When you hear about building a powerful physique, the first thoughts tend to steer towards the chest, abs, and arms. However, incorporating 4 lower body exercises that sculpt a powerful physique truly can be the element that sends you above the competition.
While the upper body tends to gain most attention in a powerful physique, lower body strength is invaluable. Whether you are working out for general fitness, to gain strength, or to improve your body for competitions, the lower body can be vital to ongoing success. The content ahead takes a closer look into why the legs are so important along with 4 lower body exercises that sculpt a powerful physique.
What is the Importance of Leg Muscles?
So while it can’t be overstated, the legs are truly are the foundation of your body. Strong legs help to propel the body, provide endurance for cardio, and help keep you feeling at your best. Without your legs feeling strong under you, there is a chance you may not be at your best at any given time.
If you are an athlete, you will definitely need to pay close attention to this topic. Developing powerful legs is essential for any sport, and if you have ever seen a running back’s legs, you should have a better understanding that power starts in the lower half. Adding heavier loads is a great start for developing stronger legs, but the programming of exercises can help you to achieve success.
Leg Day Programming for Fast Gains
Sculpting a powerful physique means you have to work muscles that are specific to power muscle fiber types. Generating power is a function of lifting weight as quickly as possible in a specific amount of time and this style of exercise works the fast twitch muscle fibers needed to create a powerful physique.
When comparing strength and power, there are slight differences that set them apart. Someone can be strong, but lack overall power and vice versa. Strength is the ability to lift a certain amount of weight through a full range of motion. In comparison, power involves lifting a certain weight quickly more frequently, meaning less weight is added, but often brings amazing gains in the body and for muscular hypertrophy.
To nail down a power-style of exercise workout, it is important to know how to arrange a program. The great part of power training is that the sets and reps (two major parts of fitness volume) are generally not vital to success. Power exercises generally mean lifting a certain amount of weight and performing as many reps as possible, within a determined amount of time. This type of exercise should look similar to the example below.
Here is an example of power lifting programming for lower body gains:
- Perform as many weighted back squats as possible of in 60 seconds.
- Perform 3 sets of the following for time:
- Weighted deadlifts x 10
- Barbell power cleans x 10
- Kettlebell sumo squats x 10
- Burpees x 10
This style of exercise programming is generally quite simple, but the athlete or lifter must understand how much load to bring to the workout. If you are being tasked with power cleans, then it would be valuable to know what you are able to reasonably handle.
Working to incorporate power into your back squat? For this, focus on lowering the weight slowly and straightening the legs upward in an explosive movement to complete a power repetition. The idea is to perform the fast movement with squats on the concentric up phase to gain the benefits.
Top 4 Lower Body Exercises That Sculpt a Powerful Physique
Listed ahead are exercises that are designed to be the best of the best for the lower body. Compound exercises provide the most value for building powerful muscles, with the list focusing specifically on these types of activities.
- Barbell Squats. The back squat is a standard exercise that adds in an element of power. Known as being an ideal compound exercise, back squats take aim at the gluteal muscles, quads, hamstrings, and partially the calves. If performed specifically as a power exercise, squats can truly be the headline exercise to send you to the next level.
- To make this a power exercise, lower down so the legs are parallel to the ground, push through the heels, and lift the body up in a fast motion (safely of course). Repeat in this same sequence.
- Bulgarian Split Squat. This exercise is a better version of the weighted lunges and is ideal for adding power to the legs. This version of the squat involves resting the back leg on a bench and stepping the other leg in front of the body. Lower down very similarly to a lunge and push through the heels until the body is back to the starting position.
- The concentric phase when lifting the body upwards and straightening the legs is where the power comes from. This should be a faster movement while the lowering down portion should be slow and controlled.
- Deadlifts. This is another staple in the gym and is one of the best lower body compound exercises around. The deadlift targets the gluteus maximus and medius muscles while also taking aim at the quads and hamstrings. Adding deadlifts to your workout is crucial in developing a powerful lower body physique.
- Deadlifts are a power exercise altogether. Focus on safe, but quick movements for best results.
- Weighted Sled Pushes. A little change of scenery here, but a weighted sled push is crushing on the legs. This is also classified as a compound exercise since the functionality of the weighted sled push works various parts of the legs and can help to generate power and athleticism.
How to Incorporate the 4 Lower Body Exercises that Sculpt a Powerful Physique
Adding these four exercises to your workout is quite simple: perform them first in your workouts while you are still energized. If you wait until mid-workout or the end, your legs might be overly fatigued to where you struggle.
Conclusion
Adding the 4 lower body exercises that sculpt a powerful physique should be the first part of your training program. Utilizing a power-based programming, these exercises can help to add the fast twitch muscle fibers needed to create a powerful lower body.
