy. If you want it bad enough, you will do it.
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