The squat is, the single best exercise for building leg strength, development and over all muscle mass.
Squats with weights significantly strengthens the muscles responsible for knee and hip extension, quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes (buttocks), as well as the smaller stabilizing muscles such as the mid section.
If you had to choose just one exercise to do you should choose the squat.
It not only builds muscle mass to the legs fast, it also adds to muscle mass size through out the entire body.
The squat is also said by researchers will increase your testosterone levels and growth hormone levels.
Through trial and error (lots of trial and error) I have found that the reps are kept in the high range of 15-20 reps for adding muscle fast,but if strength and power is what you are mainly concerned about then the 3-8 range is better.
How to do the squat Place your feet so they're just slightly wider than shoulder width apart.
Point your toes out, just slightly.
After you have played around with this, you can adjust your foot positioning to suit your structure.
Keeping your head and heads facing forward and looking slightly upward (never look down, your body has a habit to follow where you are looking, so if you are looking down, down you will go) Try to go beyond parallel (There is those who say do not go to parallel because it is bad for the knees but research has proven that it is harder on the knee joints when you stop before parallel) slowly bend at the knees and try to keep you upper body upright and try not to bend at the waist.
Once you go beyond the parallel position try to explode upward in a controlled manner.
After you have completed 15-20 reps, rest for around 2 minutes (trust me this will be the shortest 2 minutes of your life)and then repeat again.
Try to do 4 sets of 20 reps, and make sure you have a spotter be cause the squat is extremely taxing and by the end your muscles will be be in pain.
You will be sweating, breathing very heavy, your heart will be pounding and your lungs will feel like they are going to burst.
There have been times I have even became light headed with spots flashing in front of my eyes (even threw up once after a hard squat session but that is area I will not go into great detail here for the sake of the reader!) Always consult a doctor before beginning this or any other exercise routine!
Squats with weights significantly strengthens the muscles responsible for knee and hip extension, quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes (buttocks), as well as the smaller stabilizing muscles such as the mid section.
If you had to choose just one exercise to do you should choose the squat.
It not only builds muscle mass to the legs fast, it also adds to muscle mass size through out the entire body.
The squat is also said by researchers will increase your testosterone levels and growth hormone levels.
Through trial and error (lots of trial and error) I have found that the reps are kept in the high range of 15-20 reps for adding muscle fast,but if strength and power is what you are mainly concerned about then the 3-8 range is better.
How to do the squat Place your feet so they're just slightly wider than shoulder width apart.
Point your toes out, just slightly.
After you have played around with this, you can adjust your foot positioning to suit your structure.
Keeping your head and heads facing forward and looking slightly upward (never look down, your body has a habit to follow where you are looking, so if you are looking down, down you will go) Try to go beyond parallel (There is those who say do not go to parallel because it is bad for the knees but research has proven that it is harder on the knee joints when you stop before parallel) slowly bend at the knees and try to keep you upper body upright and try not to bend at the waist.
Once you go beyond the parallel position try to explode upward in a controlled manner.
After you have completed 15-20 reps, rest for around 2 minutes (trust me this will be the shortest 2 minutes of your life)and then repeat again.
Try to do 4 sets of 20 reps, and make sure you have a spotter be cause the squat is extremely taxing and by the end your muscles will be be in pain.
You will be sweating, breathing very heavy, your heart will be pounding and your lungs will feel like they are going to burst.
There have been times I have even became light headed with spots flashing in front of my eyes (even threw up once after a hard squat session but that is area I will not go into great detail here for the sake of the reader!) Always consult a doctor before beginning this or any other exercise routine!