Pay attention to your legs and you can build a ripped new body from the ground up




By: Robert Dos Remedios, C.S.C.S., Photographs by: Richard Corman











Legs
are the neglected stepchild in physical training. You can always hide
stilts under sweatpants, and it's so easy to display a massive chest
and big arms by washing your T-shirts in hot water. But as a
speed, strength, and conditioning coach, I've watched both athletes and
nonathletes transform their bodies by shifting their training focus to
their legs. Developing the largest muscle groups in your lower
body--your quadriceps, hamstrings, and gluteal muscles--boosts your
metabolism by increasing your body's lean muscle mass. It also revs up
production of hormones that help you build muscle. You'll look leaner
and more muscular, and you'll feel stronger. Check that--you'll be
stronger. Turn the page to see the payoffs. A Stronger Upper Body Training
large muscle groups with heavy lifting produces a natural surge in
growth hormone and testosterone. And there's nothing like squats to
involve the large muscle groups. To perform the following variation on
the squat, you have to activate most of your body's muscles
simultaneously Bulgarian split squat Stand with a
bench behind you and a barbell across the back of your shoulders. Place
your left foot on the bench. Keeping your torso upright, lower your
body until your right thigh is parallel to the floor. Pause, then push
yourself back up. Perform three or four sets of eight to 10 repetitions
on each leg.

















Less Pain If
legs are the least-trained part of the body, hamstrings are the
least-trained part of the legs. Weak hamstrings can cause your hips to
tilt forward, placing stress on your lower back. Building your
hamstrings so they're 60 to 80 percent as strong as your quadriceps
will improve your posture and help keep your body properly balanced. Single-leg Romanian deadlift Grab
a light dumbbell in your right hand and stand on your left foot with
your right foot off the floor. With your left knee slightly bent and
your lower back naturally arched, push your hips backward to begin
lowering the weight. (You should feel a stretch in your hamstrings and
glutes.) Continue lowering the dumbbell as far as you can while keeping
your back flat. Pause, then push through your left heel to return to
the starting position. Do three or four sets of six to 10 repetitions
on each leg.

















More Speed Look
at an NFL running back: chiseled and powerful, with scary-strong
glutes. You can turbocharge your acceleration by increasing the length
and frequency of your strides. The sled drag/lunge walk builds your
hamstrings and glutes (the key muscles for speed) while you pull
horizontally against resistance. Sled drag/lunge walk Attach
a 25-pound weight to a dip belt and put the belt on, with the weight on
the floor behind you. Keeping your torso upright, take a large step
forward with your left foot and lower your body until your left thigh
is parallel to the floor, your knee over your toes. Repeat with your
right foot. Try three or four sets of eight to 10 steps.

















Great Hops To
get higher, think lower-body power. Remember Newton's third law: For
every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. Send more force
into the floor and you'll have a greater blastoff in return. Dumbbell squat jump Stand
holding a pair of dumbbells at arm's length at your sides, your feet
about shoulder-width apart. Bend at the hips and knees to lower your
body as you would during a squat, but lean slightly forward from the
hips so that your shoulders move in front of your feet. Drive your feet
into the floor, then jump straight up. Balance yourself when you land,
and immediately lower yourself into the next squat. Aim for three or
four sets of eight to 10 repetitions.

















Shifty Moves Sports
agility calls for strength and power in the frontal, or side-to-side,
plane of motion. Most people train only in the sagital, or
forward-and-backward, plane. Do these two moves one after another. This
"complex" set couples a strength exercise (the drop lunge) with a power
move (the ice-skater). Perform the complex three times. Drop lunge Stand
with a barbell across the back of your shoulders, feet shoulder-width
apart. With hips facing forward, step back with your right foot and
place it to the left of your left leg as you bend your left knee,
lowering your body. Push back up to the starting position and repeat
with your other leg. Do eight to 10 repetitions with each leg. Ice-skater Stand
on your right leg with your left foot off the floor. Push off with your
right foot, contracting your legs and glutes, to propel yourself to the
left. Land on your left foot and lightly tap your right foot on the
floor for balance before immediately bounding back in the other
direction. Each landing is one repetition. Do eight to 10.








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