12 Weeks To Ticc and Joocy Legs PDF [PDF]

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LEG CHRONICLES OF SKINNY CBUM Leg day and I have always had a love hate relationship – which I’m sure is pretty common amongst all of you. In the beginning, it was all love! I think it’s safe to say, training legs was a huge aspect in what made me fall in love with bodybuilding. This sport, or whatever you want to call it, is so much more than starving yourself and stepping on stage. It’s constantly pushing your body to new limits – limits you never thought you had – and that proud, satisfied feeling when you hit a new PR or watch your body transform. I’ve always gotten the most satisfaction from killing a gruesome leg workout as compared to training anything else. This all began in high school when my goals were to excel in sports, mainly basketball and football. I felt that in order to become a better athlete, I had to become more powerful, rather than focusing on fine tuning my skills such as dribbling, footwork, etc. I found myself constantly in the gym, whether it be after practice or during lunch at school. As a result, I found myself running faster, jumping higher and hitting harder.

Sitting here right now, I can remember having savage leg workouts back in my younger days. I would routinely go into the gym on leg day, squat 405 lbs until failure, go as heavy as I could on leg press, do walking lunges with 135 lbs and then finishing up with every possible leg machine the gym had to offer. This would take me well over 2 hours to complete. Looking back now, I could never push myself for as long, but it showed me the kind of intensity I could bring to my training. A few years of training like that lead me to a university where my school gym was filled with powerlifters. The atmosphere alone motivated me to train, mainly for strength. I got equipped with some SBD knee sleeves, an Inzer lever belt and went to town training for over 3 hours a day, even if I was only doing a few exercises. When it was all said and done, I got up to a max squat of 605 lbs and a max deadlift of 695 lbs. Again, looking back I could never train that heavy now, but it taught me what benefits strength could bring to my leg training. For me, I found my legs responded in terms of growth when I was training with a heavier load, but it came with a catch. Training like this led to nagging injuries, specifically some crazy painful knee tendonitis.

THE CLASSIC PHYSIQUE – TICC AND JOOCY LEGS

CHRIS BUMSTEAD

By the end of high school, I had built some crazy strength – I was squatting 405 lbs for reps, deadlifting 5 plates on each side – but sadly, all the strength in the world could only take me so far with the skill I had. Even though I stopped playing sports when I got older, I had found a new passion in weight lifting, and it all stemmed from my love of leg day.

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LEG CHRONICLES OF SKINNY CBUM The injuries is where the hate comes into play for this relationship. I always thought I had perfect form training, but when you go as heavy as I was, constantly, even being a little off can lead to an injury. I never did any mobility work and didn’t warm up as nearly as much as I should have, so the intense training led to extremely tight muscles, which of course is not optimal for lifting weights. I definitely learned this lesson the hard way and am still paying for it now. If I could stress one thing to everyone, it’s for you to realize that you are not invincible and it’s much better to be proactive in avoiding injuries rather than waiting until it’s too late. From all of this experience, I learned to find a middle ground with my leg training. Intensity became the most crucial part, not the 3 hour marathon session. I found that if you can’t kill your legs in an hour’s time or even less, then you need to start pushing yourself a hell of a lot more. This is not to say I don’t advocate strength training. I’ll always believe strength training is essential for building a base for your legs when you first begin lifting.

If you take anything from my story, learn that experimentation is often the best way to go to find what works best for you. As I tried new things, I was always inspired by someone who’s physique I had looked up to, taking tips and tricks from them, and trying them out on my own. It was the only way I could decide which ones worked and which ones didn’t for me. Down below, I’ll show what I have found is the best way to get TICC quads and JOOCY hamstrings, glutes and calves and explain how you can avoid the nagging injuries that have plagued me over the last few years.

THE CLASSIC PHYSIQUE – TICC AND JOOCY LEGS

CHRIS BUMSTEAD

Along the way, I’ve experimented with different leg splits, all of which are great when time is a concern, I am traveling, or if I’m trying to bring up a lagging body part. In all instances, it all comes down to one thing, go hard or go home. I’ve always be asked, “do you train legs once a week or do you split up quads and hamstrings/glutes?” There’s benefits in both. Training them once per week allows them to get the proper rest they need. Training them separate allows you to focus specifically on each body part, resulting in no discrepancies, and thus a balanced physique. Personally, I do both, but I make sure to apply it for at least 6 weeks to get the proper benefit out of each training program.

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WHY YOU AVOID TRAINING LEGS

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The general consensus is that people HATE leg day. So why don’t you like it? Because it’s not arm day...or chest...or shoulders... or even back. All kidding aside, there are many reasons why people hate leg day, and as a result, lack well developed legs. 1.  It Requires Your Full Energy and Focus. Leg day is a battle, so treat it that way. It’s impossible to think that you can just show up, do a couple of half assed exercises and expect your legs to grow. I get it, it’s 5am or you’ve just gotten off from work, but I can guarantee you that if you don’t put 100% into your leg days, your never going to achieve that well balanced physique you desire. 2.  DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). You’re not willing to embrace the pain associated with training legs, and more so after. Training legs takes an entire toll on your body. When you train biceps, you never get that puking sensation, but when training legs, you sure as hell do. It’s hard. It’s grueling. And the next day or two, you can barely walk, it’s a pain in the ass (figuratively and literally!) going up and down stairs or getting in and out of your car ...or even just trying to sit on the toilet, but guess what, it’s all fucking worth it when your legs look awesome, so you do it. Embrace the pain. Don’t run from it. Welcome it. When you feel the pain (not injury), you’re growing. Change your attitude and see pain as an accomplishment, not a punishment. You’ve conquered your legs one more time without giving up once. You’ve won.

