Today I got two special guests, Clayton and Arturo, and we’re gonna get after legs. I was talking to them and asked them about their goals and workouts, and Clayton said Arturo is a beast on the bench press, but he has no legs.
I was like, what? Y’all know me! I’m big on squatting for many different reasons! So, they got me going. We started talking about the importance of working on legs. And mind you, I get these guys. I was there too.
In the beginning, all I wanted to do was bench press and curls. But, thinking back, it’s easy to fall into that trap because that’s what you see in the mirror.
But you need to train the whole package. You don’t want to be at the beach wearing sweat pants because you’re too self-conscious about your chicken legs. That’s just like a chubby dude in the pool with a t-shirt, you know what I’m saying?
The good thing is that once you start training legs, they’ll grow pretty fast—if you stay on it, of course. Legs are a big muscle, which means they can take a lot of damage—a lot of punishment. Now, along with that, all the rest of the gains in your body are gonna improve once you start training legs.
The reason for this is that strength training produces a natural HGH and testosterone boost, and since your legs are the biggest muscle group in your body, you’ll get the biggest testosterone boost when you train your legs. This means everything else grows when you train your legs.
Listen, legs are so important to me that I put myself through the Squat Every Day challenge every so often. In this challenge, I go through a squat ascension all the way to a really heavyweight every single day for as many days as possible. It’s not leg day every day (that would mess you up), just a progression to touch your top, and you move on.
First, Squats: Tuning Technique
Technique is crucial when squatting. Many people make the mistake of not paying attention to this until it’s too late. Even worse, some people just start feeling some minor pain, and they still continue doing whatever they are doing and messing themselves up.
So, before we throw anything significantly heavy onto the bar, we gotta make sure our form is on point. Otherwise, we’re setting ourselves up for injury from the very beginning, and we don’t want that. We want an efficient movement that allows us to squat and therefore enjoy the benefits of squatting.
If you’re new to squatting or simply aren’t 100% sure of how you should do it to avoid injury, then I’d suggest you pause for a second and take a look at my post on how to squat to avoid injury. Trust me, it’s simple, but you’ll get a lot out of it.
Breathing The Right Way When You Squat
When you squat, especially if you intend to lift a lot of weight, it’s crucial to make sure you’re breathing the right way. Otherwise, you might be feeling like you’ll get a little light-headed or out of breath. Now, if you’re going for your PR, then you might actually get a little light-headed. But this is normal.
It’s like when doing a 200-meter sprint. If you give it your all, don’t be surprised if by the end, you’re feeling destroyed on the ground and if it takes you a few minutes to “come back to Earth.” When squatting, you wanna take a nice big breath when you’re up, hold it while you go down, and then exhale as you explode on the way up.
Goblet Squats
This type of squat is really good because it gives you a feeling that you’re going down in a straight line, which you also want to feel during regular squats.
Things are a little different when it comes to regular squats because the weight is not completely in front of you. So, you won’t get the exact same feeling. But, Goblet Squats are still very good for honing in on that technique, engaging your core, and building overall strength.
The Bottom Line
Today was just an introduction to training legs for Clayton and Arturo. We just did some basic squat movements with some lightweight to work on technique and get their bodies used to the movements.
We added some Goblet Squat sets to get their blood pumping and maybe even get them a bit sore the next day. Listen, y’all, you gotta start progressively. When you come and train with me, it’s not like I’m going to make you do the stuff I do. I mean, if you’re up for it, you’re welcome.
But in case you’re not, what I’m gonna do is adapt the workout to your physical capabilities—Imma meet you where you are, you know what I’m saying? There’s nothing good out of you trying to do something that your body is not yet strong enough to do—that’s how you get injured.
Anyhow, what are you doing for legs these days? Let me know in the comments!