LEGS: SQUAT THEM UP!!!

Often I notice many people in gym concentrating very hard on the upper body and neglecting their lower body all together. In-fact majority of lifters don't have a leg workout plan in their routine at all. The major reason behind this is that leg muscles are covered all the time, hence do not come under the category of 'showy' muscles such as arms and chest.However neglecting your lower body is not very healthy and is bad as far as overall posture is concerned.

First of all having a ripped and muscular upper body with tooth pick legs doesn't look great. Imagining of a person with bulging chest, huge arms, broad shoulders and a wide muscular back with thin legs appears nothing short of a cartoon character. This is a perfect example of disproportionate physique by neglecting a muscle group.


Secondly, having a strong lower body adds strength and muscle to the upper body as well. Legs are as important as your biceps. Building muscle depends on two factors: One is localized concentration in which you break a particular muscle fibre and then repair/ build them through proper nutrition. Other is through secretion of body building hormones such as testosterone which are released every time you train a muscle. Following the first approach solely, i.e training a particular muscle group over and over again falsely drives the body into injury mode and muscle building halts. So it is necessary to train all the muscles equally. One important point here is that quadriceps is the largest and most powerful muscle in the entire body. As a result you can stress them using heavy poundages which subsequently leads to more secretion of anabolic muscle building hormones resulting in overall development of body. These hormones play a big part in determining how much muscle mass someone can physically gain.

The third factor why leg workout should not be avoided is that this prevents us from many injuries that can happen with a weak lower body, hamstring pull and groin injuries common among them.

Running on a treadmill or sweating on a cross trainer does not constitute a complete leg workout plan. A big muscle such as quadriceps needs bigger resistance to stimulate muscular growth. So don't avoid your leg workouts if you want to have a balanced and strong overall physique.