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WHY YOU AVOID TRAINING LEGS

3.  Bad Knees or Fear of Injury. I don’t know how many times, I’ve heard someone cry about their “knee pain” or how their knee is “messed up.” Chances are your knee really isn’t messed up. Unless you’ve been to the doctor, I bet it’s because you aren’t using proper form, your knees aren’t used to the load you are doing and most importantly, your surrounding muscles in your legs are underdeveloped or tight. As for someone who’s afraid of squatting or deadlifting, yeah there’s potential of injury, but you can’t live in fear. You’ll never accomplish anything if you do that, both in and out of the gym. So forget about that, and move that weight (with proper form of course!). 4.  Your Legs Are Weak and You Don’t Want To Make A Fool Of Yourself . In simplest terms, you don’t want to look like a pansy. You’re the king of the gym. You’re always talking about how much you can bench, but when you go to squat, you can barely put up 135lbs. You avoid the squat rack, put on some sweats and go right back to benching. Instead, take the same mentality that you put towards chest and apply it for several months towards developing your legs. Take that humble pill once or twice a week and in a few months time, I know you’ll be glad you did. You’ll be much happier with the way you look and feel. 5.  Legs Aren’t Glamorous Muscles. It’s tough to get excited about training legs, when your quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves largely go unnoticed. It’s simple, doing curls at the gym looks good. Adding an inch on your arms is much more noticeable than adding an inch on your quads. We don’t get the same recognition for the progress we made on our legs, however, I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell don’t want to be wearing sweats in the summer to cover my legs. We’re striving for a symmetrical physique and trust me, if you’ve got big legs and glutes, people will notice!

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IDENTIFYING & CORRECTING MUSCLE IMBALANCES Muscle imbalances are caused by poor posture, stress, repetitive movement, injury, or a combination of these things. The terms “overactive” and “underactive” muscles come into play when muscles on one side of the joint become chronically shortened and muscles on the opposing side of the joint become chronically lengthened. In its simplest terms, muscle imbalances occur when one muscle is stronger than its opposing muscle. An overactive muscle is assumed to be short, tight and strong, whereas an underactive muscle tends to be long and weak. Muscle imbalances may not be a problem at first, however, the real issues occur over time. Unless you can identify and fix whatever imbalances exist, you could be cheating yourself from gaining as much muscle mass in your legs as possible or even worse, you could be headed straight for injury. Let’s face it, unless you’re in a job that demands physical activity such as construction, you’re pretty much tied to your chair all day at your job. So if you’re sitting down all day at a computer, there’s a good chance your hamstrings, upper quads, hip flexors, calves and abdominal muscles, just to name a few, will be extremely tight and hinder the activation of other muscles such as the glutes, lower quads, lower back, traps, rhomboids and spinal erectors, resulting in these muscles being weak.

CHRIS BUMSTEAD

Give your body more credit – it’s a lot smarter than you think. If you get under the bar to squat, your body is going to recruit the muscles that are the “strongest,” rather than the intended muscle group you were trying to train. That’s why those who have imbalances tend to have incorrect form, and as a result, continue to see zero to minimal progress. You will have to change your entire mindset at the gym. Often, we find ourselves worrying too much on the weight and not enough on the quality and feel of the movement. In order to improve your movement patterns and be injury-free, you might have to take a hit to your ego and drop the weight for a few weeks while you refine your form and technique. If you don’t and you continue to neglect proper stretching and therapy, your muscles will tighten up and get progressively worse, thus compromising your range of motion, strength and ability to build more muscle.

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IDENTIFYING & CORRECTING MUSCLE IMBALANCES I can’t stress how important it is to identify your muscular imbalances. Yes, identifying imbalances isn’t easy and fixing them for sure doesn’t happen overnight – it can take several weeks or even months to fully correct – but by listening to you body and building a solid foundation, you’ll have bigger and less injury-prone legs than ever before. Most of you will probably skip over this section, however, if I didn’t think this was important, I wouldn’t have even bothered to include it. Take it from someone who’s had to learn it the hard way first hand. After a year and half of knee issues, it’s something I wish I would have learned sooner. Learn from my mistakes guys!

