A great leg workout means never sacrificing good form for more weight. Here are 5 of the most common leg-training mistakes.
1. Doing Shallow Squats
Whether it’s on the hack squat ,doing free-weight squats or on the Leg Press, nothing is more unproductive than loading up a bar and dropping just a few inches. Doing all your sets this way shortchanges your leg development, especially in the hamstrings and glutes. Use a weight that lets you drop down so you can achieve a full 90-degree bend in your knees.Stretching your legs after your workout will help you maintain flexibility so you can squat low.
2. Lifting Your Hips Off The Pad During Leg Presses
Shallow squats are one thing, but on the other end of the spectrum is trying to lengthen a given move’s range of motion past a safe point. If your hips come off the pad when doing leg presses, you’ve lowered the sled too far and are putting your lower spine at risk of injury. It’s critical that you control the negative portion of the rep so you can smoothly reverse direction. Try placing your feet a little higher and wider on the sled, and don’t allow your knees to come all the way in to your chest. Again, stretching after your workout can help.
3. Going Too Low On Romanian Deadlifts
This exercise, if performed incorrectly could cause you serious lower back problems. You should always keep a flat back and never round it in an effort to increase the range of motion.Perform this exercise with just the bar sideways on to a mirror to check that you are not rounding your back and also, never fully lock your knees out.
4. Not Enough Attention Given To Hamstrings
Too many bodybuilders still relegate the back of their thighs to the back of their leg workouts. After smashing through sets of squats and leg presses, they only knock out a few sets of leg curls and . In relation to bodyparts such as biceps, which you work with alot more sets. Your hams carry more muscle and deserve at least as much volume.
5. Not Enough Intensity
Leg Training is very demanding and takes 150% effort if you want to make any gains. I am by no means saying you should be leaving the gym in a wheelchair but you should be struggling to walk !. Ask yourself – did i just give it everything? If you are hurting for the 2 days after training then it is a good sign you have trained hard enough!