The Leg Area Of Your Gym Is Often A Ghost Tow n
If you workout in a public gym or health club, there's a great chance that the leg area, which is often segregated,  is the quietest area in the entire gym. Part of me loves this, as it allows me to have free reign of any machine or piece of leg apparatus my little heart desires. However, the James that loves to see people succeed, which usually takes precedence over the gluttonous James, is completely bewildered as to how people neglect this diamond mind of a physique transformer. I understand why most people hate to train legs. That's easy. Training legs hurts and it will exhaust you once you've completed a thorough leg workout. Lots of people, men and women alike, also think that because the legs are usually more covered up than the upper body, the only ones who will really know that they don't or rarely train legs is them. Well my friends, I have some very powerful and beneficial news for those of you who are concerned with developing your greatest looking body possible.

For Those Of You Who FINALLY Want To Build Your Greatest Looking Body Yet...Here's The Real Deal!  
If you know anything about your body's major muscle groups, you know that the legs are the largest muscles in your body. Well, you should also know that because they have the lions share of size, they are largely responsible for releasing your body's naturally producing testosterone and growth hormone secretions. Testosterone & Growth Hormone are released during exercise, when you intensely challenge your body's major muscles. By intensely, I mean by both lifting heavy weight during your workouts and by also utilizing intense training protocols, and by consistently changing up the training variables within your workout program. 

By now you should begin seeing why and how the legs are especially important to train if you want to experience optimum training results. 

The Real King Of The Jungle Gym – Squats & Dead-Lifts
Most leg training areas contain not only leg apparatus, but quite often include something called power racks. These power racks are used for a variety of compound exercises, such as Squats, Dead-Lifts, Barbell Curls, Standing Shoulder Presses and many others. Exercises such as Squats & Dead-Lifts are major league Testosterone & Growth Hormone catalysts (Dead-Lifts may be considered a leg exercise, dependant on the type of Dead-Lift performed – Just make sure to include them in your workout routine). In fact, the two exercises are more responsible for the release of these compounds than any other compound exercise. This has been scientifically proven and documented in the following published study Int J Sports Med. 1991 Apr;12(2):228-35 conducted using both men and women.

How and why do Squats and Dead-Lifts release more Testosterone & Growth Hormone than other compound exercises? The two exercises are responsible for working many of your body’s smaller muscles and this is all happening simultaneously when you’re performing these exercises. Also, whether you are holding a loaded barbell on top of your traps during the Back Squat or holding on to that barbell using an over/under grip during the Dead-Lift, both scenarios are creating extreme pressure loads (dependant of course on the weight load you’re lifting) on your spinal column. In other words, these exercises cause a whole lot of core muscular stimulation to simply hold, sustain, balance, lift & lower the weights. This extreme pressure on the body is largely responsible for the releases of Testosterone & Growth Hormone secretions.

Not Just For Bodybuilders – For Body Sculptors Too!

In a nut-shell, whether you want to add a little muscle to your body or pack on some serious muscle mass, you cannot and should not avoid integrating compound exercise movements such as the Squat & Dead-Lift into your workout routine – There are other great exercises besides the two that can also help you produce greater workout results – Just look up compound exercises and you’ll see a slew of them.

Also realize that even if you have little desire to pack on a lot of muscle mass, by performing compound exercises like the Squat & Dead-Lift, you will inevitably expedite your overall fitness results. Remember, performing these exercises will not only stimulate your leg muscles, but will additionally stimulate many ancillary muscles throughout your body. This is equally as beneficial for the Body Sculptor as it is for the Bodybuilder.         

 You should be very excited to begin or take your leg training to the next level.  Immediately begin learning more about these two powerhouse exercises – Visit the Exercise Description Library for more detailed information about both.

So kick out the cob webs and bring life back into your leg training area. Don’t worry if you’re the first to set foot in that lonely area. Become an example of how leg training can most effectively help you achieve an extraordinary looking physique – You’ll help yourself and hopefully many others who could use a helping hand.

James Villepigue CSCS