CHRIS BUMSTEAD THE CLASSIC PHYSIQUE – TICC AND JOOCY LEGS

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WHAT’S YOUR IMBALANCE? Ready to put your form to the test? You’d be surprised what one exercise can show you. Standing with your feet shoulder width apart, press a dowel or light pole over your head (similar to an overhead squat). While sitting back in your heels, drop into a deep squat as if you were sitting back into a chair before pushing through your heels to stand back up. Ideally, the bar should remain locked out overhead throughout the entire movement. Here are some common movement compensations and how to fix them: 1.  Excessive Forward Lean: An excessive forward lean is most likely due to overactive calf muscles, hip flexors and/or abs, as well as, underactive glutes, anterior tibialis and/or spinal erectors. To fix this, you’ll need to stretch your calves and hip flexors, and focus on strengthening your core, glutes and lower back. 2.  Arms Fall Forward: If you find it challenging to keep your arms overhead while performing a squat, it’s probably due to overactive lats, teres major and/or pec major/minor, as well as, underactive mid and lower traps, rhomboids and posterior delts. To fix this, you’ll need to stretch your lats, pec major/minor, while strengthening your mid back and rear delts. 3.  Rounding of the Lower Back: Rounding of the lower back is most likely due to overactive hamstrings and/or abs, as well, underactive glutes and/or spinal erectors. To fix this, you’ll need to stretch your hamstrings, adductors, and abs, while strengthening your glutes and lower back. 4.  Knees Caving Inward: Knees caving inward would probably be the most common compensation. When your knees cave inward it is most likely due to overactive bicep femoris (short head), adductors, vastus lateralis and/or tensor fasciae latae, as well as, underactive glutes and vastus medialis. To fix this, you’ll need to foam roll your tight hip adductors, then stretch them and perform isolation exercises for your weak abductors. 5.  Feet Turn Outward/Heels Coming Off The Ground: When your feet turn outward and your heels come off the ground, it is most likely due to overactive calf muscles, bicep femoris (short head), as well as, underactive glutes, hamstrings and adductors. To fix this, you’ll need to stretch your calves, while strengthening your glutes, hamstrings and adductors.

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THE LOWDOWN ON FOOD PRE-WORKOUT, INTRA-WORKOUT, POST-WORKOUT

Leg day is not for the faint of heart. Leg day will make the biggest guy at the gym look weak. It will not only tear you down physically, but mentally as well. For 60-90 minutes, it’s an all out war where all you feel is pain, sweat and the will to fight. With that being said, our nutrition should not be taken lightly. Without the proper fuel, you will not only not perform at your best, but you’ll get less muscle and strength as a result. We’re looking to thrive during leg day, not just survive. Therefore, I recommend that you increase your total daily calorie intake by 15 percent and provide your body with the proper nutrients it needs by creating the perfect pre-, intra- and post-workout nutrition.

Pre-Workout By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. I get it, not all of us are bodybuilders who can have complete control of our daily schedule, but if you want to build some serious legs, pre-workout nutrition is not something you should take for granted. Training legs puts an extreme amount of stress on your body, but by consuming an optimal dose of protein and carbs prior to training, you can create the most anabolic environment to help avoid muscle catabolism and ensure you continued growth. Therefore, if you’re looking to maximize growth or increase your strength, I don’t suggest training legs fasted, first thing in the morning. Ideally, your leg day pre-workout meal should be eaten 2 to 3 hours prior and it should be your second or third meal of the day. To ensure you’re properly prepared for leg day, aim to consume 25-35 grams of high-quality protein, minimal fat and 30-50 percent of your daily carbohydrate intake, consisting of moderate-high glycemic index carbs – including things like white rice, rice cakes, or even a weekend warrior favorite, cereal – while minimizing fiber to avoid feeling full.

Intra-Workout Intra-workout nutrition seems to be the most neglected component of someone’s diet. By implementing proper intra-workout nutrition, you are not only benefiting your current workout, but also starting the recovery process for tomorrow’s as well. During an intense training session, especially legs, we lose ample amounts of water from sweat, containing important electrolytes and deplete our muscle glycogen. Muscle glycogen is the energy source that fuels our workout and when we run out, we hit that theoretically “wall,” and if we don’t intervene, our performance will suffer. An intra-workout cocktail of fluid, fast digesting simple carbohydrates – dextrose and highly branched cyclic dextrins –, BCAAs, creatine, glutamine and electrolytes will help you maintain optimal hydration, sustain energy levels, alter muscle glycogen metabolism and minimize muscle breakdown.

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THE LOWDOWN ON FOOD PRE-WORKOUT, INTRA-WORKOUT, POST-WORKOUT

Post-Workout The great debate – the anabolic window. By now, I’m sure you’ve all heard that meal timing and post-workout nutrition are all bro science, but I can’t seem to wrap my head around people who can say results are 85 percent of the equation, but then go on to claim that these two things are irrelevant. Nutrition is the most important aspect of recovery. During an intense workout, you’ve depleted your muscle glycogen and have incurred a state of protein breakdown, a process which is only stopped by the ingestion of protein, and so you remain in this state until your next meal. So the sooner you consume a meal, the quicker you can flip the switch from a catabolic state to an anabolic environment, replenish glycogen stores and begin to rebuild and repair damaged muscle tissue. Now I don’t know about you, but after a gut-wrenching leg workout, I don’t have much of an appetite. Immediately following your workout, ingest a protein shake consisting of 50 grams of protein coming from whey isolate. One hour later, consume a solid meal. Your post-workout meal should be as big, or maybe even bigger, than your pre-workout meal. It should contain 30-50 percent of your daily carbohydrate intake – medium-high GI carbs – and 40 grams of protein coming from lean sources, such as chicken breast, to maximize growth and recovery. If you do schedule cheat meals or re-feed days, leg day is the perfect day of the week. You burned quite a significant amount of calories so why not give your muscles the fuel to grow, and reward yourself for completing the workout.

