Looking for a good leg workout!

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2

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  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
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    10 pounds? Just looking around my house, a sack of laundry weighs more than 10 pounds. As does a 5 gallon bucket filled with water.
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,179 Member
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    Not just for your legs, but very soon for your arms too, you need to either figure out a different type of routine, or upgrade your dumbbells. 10 lbs weight will not get you far. You either need heavier dumbbells, or to look into bodyweight exercises. Or a combination of course. You can do bodyweight squats, lunches, calf raises and steps ups and you can for sure use the dumbbells you have for now for some added resistance.
  • nicolealamode
    nicolealamode Posts: 12 Member
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    Maybe so, but I can take a picture and show you what 10lbs has done. I'm definitely not upset with my arms.
  • nicolealamode
    nicolealamode Posts: 12 Member
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    Hornsby, I do have a stationary bike! And I hop on it all the time, but it's not giving me the muscle definition I'm looking for.
  • marcolbmp
    marcolbmp Posts: 92 Member
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    My personal advice would be to start doing jump squats, step up lunges and good mornings, all of which will strengthen and tighten your hamstrings, calves, quads and glutes.

    Jump squats are where you would have a dumbbell in each hand, squat as deep as comfortable slowly, then jump hard enough for your feet to leave the ground, when you return to the ground go back in to a deep squat all in one move...slowly. Do 5 sets of 20.

    Step-up Lunges you'll basically step up on to a bench, chair or up a few stairs with one foot, stand tall flexing your calves and glutes and return to the starting point. Do each leg for 5 sets of 20, one side at a time.

    Good mornings you'll need a barbell, but you can hold dumbells by your side. Keeping your knees with a slight bend, bend down just barely past parallel to the ground while pushing your rear out, then return to standing straight, back straight. 5 sets of 20 on this.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    nicolealamode wrote: »
    Hornsby, I do have a stationary bike! And I hop on it all the time, but it's not giving me the muscle definition I'm looking for.

    SO you want to increase muscle mass or lose more fat?
  • LauRoxx
    LauRoxx Posts: 115 Member
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    Kettle bell swings are AMAZING for working your hamstrings with not that much weight at home. squats should already be working your quads really well. The only issue is staying challenged because typical home free weights are so light they won't be challenging for long and you won't get the results you're looking for unless you're consistently challenging your body.
  • nicolealamode
    nicolealamode Posts: 12 Member
    edited February 2015
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    marcolbmp-- Thanks, that looks great! Thanks for taking the time to explain each exercise, much appreciated! I'm going to try it out after work today and see how I feel tomorrow!

    aggelikik-- I agree with you, I've maxed out the 10lbs. However, I'm not going into this to compete or anything of that nature, I'm doing it to tone/for the aesthetic/for the metabolic improvement/for general health improvement. My arms and legs look like they don't belong to the same person! Hence why I'm so keen on lower body at the moment. I'm happy with my arms at present, so I think I'll stick with the 10lb free weights for now.

    yopeeps025-- I'm 10lbs away from my weight goal. However, not close to my fitness goal. I'm looking to lose fat AND gain muscle-- in fact, losing 10lbs of fat and gaining it back in 10lbs of muscle would be ideal!

    lauRoxx-- I've heard amazing things about kettle bells! That might be the next thing I invest in. What weight would you recommend?
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
    edited February 2015
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    OP, you can't gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Pick and choose which one you want first. I'm guessing, by how you describe you want to look, you just need to lose fat.

    ETA: In which case, maybe you should give the stationary bike more of a chance.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    hollydubs85 wrote: »
    OP, you can't gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Pick and choose which one you want first. I'm guessing, by how you describe you want to look, you just need to lose fat.

    Look above in her comment and read the reply to me.
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    hollydubs85 wrote: »
    OP, you can't gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Pick and choose which one you want first. I'm guessing, by how you describe you want to look, you just need to lose fat.

    Look above in her comment and read the reply to me.

    Yeah, I saw that afterwards. That's everybody's dream, isn't it? Lose fat and make muscle?
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    hollydubs85 wrote: »
    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    hollydubs85 wrote: »
    OP, you can't gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Pick and choose which one you want first. I'm guessing, by how you describe you want to look, you just need to lose fat.

