How to build up your leg muscles fast

Aside from hogging equipment, failing to put dumbbells back where they came from and staring inappropriately at the hot girl bouncing up and down on the treadmill, one of the most common mistakes men make in the gym is to spend hours working on their chest, arms and stomach while ignoring a much more important muscle group - the legs.

The biggest muscles in the body are in the legs, so why are they often overlooked during workouts? The truth is, many of us men skip leg exercises because we want big arms, washboard abs and tight pecs, even though legs are the more important for developing overall mass and a strong core. Also, never underestimate how much ladies love a nice set of pins.

Personal trainer Gavin Walsh explains why building up leg muscles is so important: "Guys often overlook their legs when it comes to training and pay too much attention to the so-called 'mirror muscles': the chest, biceps and abs. What they don't realise is that by exercising their legs they'll be able to increase muscle tone throughout the body via an increase in testosterone."

Fine-tune your metabolism

As well as boosting muscle mass, adding bulk to your legs will also fine-tune your metabolism and help you burn through more fat. Walsh says: "Those looking to lose their belly will also be missing out if they neglect their leg muscles. The more muscle tone you have throughout the body, the more chub you can burn when you're not exercising. If you're not training your legs, you'll be missing out on their huge calorie burning capabilities. After all, the leg muscles are large and will provide a big increase in calorie expenditure and an increase in your metabolism."

Look better As well as head-to-toe fat burn, there is a more simple aesthetic benefit to working your leg muscles - you'll look better without any clothes on.

Walsh continues: "Nobody likes to look like they've got two shoelaces for legs, so it's important to train the lower body as well as the upper. Of course the upper body muscles are important, but women like a man who is in proportion. So you'd be wise to get your fill of squats and lunges so that you don't feel embarrassed when confronted with getting a bit of leg out." 

Switching on your core Once you've committed to giving your legs the same level of attention as you give your 'mirror muscles', it's time to pledge to stick to a training programme that helps you reap the aforementioned benefits.

Walsh explains how to build leg workouts into your fitness programme: "There are two methods for training the legs. One is the more traditional approach of a split routine whereby you train different parts of the body on different days. For example, chest on Monday, back on Tuesday, legs on Wednesday.

"However, I prefer to train myself and my clients with full body workouts throughout the week where you target various muscle groups in one session. Including the mirror muscles and legs in a single workout might be hard to imagine, but it works particularly well for those who can't make it to the gym several times a week to increase muscle tone."

Recommended leg muscle exercises

As for specific exercises, Walsh has the following professional advice: "The main two leg exercises are squats and deadlifts as they hit every lower body muscle between them and also switch on your core muscles.

"Many guys shy away from these two exercises as they're not sure how to perform them properly, so ask a personal trainer or an educated friend to show you the correct technique. Others to include are lunges, Bulgarian squats and swiss ball leg curls. Again, always ask someone who knows what they are talking about to show you how to carry these out safely and effectively."

Walsh suggests incorporating a short circuit of exercises into your workout to add extra bulk and muscle tone to your legs.

He says: "If you're not keen on using weights or just want to blitz your legs at the end of a chest, arm or other session, try the following without rest: 24 squats, 24 lunges, 12 jump squats and 12 jump lunges. Once through is average, twice is good and three times is excellent. If you've not previously done any leg work at all, just aim for one round."

Gym-free leg workouts

 Fortunately, for those of you who hate the gym, it's not just lifting weights and performing squats that will transform your legs from spindly to sturdy. Other physical activities play a part too.

Walsh says: "There are plenty of sports that will benefit anyone with sparrow legs. For example, martial arts will help improve leg power, speed and endurance and basketball will increase power and strength in the legs. However, if you're looking to improve the muscle size significantly you will have to do some form of resistance training, there is no getting away from this."

The right foods

Eating the right foods is crucial, too, as Walsh explains. "Eating well is essential when you're looking to get in shape and even more so if your goal is to lose fat. However, there isn't anything that can be done diet-wise to specifically boost your legs - it benefits your whole body. Increasing your protein intake will help repair and improve muscle tone after training. If you're a runner then you need to eat plenty of carbohydrate-rich foods to give you energy."

Squat your own weight

 Finally, it's important to be able to recognise when you have built up your leg strength to a level that you can be happy with.

Sure, they might look good, but that doesn't mean you can go back to just working on your upper body.

Walsh has this last bit of advice: "Being able to squat your own weight is a good benchmark to work towards.

"After you've reached this point you really have to ask yourself how strong you want your legs to be. But this is the target you should aim for and be able to maintain long-term."