Using a meal prep company, when it fits your budget, is an effective tool in bring consistent with your diet. Use code CBUM at TrifectaNutrition.com for 20% off your order.

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SUPPLEMENTATION PRE-WORKOUT, INTRA-WORKOUT, POST-WORKOUT

Supplementation is just another part of the equation if you’re looking to pack on quality pounds of mass onto your legs. Supplements are exactly what they are – supplements to your diet – and shouldn’t be the end all be all, however, with the right supplements you will increase muscle growth, improve your recovery, enhance your strength and maximize your energy and pumps in the gym. There are a lot of supplements out on the market today, but which ones are the right ones? These are the supplements I use daily and I recommend you do the same: * Whey Isolate * Pre-Workout (when needed) * BCAAs * Multi-Vitamins * Greens Supplement

* Fast Acting Carbs – Dextrose * Creatine * Glutamine * Omega 3 Fish Oil

Leg Day Checklist: !  1 scoop of greens, omega 3 fish oil and multi-vitamin upon waking with your first meal !  1 scoop of your favorite pre-workout, when needed !  Combine 50g dextrose, 5g BCAAs, 5g creatine, and 5g glutamine intra-workout !  1-2 scoop(s) whey isolate post-workout. !  Omega 3 fish oil and multi-vitamin before going to bed with your last meal.

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TRAINING TECHNIQUES 101 There are many factors that go into building muscle, but one is the most important – progressive overload. Without the progression of weight, intensity or reps over time, I can guarantee you that you won’t see much in the way of building muscle. Now I’m not telling you to blindly push heavier weights – that’s never a good idea – but you should be trying to progressively lift heavier each workout, beating what you did the previous week. Yes, sticking to the same program can be boring, however, I can bet money that it will have a positive correlation on your physique. Understanding things like time under tension, tempo, range of motion and using different training techniques will help to optimize training regimen and maximize your results. Incorporating things such as pre-exhaustion, supersets, drop sets and partial reps to name a few, will be key to seeing progress in the overall development of your legs. Time Under Tension (TUT) refers to how long a muscle is working, contracting or under stress during a given rep or set. This depends on a number of things including, the amount of reps in a set, the tempo of the reps and whether you lock out at the end of each rep or not – all of which are effective ways to increase your muscles’ time under tension. You can manipulate the tempo of the exercise by using a 3-5 second tempo on the concentric (positive) or eccentric (negative) phase of the lift. For example, if you use a 3 second tempo on the positive and negative portion of the exercise, that’s 6 total seconds per rep. If you do 10 total reps in a given set, that’s 60 total seconds. Pre-Exhaustion adds a different element of intensity to your training and is one of my favorite training techniques for hypertrophy. Just like the name implies, it’s prefatiguing a certain muscle using a isolation exercise first, before moving onto a meatand-potatoes compound exercise. When performing a compound movement first, you’re smaller muscles will tire first and the target muscle might not receive ample overload. For example, if you squat first, your lower back may give out before your quads, however, if you implement pre-exhaustion and do leg extensions first, before moving onto squats, it will force your quads to work twice as hard and will ensure muscular fatigue, not neurological fatigue. You’ll be able to hit those deep muscle fibers with a much lower weight, thus making the movement safer for your tendons and joints. Supersets are pretty straightforward. It’s when you alternate sets of two different exercises with no rest in between. This can be done with the same muscle group or opposing muscle groups. For example, you can superset two quad exercises, two hamstring exercises or a quad exercise with a hamstring exercise. Supersets are great when you’re press for time, looking for an insane pump, need to work on your mind muscle connection, and to create more metabolic stress. THE CLASSIC PHYSIQUE – TICC AND JOOCY LEGS

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TRAINING TECHNIQUES 101 Drop Sets are an excellent method for increasing volume and therefore, hypertrophy. Drops sets allow you to extend your current set, training completely to failure. It involves doing several sets in a row where you reduce the weight in between each set with no rest. Drop sets are typically done on the last working set of an exercise and typically done at the end of a workout. Partial Reps are very controversial with social media these days, but when done correctly, they do have their place. Partials can be used to strengthen a specific range of motion, increase muscular overload (TUT), and to extend a set past failure. Partials are a great way to blast your quads during a set of leg extensions or your hamstrings during a set of hamstring curls after you’ve exhausted them already with a full range of motion. Peak Contraction Training involves holding the peak contraction in the top position under maximum load at the finish point of an exercise for 1-2 seconds. It’s a great technique to increase definition, separation, shape and hardness in your muscles. Peak contraction training is a great tool for increasing TUT and a great way to break through a current muscle building plateau. Pause Reps are when you hold the weight at the bottom (eccentric) portion of the movement, letting the weight come to a complete rest, but not releasing tension on your muscles. I recommend holding it for a minimum 2 second pause before completing the rest of the movement. This will eliminate any momentum. Isometric or Static Contraction Training is holding a weight in a fixed position for several seconds in a maximally contracted position. This usually involves weight, however, I like to incorporate this method of training without weight as well – typically done by flexing. For example, after a set of squats, I’ll move off to the side and flex my quads for 30 seconds. Rest-Pause Training involves breaking down one set into several mini-sets, with 10-15 deep breaths in between each. For example, you’ll start with a weight that you can perform 8-10 reps (80% of your 1RM), stopping just short of failure. After completing those 8-10 reps, rest for 10-15 deep breaths and do another set of as many reps as possible. You’ll take another 10-15 deep breaths before performing the exercise again until technical failure.