    Look above in her comment and read the reply to me.

    Yeah, I saw that afterwards. That's everybody's dream, isn't it? Lose fat and make muscle?

    Everyone dream to do it at the same time yes.

  • Sam_I_Am77
    Sam_I_Am77 Posts: 2,093 Member
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    marcolbmp wrote: »
    My personal advice would be to start doing jump squats, step up lunges and good mornings, all of which will strengthen and tighten your hamstrings, calves, quads and glutes.

    Jump squats are where you would have a dumbbell in each hand, squat as deep as comfortable slowly, then jump hard enough for your feet to leave the ground, when you return to the ground go back in to a deep squat all in one move...slowly. Do 5 sets of 20.

    Step-up Lunges you'll basically step up on to a bench, chair or up a few stairs with one foot, stand tall flexing your calves and glutes and return to the starting point. Do each leg for 5 sets of 20, one side at a time.

    Good mornings you'll need a barbell, but you can hold dumbells by your side. Keeping your knees with a slight bend, bend down just barely past parallel to the ground while pushing your rear out, then return to standing straight, back straight. 5 sets of 20 on this.

    What 5 x 20? People should be careful with doing so much volume on a plyometric such as a jump squat, especially when it's loaded, as it can be rough on your knees. Low volume plyometrics is great for increasing neuro-muscular activation and can strengthen the muscles through stabilization of the landing, but keep the reps low for this type of exercise.
  • marcolbmp
    marcolbmp Posts: 92 Member
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    hollydubs85 wrote: »
    OP, you can't gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Pick and choose which one you want first. I'm guessing, by how you describe you want to look, you just need to lose fat.

    ETA: In which case, maybe you should give the stationary bike more of a chance.

    This is the single most incorrect statement made in physical training. Comments like this are why people get discouraged. You absolutely can gain muscle AND lose fat at the same time, ask any body builder. What you need to understand is the role weight training takes in shaping your body. Ever hear the term 'skinny-fat'? You see this with most marathon runners. Perfect example, compare a sprinter's body to a marathon runner's body.

    Athlete's train their bodies to be more effective and efficient in their respective sport. In order to be efficient, you need to maximize muscle mass and reduce bodyfat. This is the basis of most weight training routines.

    Also, HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is leaps and bounds above straight rate cardio. Keeping your heart rate at 140bpm is not training, it is maintaining. In order to increase your caloric burn, you need to get your heart rate up and down, constantly changing.

    If you're going to bike, pedal with little resistance and a moderate pace for 40 seconds, then sprint for 20 seconds. keep alternating and as you get better, increase the sprint time and decrease the rest time. You can also change up your resistance levels, whatever it takes.

    As far as thanking me for the three exercises...if you do them tonight, wait until Wednesday before you thank me...you'll be sore and might not like me too much.

    Last thing you really need to do, get yourself a good quality protein, like Nature's Best IsoPure Zero Carb, or Quest protein. IsoPure taste like hell, but it's good stuff. Quest is much better. There are plenty others out there, do your research. But you absolutely need to get protein in you to keep your muscles fed and to promote growth.

    Finally, DO NOT LET ANY WOMEN TELL YOU NOT TO DO SQUATS, LEG PRESS OR ANY OTHER LEG EXERCISES CLAIMING THEY WILL 'BULK YOU UP' Women that are lucky enough to have very muscular legs take years, sometimes decades to get them to look like that, you will NOT LOOK LIKE THE HULK....it's just not true, especially if you're watching your food intake, you'll get very nice chiseled legs.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
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    ok i haven't been doing much resistance activity, but i've been seeing some nice shapeliness coming along after a few months of stationary cycling. It's not like 'WOW holy amazing stuff that is something mindblowing' but there is definitely something happening. i guess i've been doing it since novemberish?

    google these all together to find a good review - boutcher HIIE (same as HIIT) intervals fat

    boutcher looked at HIIT studies that found increase in muscle AND fat loss after a number of different HIIT protocols. *all* protocols involve increasing both resistance and speed. there wasn't a massive amount of muscle mass or fat loss, but the first increased and the latter decreased by a statistically significant margin.

    i remember the different studies went like this:
    - 20 mins of 7 seconds on 12 seconds recovery, with resistance going up each week
    - 30 mins of 2 mins on, 3 mins off, resistance going up.

