Let`s face it, a body with chicken legs looks awful and is the cornerstone of all bodybuilding jokes. There is nothing worse than going to the gym and seeing a bodybuilder with a huge upper body and legs that look as if they`ve never been trained before. Prior knowledge dramatically influences a person`s decision to train legs and if they don`t know how to properly train them, then what is the use of doing it? This article is intended for readers who are interested in improving their knowledge of the quadriceps muscle and learn proper exercises to make them bigger and more toned.

The quadriceps muscle consists of many different sections. The psaos major and minor allows for flexion and lateral rotation. The iliacus also allows flexion and lateral rotation, while the rectus femoris allows for flexion and extension. When your hip is flexed, the vastus medialis, intermedius, and lateralis all allow for extension. The adductor magnus helps the quad rotate laterally and allows for adduction. Finally, the adductor brevis and lognus both allow for adduction, medial rotation, and flexion. These sections may be hard to understand but it`s important information if you`re looking to build great quads.

Now that you`ve learnt the different sections of the quadriceps muscle, it`s time to learn some of the exercises used to make them stand out. Two good bodyweight exercise are the freehand jump squat and an exercise commonly referred to as the wall sit where you sit on a wall like there is a chair underneath you and stay in that position until you are fatigued. My favorite exercises with a dumbbell are the dumbbell squat, dumbbell lunges, dumbbell step ups, iron cross, plie dumbbell squat, and dumbbell squat to a bench.

If you have access to machines, leg training is so much easier. Some of the best exercise that you can do on a machine are the leg press, leg extension, lying machine squat, hack squat, smith machine squats, thigh abductor and thigh adductor. Make sure that you use proper form on all of these exercises. Unproper form can prevent you from reaching your maximum potential and can also lead to injury.

Alternate your leg workout every week. Change around the number of reps and sets, do different exercises, change the amount of rest between sets. Always open up your mind into trying something new. Training legs is painful and very few people can bare the thought of training them. This is where dedication comes in handy. If you want it bad enough, you will do it.

http://www.shape.com/workouts/11 http://www.nanbf.org/workouts/Quad%20Workout.pdf http://www.frsa.com/lindaquad.html http://www.ivillage.co.uk/dietandfitness/getfit/cardio/qas/0,,255_159440,00.html http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.php?Real_New=%3C%3D+7&Name=&MainMuscle=Quadriceps&Equip=Dumbbell&Isolation=&order=Name http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KFY/is_1_22/ai_113540553 - 34k http://www.femalemuscle.com/fitness/exercises/quads.html http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.php?Real_New=%3C%3D+7&Name=&MainMuscle=Quadriceps&Equip=BodyOnly&Isolation=&order=Name

Zach Bashore January 23, 2006