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ANATOMY OF THE QUADRICEPS

Your quadriceps are made up of 4 smaller muscles, originating at the hip and connecting to the knee. The four muscles are the rectus femoris, vastus medialis, vastus intermedius and the vastus lateralis. While you cannot individually isolate each one of these muscles, you can adjust your form to improve the activation of your quads overall. Therefore, you’ll need to assess which exercises are hip dominant and which are quad dominant. A hip dominant movement is when you sit back, breaking at the hips, while a quad dominant movement is when you break at the knees, resulting in your knees tracking over your toes. When your knees go past your toes, you will have higher quad activation.

Rectus Femoris The rectus femoris originates at two different places from the pelvis: at the anterior inferior iliac spine, which is at the front lower ridge of the hip and just above the rim of the acetabulum or where the hip socket is. It’s the only muscle in the quad that crosses the hip joint. The rectus femoris continues down the middle of the thigh and is inserted into the top of the patella. The rectus femoris has two main purposes: knee extension and hip flexion.

Vastus Medialis The vastus medialis or VMO is what we like to call the infamous teardrop muscle, which is found above the knee on the inner part of the thigh. The vastus medialis originates on the intertrochanteric line and medial lip of the linea aspera of the femur. It plays an important role in knee extension and stabilizing the patella or kneecap.

Vastus Intermedius The vastus intermedius sits on the deepest part of your femur and lies between the vastus lateralis and the vastus medialis. The vastus intermedius originates on the anterior and lateral surfaces of the shaft of the femur. It extends vertically down the center of your thigh, while partially being covered by the rectus femoris.

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ANATOMY OF THE QUADRICEPS

Vastus Lateralis The vastus lateralis is the largest and most powerful muscle of the quads. This is what we bodybuilders like to refer to as our sweep. The vastus lateralis originates from the greater trochanter and lateral lip of the linea aspera of the femur. It begins at the top outer portion of your thigh and attaches to the patella. It’s main function is to extend and stabilize your knee.

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ANATOMY OF THE HAMSTRINGS

The hamstrings, like the quadriceps, are made up of 4 smaller muscle groups. Those muscles are the biceps femoris short head, biceps femoris long head, semitendinosus and the semimembranosus. The hamstrings primary functions are to help you stabilize and hinge at the hips. More often than not, due to our sedentary lifestyles, our hamstrings are the leading cause of postural problems because they become very tight and underactive. It’s crucial for us to strengthen and stretch our hamstrings, to fix our posture before it’s too late.

Biceps Femoris (Short Head) The short head of the bicep femoris originates along the posterior portion of the femur at the lateral lip of the linea aspera and the lateral supracondylar line of the femur. It inserts on the lateral condyle of the tibia, the lateral fibular head and the fascia which runs laterally down the lower leg. The bicep femoris short head performs several actions including the flexion of the knee joint and the lateral rotation of the lower leg at the knee joint.

Biceps Femoris (Long Head) The long head of the bicep femoris originates at the ischial tuberosity of the pelvis – closer to the hip – which is higher up than the short head, thus making it longer. It inserts on the lateral condyle of the tibia, the lateral fibular head and the fascia, which runs laterally down the lower leg. The bicep femoris long head helps you perform the same actions of the bicep femoris short head – the flexion of your knee joint and lateral rotation of the lower leg at the knee joint – but is also responsible for the extension of the hip joint, which contributes to hip stability.

Semitendinosus The semitendinosus originates at the inner surface of the base of the pelvis, which is also known as the tuberosity of the ischium, and the sacrotuberous ligament. It inserts at the medial tibial condyle and is comprised of fast twitch muscle fibers. The semitendinosus primarily deals with knee and hip extension, but also to help medially rotate the tibia when the knee is flexed and to medially rotate the femur when the hip is extended.

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ANATOMY OF THE HAMSTRINGS

Semimembranosus The semimembranosus originates at the back of the thigh and runs from the base of the pelvis, specifically at the ischial tuberosity and inserts in the medial tibial condyle or the medial portion of the tibia The semimembranosus has several functions, including the enabling of the leg to flex and medially rotate and to serve a as a hip extensor.

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ANATOMY OF THE GLUTES

The glutes contain the largest and most powerful muscle in the body, the gluteus maximus. The other two muscles are the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus. Contrary to popular belief, the primary function of the glutes is not to help you gain more likes and followers on Instagram. On a serious note, the glutes are responsible for stabilizing and keeping your torso upright. If you find yourself struggling with squats or deadlifts, start training your glutes as you would your quads and hamstrings. You may learn a thing or two from the girl across the gym that you can’t keep your eyes off of. I’ll let you investigate though, I get nervous talking to girls!

Gluteus Maximus The gluteus maximus is the largest of the three gluteal muscles and is the main extensor muscle of the hip. It originates from the gluteal surface of the ilium, the lumbar fascia, the sacrum and the sacrotuberous ligament and it inserts into the iliotibial band (IT Band) of the fascia lata, which passes across the greater trochanter. The gluteus maximus is a major extensor of the hips and assists in lateral rotation and abduction of your thighs.

