What to Do When Your Legs Aren't Growing - Practical Recommendations

Leg muscles are one of the least trained muscle groups, besides the stabilizing muscles. Leg muscle exercises practiced by gym enthusiasts are often schematic and do not consider the correct technique. Many of them are not interested in well-developed leg muscles for various reasons. However, in the gym, one can also meet people who are interested in well-developed leg muscles. Not without reason there are legends about people who vomited during or after leg training, in order to break stagnation. Here it is worth asking whether such extreme exhaustion of the body is necessary? In my opinion, it is not, especially for people who exercise recreationally. It is only important to plan the leg muscle training well and consider several key issues that I would like to discuss in the following text.

A fundamental set of exercises for the leg muscles, including squats, steps, and extensions, can be considered to be focused on the growth of the quadriceps muscles. It is good when there are sometimes bends on the machine and lunges or pressures. This plan can be checked, but it is too schematic and does not take into account many significant aspects that can lead to problems in development. The most significant challenge is the incompleteness of the training programs, which do not take into account the correct involvement of all muscles. We must be aware that more than half of our muscle potential is located in the lower half of the body, where the buttocks, quadriceps, calf muscles (not just the two-headed thigh muscle) and the entire complex of calf muscles dominate. We should not forget the adductors either. This area of the body should be a priority in all training plans, regardless of our specific goals.

We will start by discussing the muscle group that includes the largest and strongest muscle in the human body. These are the gluteal muscles, which are primarily composed of the largest muscle - the gluteus maximus. These muscles connect our torso with the legs and pelvis. Due to their central location, they are involved in many functions, such as bending and straightening, sitting, walking, and stabilizing the torso. From the above information, it can be seen that these muscles are of great importance to our body. However, do you know if there are exercises in your current training plan that activate these muscles primarily? In training exercises for the lower body, movements that engage these muscles should not be missing - it is the so-called hinge movement (hip hinge), which involves bending and straightening in the hip joint. The main muscles responsible for this movement are the gluteal muscles together with the ischiocrural muscles. What exercises should be chosen? Here are some suggestions: hip thrust and glute bridge, deadlift and its variations, kettlebell swing, and squats. It is also worth mentioning that the selection of training parameters should depend on the structure of the muscles. The gluteal muscles show differences in structure and muscle fiber content, which affects their optimal training parameters.

The next group of muscles that we should pay attention to are the posterior thigh muscles, which are located behind the thigh. They consist of three muscles: the double-headed thigh, the semicircular thigh, and the half-thigh muscles. The biceps femoris muscle is located in the outer half, while the other muscles build the back of the thigh on the inside. The semicircular and half-thigh muscles have a larger content than the biceps femoris muscles. The posterior thigh muscles are characterized by differentiation in the horizontal plane and are morphologically divided into an upper and lower region. Therefore, it is important to vary the exercises appropriately in order to develop the posterior thigh muscles comprehensively. They are engaged during the bending of the knee and the extension of the hip joint with the help of the gluteal muscles. But why are the posterior thigh muscles so important? The first reason is that weak posterior thigh muscles can cause knee pain, which can make future training difficult, where the bending of the knee and its extension is required, especially the training of the four-headed muscles. Weakened, tense, and shortened muscles are one of the causes for the occurrence of forward pelvic tilt or overdevelopments in the knees, which certainly does not have a positive effect on the figure. The biceps femoris muscles are prone to strains during sprinting or jumping. Simple conclusion - one tears the biceps femoris muscle, one stops training, i.e. if one does not train these muscles, one is on the direct path to injury! The most important exercise that engages the posterior thigh muscles is the Nordic Hamstring Curl. According to studies, this exercise significantly reduces the number of injuries to the posterior thigh muscles. In addition, it uses the extended eccentric phase, which can lead to an increase in hypertrophy of up to 13%. One must not forget the deadlift, which engages the posterior thigh muscles with high intensity, through which the introduction of this exercise can also help to break the plateau of the leg muscles.

The quadriceps femoris muscles are the most popular group of leg muscles, including the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius, and vastus medialis oblique (VMO) muscles. When it comes to training, the focus should be on exercises such as squats and unilateral exercises on one leg. However, performing squats without prior training of the quadriceps muscles will not help to overcome a plateau. If someone has weak gluteal muscles and a weak posterior wall, their squatting strength will be low in terms of strength, structure, and possibly technique, and the quadriceps muscles will have to compensate for this weakness, which will prevent them from performing their function and hinder their development. Unilateral exercises are very important for the development of the quadriceps muscles, as they engage the VMO, which is responsible for stabilizing the knee and maintaining proper patellar position. If the inner muscle is weak, the vastus lateralis will have to take over the work as a knee stabilizer, although it is classified as a global mobilizer that aims to overcome external resistance, such as lifting weights. Increasing the strength of the VMO improves the performance of the vastus lateralis, leading to an increase in this muscle. The best unilateral exercises are: Poliquin Step Up, Side Step Up, Bulgarian Squat, and Lunge on an elevated surface. The vastus lateralis muscle has a predominance of fast-twitch fibers of type II in a ratio of 75:35, while the rectus femoris has a ratio of 65:45, and the vastus intermedius has a balanced distribution of muscle fibers [8]. The predominance of slow-twitch fibers is only observed in the VMO. In most exercises, 5-10 repetitions should be performed, the number of sets can vary (e.g., 3-6), and the pace can be completely varied, from 1 0 1 0 to 4 0 1 0, with breaks of 60-180 seconds. Additionally, the training of the VMO should be taken into account by choosing unilateral exercises, increasing the number of repetitions to 12-15 in 2-3 sets with an extended tempo from 3 0 1 0 to 4 0 1 0, and short breaks.

When it comes to the lower portion of the leg, most of the essential information can be found in the lower leg exercises article. And I can add that an excellent way to overcome the stagnation of muscles in the lower portion of the leg is to activate them before multi-joint exercises. If you perform lower leg raises before squats, you allow them to work at the limit of their endurance, as the leg cannot lift 100 kg on its own, while in a squat it's entirely possible. This allows for high intensity work, which can be a significant growth stimulus for the muscles in the lower portion of the leg.

Disregarding the aforementioned exercises can result in diminished muscle function and a decrease in the motion system's efficiency below 100%. What does this mean for the figure? Debilitated muscles will not be able to perform their tasks, thus they will be overloaded by other muscles or structures that are not engineered for these movements (but they must assist). Consequently, they will not develop correctly, which can lead to motion disorders and stagnation. To prevent this, all the aforementioned exercises should be incorporated and a training plan should be devised, considering the anatomy and function of the muscles.

In the process of creating any training plan, the most crucial aspect is the selection of exercises and training parameters. The choice of exercises has been discussed earlier in the article. However, it is necessary to bring up the matter of training parameters. Training parameters are the number of repetitions, the number of sets, the tempo, the time under tension (TUT), the rest time, the number of exercises in the training unit, and the number of exercises in the weekly microcycle, which all contribute to the volume, intensity, and frequency. The matter becomes complicated here because the training parameters are influenced by variables such as muscle group, muscle morphology, exercise, training phase, goal, and level of progress of each individual. Each parameter can be different, making the number of possible combinations vast. It cannot be guaranteed that the solutions mentioned above will be effective for everyone. However, they are universal as they can increase by as much as 20% in the accumulation phase and decrease in the intense squeezing phase, leading to a maximum growth in intensity. The proper selection of training parameters will form the basis of training that will help us overcome stagnation.