    i've been doing this:
    - 1 min on 1 min off for 40-50 minutes, including 5 min warmup and 5 min cooldown. 3 times a week
    - going up one resistance level for every active interval (so every other minute)
    - while shooting for 90-110 revolutions per minute on the recovery, and 130-150 rpm for the speed interval.
    - when i can't go up in resistance bc my knee gets cranky, i do 2 mins on and 1 min recovery. so far i've gotten up to level 12 resistance on the bike (not sure what the max is).

    if you have the capacity to lift anything you should do that as well; above is just a suggestion to make the most of your cardio
  • mross410
    mross410 Posts: 8 Member
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    Also, since you're just starting, you can do kettle bell movements with dumbbells. I had a trainer coming to my house, and it wasn't long before my kettle bell wasn't heavy enough and we kept some of the movements in my routine, but subbed in my heavier dumbbell. These dynamic movements helped me burn fat by gaining muscle as evidenced by consistent body weight, lower body fat %, and smaller measurements, all calculated by the trainer. If you're not trying to power lift your way into a strongman competition, you can gain muscle and lose fat. Good luck.
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    marcolbmp wrote: »
    hollydubs85 wrote: »
    OP, you can't gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Pick and choose which one you want first. I'm guessing, by how you describe you want to look, you just need to lose fat.

    ETA: In which case, maybe you should give the stationary bike more of a chance.

    This is the single most incorrect statement made in physical training. Comments like this are why people get discouraged. You absolutely can gain muscle AND lose fat at the same time, ask any body builder. What you need to understand is the role weight training takes in shaping your body. Ever hear the term 'skinny-fat'? You see this with most marathon runners. Perfect example, compare a sprinter's body to a marathon runner's body.

    Athlete's train their bodies to be more effective and efficient in their respective sport. In order to be efficient, you need to maximize muscle mass and reduce bodyfat. This is the basis of most weight training routines.

    Also, HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is leaps and bounds above straight rate cardio. Keeping your heart rate at 140bpm is not training, it is maintaining. In order to increase your caloric burn, you need to get your heart rate up and down, constantly changing.

    If you're going to bike, pedal with little resistance and a moderate pace for 40 seconds, then sprint for 20 seconds. keep alternating and as you get better, increase the sprint time and decrease the rest time. You can also change up your resistance levels, whatever it takes.

    As far as thanking me for the three exercises...if you do them tonight, wait until Wednesday before you thank me...you'll be sore and might not like me too much.

    Last thing you really need to do, get yourself a good quality protein, like Nature's Best IsoPure Zero Carb, or Quest protein. IsoPure taste like hell, but it's good stuff. Quest is much better. There are plenty others out there, do your research. But you absolutely need to get protein in you to keep your muscles fed and to promote growth.

    Finally, DO NOT LET ANY WOMEN TELL YOU NOT TO DO SQUATS, LEG PRESS OR ANY OTHER LEG EXERCISES CLAIMING THEY WILL 'BULK YOU UP' Women that are lucky enough to have very muscular legs take years, sometimes decades to get them to look like that, you will NOT LOOK LIKE THE HULK....it's just not true, especially if you're watching your food intake, you'll get very nice chiseled legs.

    I didn't even read the rest, but it is my opinion, and one that is widely held, even by bodybuilders that I have asked. Of course, the two exceptions are individuals who are obese and individuals that have never done any kind of workout before.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
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    Yeah, after reading that first sentence, the rest can be thrown out. lol.

    >_<
  • marcolbmp
    marcolbmp Posts: 92 Member
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    hollydubs85 wrote: »

    I didn't even read the rest, but it is my opinion, and one that is widely held, even by bodybuilders that I have asked. Of course, the two exceptions are individuals who are obese and individuals that have never done any kind of workout before.
    I would challenge you to do some research and produce some credible resources that state you cannot lose fat and gain muscle concurrently. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, however giving poor information is just irresponsible, especially when someone is genuinely looking for advice and motivation.
    Again, you're last statement was so far off base it's laughable.

    @tomatoey Glad you spoke more about HIIT training, it truly is far superior.

  • iankirsch
    iankirsch Posts: 24 Member
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    Run?

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