Gluteus Medius The gluteus medius forms the middle layer of the gluteal musculature. It originates between the anterior and posterior gluteal lines of the ilium and inserts into the greater trochanter of the femur. The gluteus medius is the major abductor of the thigh. The anterior fibers help to flex and internally rotate the hips. The posterior fibers help to extend and externally rotate the hips. When the anterior and posterior fibers work together, they work to abduct the hip and to stabilize the pelvis in the coronal plane.

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ANATOMY OF THE GLUTES

Gluteus Minimus The gluteus minimus is the smallest of the three gluteal muscles and sits under the gluteus medius. It originates from the outer surface of the ilium, between the anterior and inferior gluteal lines and inserts into the greater trochanter of the femur, near the hip joint. The gluteus minimus’ main function is to abduct and medially rotate the hip joint making it a local stabilizer for the hip.

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ANATOMY OF THE CALVES The calves are comprised of the triceps surae – the two-headed gastrocnemius, the soleus, possibly the plantaris and the tibialis anterior. Calves are the one of most stubborn and hard to develop muscles. Genetics play a crucial role in the development of your calves, however, we’re not going to make any excuses. We’ve got to work with what we got. You’re most likely not training them hard enough, are training them incorrectly or let me guess, the most popular answer, you’re not training them at all. That’s going to change today because without calves, we can’t finish off our balanced physique. Chris Tip: We’re all a little insecure about our calves when wearing shorts, whether they are small or big – they can never be big enough. Wear higher socks just below your calves, to make your calves appear bigger.

Triceps Surae The triceps surae is a three-headed muscle that consists of two distinct muscles: the twoheaded gastrocnemius and the soleus. The triceps surae provides flexion, supination and adduction of the foot, thus allowing the foot to move upward.

Gastrocnemius The gastrocnemius is comprised of two heads: the medial and lateral heads. Because the gastrocnemius is comprised of two heads, the muscle originates at two separate points and then converges to insert at one point. The medial head originates at the medial femoral condyle of the femur and the lateral head originates at the femoral lateral condyle of the femur. The medial and lateral head unite to form a common tendon which connects with the soleus muscle. This tendon is known as the Achilles Tendon and inserts at the back of the heel bone. The gastrocnemius assists in plantar flexion at the ankle joint and knee flexion. The uppermost of your two calf muscles consists of fast muscle fibers and is primarily involved in things like running and jumping and is involved in lesser movements such as standing and walking. The gastrocnemius gives your feet the push-off power with each step you take.

Soleus The soleus is the smaller head of the triceps surae and is located beneath the gastrocnemius. The soleus originates from the upper portions of the tibia and fibula and joins with the gastrocnemius to attach via the achilles tendon at the back of the heel, or other known as the Achilles heel. Along with the gastrocnemius, the soleus muscle is responsible for plantar flexion of the foot at the ankle joint – helps you stand up from a seated position. Unlike the gastrocnemius, the soleus is comprised of slow muscle fibers and fixes your ankle in place. It is most worked from the seated position. It is vital in walking, running, keeping balance and plays an important role in maintaining posture by preventing the body from falling forward, thus allowing you to stand up straight.

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ANATOMY OF THE CALVES

Plantaris The plantaris muscle consists of a small, thin muscle belly that originates from the lateral supracondylar line of the femur just above the lateral head of the gastrocnemius muscle. It runs beneath the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles and attaches to the medial side of the heel bone. The size, thickness and length of the plantaris muscle can vary in size, but it is thought to be entirely absent in 7-20% of people, causing many to describe the muscle as a vestigial muscle. The plantaris runs next to the larger Achilles Tendon and assists the gastrocnemius muscle in plantar and knee flexion.

Tibialis Anterior Unlike the triceps surae, the tibialis anterior sits on the upper two-thirds of the outside surface of the tibia and inserts into the medial cuneiform and first metatarsal bones of the foot. This is the often forgotten strip of muscle next to your shin. A well developed tibialis anterior muscle will help your calves look big from both the front and side. The tibialis anterior is responsible for dorsiflexion and horizontal inversion of the foot. This allows the foot to be brought up and be held in a locked position, thus providing some cushion for your ankle if it were to be rolled. The tibialis anterior plays an important role in walking, running, hiking, kicking a ball or any activity that requires you to move your leg or keep your leg vertical.

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TICC AND JOOCY LEG WORKOUT The Warm Up: TAKE THE WARM-UP SERIOUSLY! Weekend Warriors need to properly warm-up – we haven’t done anything all week long! All jokes aside, if you’re looking to stay in the game long, warming up is essential. I’ve walked into the gym, stacked plates onto the bar and went to town squatting. This only lead to nagging leg injuries that hinder me to this day. The purpose of warm-up is to increase your heart rate, get the blood flowing, activate your muscles and prime your central nervous system for the intense training your about to do. By properly warming up your quads, hamstrings, glutes and hips, you’ll see drastic improvements in your performance. The warm-up should take about 15 minutes. For your warm-up, you’re going to start with the stationary bike for 8-10 minutes to get your blood flowing, before moving onto stretches using various ranges of motions, foam rolling or dynamic stretches to open your hips up. The Routine: Over the course of the next 12 weeks, we’re going to split our leg training into two 6 week increments, to maximize our gains. For the first 6 weeks, we’re going to train legs once per week including quads, hamstring, glutes and calves on the same day. For the final 6 weeks, we’re going to split leg training into two workouts per week, one focusing on quads/ calves and the other focusing on hamstrings/glutes/calves.

