Thigh Routines

Thighs Overview

The thighs respond well to lifting with both light and heavy weights (except the isolation exercises for the thighs don’t respond well to using heavy weights for low reps). They are also the largest muscle group in the human body and for this reason should not be neglected.

Stimulating large muscle groups is essential due to the fact that engaging in weight training in general releases various chemicals in the brain and body, including natural growth hormones,  which provide a wide range of health and bodybuilding  benefits. And since the quads are the largest muscle group in the body, working them out releases a larger quantity of these chemicals than exercising any other muscle group.This means that an efficient thigh workout will indirectly affect the size of the rest of your body. So do not ever neglect your again as doing so will make your entire physique suffer. If you must absolutely must neglect a muscle group, make it the biceps or triceps which already receive much stimulation through training the back, chest, and shoulders.

Squats are the main mass builder and overall most significant exercise for the quads, since they allow you to lift with the heaviest amount of weight. When you squat, make sure to keep your lower back as straight as you can. Doing so isolates the quads and takes much of the resistance off your hamstrings and glutes which are virtually impossible to completely dis-involve during squats. Also, do not put any pressure on your knees while you squat. Squats are not a knee exercise, so make sure to put all of the pressure on your legs.

To further isolate the thighs hold a narrow stance with your feet and keep your toes pointed forward rather than outward. Using a wide stance and pointing your toes outward would put more concentration on your hamstrings and glutes, which is something you can always do if your goal is to stimulate those body-parts, but not for your thigh routine. For each repetition go down to about a 90 degree angle or maybe just a little bit further down. Also for leg presses, make sure to plant your feet toward the bottom of the platform to isolate the thighs.

Mass Builders: Squats, Front Squats, Leg Presses, Hack Squats, Smith Machine Squats

Isolation/Shaping Exercises: Leg Extensions, Lunges (for lunges take short strides to isolate the thighs)

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Thigh Routines for Mass

Squats and leg presses, in that order, are the two most essential exercises conducive to perpetuating gains in mass. This is because they provide the greatest capacity to use large amounts of weight. And exercises which allow you to handle more weight per rep necessarily recruit more muscle fibers than those that allow you to carry less.  Many professional routinely squat with 500 pounds of weight but none of them use that much weight for the shoulder press or barbell curl for biceps.

For our mass routines we will concentrate on using heavy weights for relatively low reps, but make sure that you still maintain a strong foundation of proper technique when executing squats. This means that you should not bend your lower back too much or widen your stance in to make the lift easier in order to increase the amount of weight that you lift with. Remember that this is still a thigh routine and that you have to keep the glutes and hamstrings as much out of the lift as possible.

Notes: Squats should be the main focus of mass routines for the quads and this principle is indicative by the fact that 7 sets are allocated them in this sample routine… Although this is a mass routine for bodybuilding, no quad routine is complete without the incorporation of at least one isolation exercise so this is why this sample routine finishes off with 3 sets of leg extensions at the end.

Notes: There are many bodybuilders who have physical issues that hinder them from being able to do squats. This is an alternate routine which accommodates those people. Yes there are only 2 exercises in this routine, but it is awfully difficult to construct a mass routine for the quads with a wide range of exercises which leaves out squads. However this is more possible for other types of thigh routines.

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Balanced Thigh Routines

The quads as mentioned earlier respond well to lifting with both light and heavy weights. Use light weights for isolation exercises because otherwise they wont generate a pump and work your knees more than your thighs. But with mass movements such as squats and leg presses, it is viable to pound away with heavy weights for low reps. As with all of our balanced routines we are striving to formulate a workout which offers the greatest combination of gains in mass in and definition, and thus activates a widest range possible of both slow and fast twitch muscle fibers.

In order to meet these objectives the following routines will consist of a balance of mass movements and isolation exercises as well as a variance of rep ranges.

Notes: For lunges, take relatively short steps to isolate the quads (taking long steps activates more of the glutes and hamstrings)…When Pyramiding up the rack, begin with a weight that you can lift 15 or so times and end with one in which you can only execute 5 or 6.

Notes: This routine utilizes the Smith Machine for squats which is purported by some people to be better to use for injury prevention… This routine also is ideal for those who would like to pre-exhaust the quads with leg extensions before moving on to the compound movements.

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Thigh Routines for Definition

If you would like to own a pair of thighs that are absolutely shredded,  concentrating on isolation exercises and high reps is the way to go. If you couple such a thigh routine with a good bodybuilding diet and efficient cardio, you will eventually have quads with great separation and cross striations.

The following routines will also include bodybuilding special techniques in the form of supersets to put increased tension on the quads and thoroughly pump them up!

Notes: The Superset in this workout takes a lot of heart to execute but is extremely beneficial. For the superset, do not rest during the transitions between exercises but you may rest 25 seconds or so in-between cycles.

Notes: The superset prescribed in this set is a bit milder than the one in “Sample Definition Routine #1″, but it is still very challenging.