The muscles of your thighs and hips are some of the largest in your body. That means leg workouts not only burn a ton of energy, but they also require producing that energy as quickly as possible to keep those legs going.<\/p>\n
So, if you want great legs, you\u2019re going to have to earn \u2019em.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s good news, though: You don\u2019t have to cram all of your lower-body exercises into a single, scorching leg day workout each week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, if you only work your legs once a week, you\u2019ll be shortchanging your results,\u201d says Trevor Thieme, C.S.C.S.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because muscle protein synthesis (a.k.a. muscle growth) lasts for up to 48 hours after a strength-training session.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo if you work your legs at least a couple of times a week \u2014 with adequate rest between those workouts \u2014 you can potentially keep your muscles in a constant state of adaptation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adaptation equals growth and greater strength. Maximize both by adding two to three exercises from the list below \u2014 all pulled from OzHelp\u2019s extensive collection of expert-designed programs\u00a0\u2014 to your leg workouts a few times a week.<\/p>\n
But keep in mind that if you\u2019re already doing a\u00a0OzHelp\u00a0program, your legs are probably getting plenty of work already.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be afraid to mix and match, picking different moves or combination of moves each time and exercises that target different muscle groups.<\/p>\n