Week 1-6: Leg Day

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TICC AND JOOCY LEG WORKOUT Week 7-12: Quad and Hamstring/Glute Days

Leg Day I (Quad Dominant)

Leg Day II (Hamstring/Glute Dominant)

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TRICKS OF THE TRADE EXERCISE GUIDE: SQUAT Without the proper setup of the squat, you’ve failed the movement before it’s even begun. Get yourself under the bar and properly position yourself so that the weight is over your midfoot. With your shoulder blades back and your lats tight, take a deep breath in, squeezing your glutes forward to unrack the bar. Once the weight is settled, take one small step back, then take a step back with the other foot, lining it up with the first. With your feet in position, take a deep breath, keep your chest up, slightly arch your back, brace your core, engage your glutes and push your tongue against the roof of your mouth – your tongue positioning throughout the movement will improve your posture and keep proper alignment in your spine. From here, hinge at the hips, sitting back into the movement and bend your knees until you are parallel or slightly below parallel with the ground. By hinging at the hips first, you’ll reduce the stress on your knees, however, if your knees are healthy and you want to target your quads more, you can break at the knees first. Once you’ve hit depth, press yourself back up by forcefully driving with your outside foot and heel, while breathing out. Don’t just think about driving up, instead, think about driving your hips forward and pushing the floor down, rather than pushing the weight back up. If you get stuck in the hole, this might sound counterproductive, but pull down on the bar. It will further engage your lats and tighten the rest of your body to help you get back up. Perform each rep slow and controlled with a two second pause at the bottom. Don’t lock out your knees at the top of the movement. There are 3 traditional stances for squats; neutral, narrow or wide. With a neutral stance, your legs are shoulder width apart, toes slightly angled out. This will target the entire quadricep, hamstring and glute. You can typically generate the most power from this stance. With a narrow stance, your legs are slightly inside shoulder width apart, toes pointing slightly forward. This will target the outer sweep of the quadricep. With a wide stance, your legs are slightly wider than shoulder width apart, toes angled out at 45 degrees. This will target the teardrop and inner part of your your quadricep. When squatting avoid cushioned shoes and squat with a hard-soled shoe, like Converse AllStars. If you use a soft cushioned shoe, you’ll lose some energy transfer and it’ll make you unstable. In addition, you can elevate your heel with a 10 pound plate to put you in a better mechanical position for squatting and to better activate your quads.

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TRICKS OF THE TRADE EXERCISE GUIDE: LEG PRESS You can manipulate your foot placement on the leg press to recruit more quads or hamstrings and glutes. A low stance, will put greater emphasis on your quads. A narrow stance will work your sweep, while a wide stance will work your teardrop. A high and wide stance, will put greater emphasis on your hamstrings and glutes. Doing leg press with one leg at a time, rather than two, and your foot placed high on the platform, allows you to activate your hamstrings and glutes more effectively. When performing single leg press, position your body inwards to get the proper positioning. This produce more power and explosiveness. Single leg press is a great movement if you’ve got tendinitis in your knees. Not only is it great for building muscle, but it’s great for strengthening your stabilizers without any knee pain. At the bottom of the movement, your legs should make a 90 degree angle and you should never let your lower back round and come off the pad. If you have issues keeping your lower back on the pad or find yourself feeling lower back pain, position yourself higher in the seat so that your butt is 1-2 inches off the seat. Keep constant tension on your quads, never fully locking out on each rep. Due to the lower risk factor than something like squats, leg press is great for doing higher reps, drops sets, rest-pause sets, etc. to get the most out of your legs.

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TRICKS OF THE TRADE EXERCISE GUIDE: LEG EXTENSIONS In the program listed above, leg extensions are used at two junctures of the workout; in the beginning and at the end. When performed at the beginning, you’re doing it more for pre-exhaustion. By doing so, you’re priming our quads for the rest of the workout by flushing the area with blood. This will help create a better mind-muscle connection. When performed at the end, you’re going a bit heavier and using it as a tool to build muscle-tissue. No matter if it’s done at the beginning or the end of your workout, keep your knees in a neutral position and control the weight at all times, not letting your hips or lower back move off the chair. However, you can adjust the positioning in which you sit. You can sit more forward, with your butt a few inches away from the backrest and emphasize the contraction by holding and squeezing your quads with each rep or you can slide your butt back against the backrest and lean back a bit, getting a better stretch with each rep.

