Hot Wheels: Legs of Steel are Steps Away with This Workout

This workout - a Herculean hybrid for your legs - combines all the bodybuilding principles that have stood the test of time. These concepts have been building muscle for decades - because they work - and they can build it for you. You only need to push hard, follow these instructions, and watch your legs grow!

BASIC TRAINING

Use these concepts in every set.

FAILURE: The granddaddy of muscle-building concepts: if you don't work your legs to the edge, they simply won't grow.
-- Here's How: Choose weight heavy enough to complete only your goal number of reps-no more, no less.

PROGRESSION: To make a muscle grow, you have to break the muscle down completely. Like a wrecking ball against a house, the progression principle attacks the muscle little by little, hitting it harder with each set.
-- Here's how: With each set, increase the weight and decrease the reps.

STARTING LINE

Before major exercises, do an isolation movement. Here's the principle behind it:

PRE-EXHAUSTION: By doing an isolation exercise first, you fatigue the target muscle in advance in order to bring it to failure later. For example, squats not only work the quads, but also supporting muscles like your hips, glutes and lower back. If you do squats first, you'll "waste" some of the best leg exercise on supporting muscles.
-- Here's How: Do an isolation exercise first, like leg extensions, so you'll pre-fatigue your quads. When the squats roll around, your legs will already be tired and you'll be able to target them to reach complete failure.

FIRST SET: PRACTICE MAKES PERECT

You wouldn't go into combat without training first, would you? Then why send your muscle into the fray without preparation? Use your first set as a warm up; without it, your legs won't grow, but your chances of injury will.

SECOND SET: TRIPLE THE TROUBLE

You've warmed up; now the fun begins. For your second set, use "forced reps" to make intense an understatement.

FORCED REPS: If muscle grows best when worked to failure, working to failure more than once would be even better...right? It is, and that's what forced reps do.
-- Here's How: For a twelve-rep set, pick a weight with which you could do only eight reps. When you fail at eight reps, rest for five counts, then get another rep or two. Repeat until you've completed all twelve reps. This way, you've reached failure at least three times in one set.

THIRD SET: BIGGER IS BETTER

For your third set, use "partial reps" to shock your legs into growth.

PARTIAL REPS: When a baseball player is on deck, he always practice swings with a heavier bat, right? The same idea is behind partial reps. By doing partial reps - moving a weight that's more than your max through a smaller range of motion - you allow your legs to react to ultra-heavy poundage.
-- Here's How: Limit your range of motion to the middle half of the movement - slow, small contractions. This way you can manage much more weight than with a full range of motion. Partial rep sets should never replace a full range of motion, but can serve as an excellent supplement.

FOURTH SET: GET HYPER HUGE

You've massacred your muscles with partial reps, now it's time for the tried-and-true. For your fourth set, focus on a slow, full range of motion. With a weight allowing only eight reps, you'll encourage hypertrophy (muscle growth), which is what we all want.

FINISH LINE

Just because you've completed your fourth set doesn't mean you're finished. Use "drop sets" to work your legs to the brink.

DROP SETS: Remember in Apocalypse Now when Robert Duvall's character drops a ton of napalm on the beach, "just to be sure." Drop sets are the same: they guarantee your legs will reach complete failure, which guarantees growth.
-- Here's How: When you finish your last set, "drop" the weight by about fifty-percent. Without resting, complete as many reps as you can at the lowered weight.

SIDEBARS:

"5 Tips for Taking Your Legs to the Next Level"

1.
CARDIO: As you know, cardio is an important part of training. When building your legs, focus on recumbent bikes or outdoor biking a few times a week.

2.
SPRINTING: If you really want to add mass, try sprinting during your cardio workouts. Just go at top speed for a minute or so, then go slowly for a minute, and repeat. Research shows that sprinting - anaerobic exercise - helps build muscle mass. Ever noticed how much thicker Olympic sprinters are than other field athletes?

3.
REST: Training breaks down your muscles; rest builds them back. Without rest, you'll never gain anything. Make sure to get at least eight good hours of sleep a night.

4.
POST-WORKOUT NUTRITION: When you're workout is over the real responsibilities begin. Immediately after you train, be sure to consume at least a half a gram of high glycemic carbs, a quarter a gram of protein, and ample creatine or glutamine per pound of lean body weight. A 200-pound guy should get around 90-100 grams of carbs, 50-60 grams of protein, and 5 grams of creatine/glutamine. Meal-replacement shakes, like Meso-Tech's™ Cell-Tech™, are an easy way to do this. (For a list of foods and their glycemic indexes, visit http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/trcenter/gilists.html.)

5.
WATER: Without it, your body can't transport the nutrients your muscles need to grow. Be sure to drink at least 64 ounces a day, if not more.