The thigh muscles include the quadriceps femoris in front and the biceps femoris in the back. The adductor and abductor muscles on both sides, the most important of which are quadriceps femoris and biceps femoris.
If your training goal is to develop thigh strength and muscle mass, using barbells and dumbbells is the first choice. Other instruments can play an auxiliary role, but they cannot completely replace free weight. The key to training arrangement is effectiveness. Comprehensiveness and safety.
Because thigh muscle belongs to a large muscle group, it should be given priority according to the training principle, that is to say, it should be arranged at the beginning of a training, not after other parts are finished.
Warm-up before training should preferably include 5 minutes of low-intensity aerobic exercise to prepare the cardiovascular system. Then do 2 ~ 3 groups with light weight, and each group warms up about 10 times. At this time, the muscles and joints should have been active, and you can increase your weight.
If there is no special need, it is enough to practice thighs 1 time a week, or every 5 ~ 7 days according to a three-day rest cycle. You can do 2 ~ 3 exercises each time, 4 ~ 5 groups (including warm-up group 1), 6 ~ 8 times in each group. Pay attention to balance the proportion of quadriceps femoris and biceps femoris. In order to give the muscles enough fresh stimulation and test the training effect, the strength can be increased once a month when the physical strength is good, that is, the weight can be increased to 90% ~ 95% of the maximum strength, and each group can only do it 2 ~ 3 times.
All strength exercises have a unified basic posture, that is, chest and abdomen, head held high, shoulders backward and waist tightened. One principle of doing all kinds of squats is that the knee joint should never exceed the vertical line of the toes when bending, and the knee joint and toes always point in the same direction. Try to avoid locking the knee joint when kicking straight, because locking the knee joint is not only harmful to the joint, but also destroys the continuous force of the muscle. These are the technical requirements that must be observed to ensure the training effect and prevent injuries.
Relaxing after practice is as important as warming up. Many experts believe that flexibility exercises before strength exercises have no practical significance and have little effect on reducing injuries. However, relaxation and stretching after training are very important, which can prevent the elasticity of muscles from decreasing, improve flexibility and reduce possible muscle soreness. Stretching doesn't take a long time, and it doesn't need complicated actions. Several groups of static stretching are mainly carried out for quadriceps femoris and biceps femoris, and each group lasts for 30 ~ 40 seconds.
1. Squat with wide station distance and narrow station distance.
If you are a little tired of ordinary squats, you might as well change the distance between your feet and bring some new stimulation to your muscles.
Wide standing distance-the distance between wide standing and squatting means that the distance between feet is greater than the shoulder, and the angle of toe separation is about "1: 58" (the position of clock hands). The barbell should fall comfortably in the middle of the trapezius muscle, not behind the neck, which is more conducive to reducing the load on the lumbar muscles. Squatting is like sitting on a bench, lowering your body backwards and downwards. The depth of the squat is slightly shallower than the ordinary squat, and the thigh is just below the parallel line with the ground.
This kind of squat is usually adopted by strength weightlifters, who can use a lot of weight after practice. The adductor muscles of the thigh can also be better exercised during the movement.
The distance between stations is narrow-also called "SissySquat". The standing distance is slightly narrower than the shoulder, and the toes are forward. If your ankle is not very flexible and it is easy to lift your heel when squatting, you can wear special weight-lifting shoes or put a 1 ~ 2 cm thick wooden bar or barbell under your heel. Be careful not to pad too high, because too high a heel will destroy the stability of the movement, and it is easy for the body to lean forward when squatting.
Squats with a narrow standing distance can be deeper, as low as the thighs are close to the calves, but don't rely on rebound to complete the action, which is harmful to the knee joint and difficult to keep the waist tight. Because the distance between feet is close and the stability is slightly poor, the weight of narrow squat will be smaller than that of ordinary squat, but the stimulation to quadriceps femoris will increase.
These two kinds of squats can be used alternately with ordinary squats, so that muscles can be stimulated differently.
squat
Oblique squatting is characterized by less pressure on the waist than squatting, so you can practice your legs with more confidence. And by adjusting the placement of your feet, you can focus on the quadriceps femoris (feet slightly behind) or biceps femoris (feet in front). The depth of the oblique squat can be above 90 degrees, and it is not necessary to drop too low. It is important to note that the inertia of gravity should not be allowed to close the thighs and calves together, because it is very easy to pull the hips away from the cushion and cause serious sacrum damage.
go on foot
This exercise is actually a continuous lunge squat. It is very effective for the development of medial thigh muscle, quadriceps femoris muscle and gluteus muscle. The key to action is balance and standardization. The weight used is from light to heavy, and the walking distance of each group can be 10 ~ 20 steps, 2 ~ 3 groups at a time.
Pay attention to the fact that after hanging dumbbells by your hands, your upper body should always be upright and your center of gravity should be vertical downward. You can't lean back or forward. After taking a step, lower your body, bend your legs and squat down. The front leg knee joint should not exceed your toes, the rear leg knee joint should point to the ground, and the heel should be raised. When you descend to the front of the thigh and parallel to the ground, you can push it up, then push it back with your hind legs and take the next step forward.