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TRICKS OF THE TRADE EXERCISE GUIDE: STIFF LEG DEADLIFTS Stiff leg deadlifts are a breadand-butter movement that should be a staple in any leg program. Our first thought should be to create as much tension against the floor, almost like your leg pressing the floor. By doing so, everything from your quads, to your hamstring, to your glutes, will contract. Keeping a slight bend in your knees (do not lock your knees), lower the bar straight down, hinging at the hip and pushing your butt back. Once you feel a deep hard stretch in the hamstrings and glutes, open up your hamstrings. You can do this by letting your knees cave in, ever so slightly. Hold the weight at the bottom for a two count and then come back up, driving your heels back and into the ground. Come three fourths of the way up, before going back down for another rep. During the entire movement, consciously try to spread the floor apart. This is a hip-hinge movement, so you’re not using your lower back. At the top of every rep, contract your hams and glutes before performing the next rep. For an even better stretch, elevate your toes by placing a plate underneath.

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TRICKS OF THE TRADE EXERCISE GUIDE: LUNGES There are two different styles to perform lunges. To increase quad recruitment, keep the body more upright and take shorter strides with your knee traveling over your toes. Drive through the toes, rather than placing weight on the heels. On the other hand, to increase glute and hamstring recruitment, decrease the angle at the hip joint by keeping your torso inline with your shin and take longer strides so that your shin is perpendicular with the floor at the bottom of the movement. Drive through the heels, rather than placing the weight on the toes. There are many variations of lunges, including walking, stationary, reverse, all of which are fine to incorporate into your program. Typically, the gyms I go to have a lot more open space than your typical commercial gym, so I stick with weightless, dumbbell or barbell walking lunges because I can get 20 steps in each direction. Lunges are a great finishing movement when you’re looking to empty the tank and add extra detail and mass onto your legs.

EXERCISE GUIDE: BULGARIAN SPLIT SQUAT Fact: The bulgarian split squat is one of the most underrated exercises for building TICC and JOOCY legs. If done correctly, these fuckers will make you want to cry, but you’ll have a nasty leg pump. Place your non-training leg up on a bench. Staying upright, hold a dumbbell in the opposite hand of the leg you are training, while the other hand is holding onto something to stabilize you. With hypertrophy being our primary goal, eliminating the balance component, really allows us to hammer the legs hard. To recruit more quads, position your foot closer to the bench. To recruit more hamstrings and glutes, position your foot farther away from the bench. If you feeling sadistic, perform a triple drop set, cutting the weight in half on the first drop and going weightless on the last drop until failure.

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TRICKS OF THE TRADE EXERCISE GUIDE: HAMSTRING CURL When deciding which hamstring curl machine to use, try to find one with a flat surface, rather than one that is flexed or angled. The reason being is that we want to create as much hip extension as possible when performing the movement. If you’re gym only has the angled one, push your upper body upright into straight alignment with your glutes. This will help you achieve better hip extension. When performing each rep, whether it be on the lying hamstring curl, the single leg hamstring curl or the seated hamstring curl, contract your glutes at the beginning of the movement before contracting your hamstrings. Keep your glutes flexed throughout the entire movement, while keeping your hips flush against the pad. By doing so, you’ll able to achieve a fully contracted hamstring and glute and help you sculpt an even better glute-ham tie in. If you really want a humbling experience, lay flat on the ground or on a flat bench and perform these with a dumbbell between your feet. Make sure to keep your hips glued to the floor or bench and squeeze the dumbbell as tight as possible. Because you are using a dumbbell, there will be no tension at the top of the rep, therefore, you’ll want to stop at about three quarters of the way up for each rep. You may want someone to hand you the dumbbell to make the movement a little easier.

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TRICKS OF THE TRADE EXERCISE GUIDE: CALF RAISES If your parents didn’t give you gifted calf genetics – like most of us – you’re going to have to work your ass off to get some decent sized calves. Your calves will ONLY grow if you train them correctly and train them hard. PERIOD. You cannot do a couple of half assed sets at the end of your workout and magically get calves. Calves are a very adaptable muscle group. You’re walking on them every single day so they get worked a lot. You’ve got to treat those sets as you would any other body part and train them with intensity. Execution of each rep is the most important thing to consider when training calves. As discussed above, calves are ankle extensors or plantar flexors – or in simpler terms, they are responsible for pointing your toes. Whether you’re doing seated or standing calf raises, you want to execute each rep by pointing your toes forward, not rolling on the outside portion of your foot. To help achieve this – with your feet firmly planted on the floor or machine – consciously try touching your knees and ankles together. If you’re having trouble doing this, place a ball or object between your legs to do so, you’ll notice a world of difference. By doing so, you force yourself to execute each rep on the inside portion of your foot. Something you’ve probably never thought about when training calves is figuring out what your active range actually is. Your active range is how far you can get your ankle into dorsiflexion – or how far you can stretch your calf. It’s important to know this because if you stretch your muscle more than you have to, you can inhibit growth. You can determine it by sitting on a bench or chair. With your legs straight out in front of you, with your heels on the ground, lift your toes up towards your face. Easy right? Now continue to bring your heels closer to your body, performing the same movement. At some point, you won’t be able to lift your toes up off the ground anymore. This is your active range and this is where you’ll want to stay to train them. In our program above, seated and standing calf raises are our two main movements for calves. You’ll want to perform these exercises with your feet in a neutral position and in a shoulder width stance. Don’t just go through the motions. Think of each exercise as a two part movement. The first movement is flexing your calves at the beginning of each rep. The second movement is completing the rep and getting full contraction at the top.

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