3 Muscles In Your Legs To Consider With Your Body Building Workout

There are a few key muscles in your legs that most people think about when making a leg routine. While these are important, there are many other muscles that often get neglected by lifters.

This article will talk about these three important muscles and give you a few exercises that you can incorporate into your leg routine.

When people think of leg muscle, they usually name the big three - quadriceps, hamstrings, and calf muscles. These are, without a doubt, very important muscles when in comes to your leg development.

However, there are three other equally important leg muscles that you cannot afford to forget about. These three muscles are:  adductors, iliopsoas, and the gluteus maximus. All three of these muscles play very important parts in how your leg functions. Strengthening these muscles can improve leg performance in almost every activity.

The adductors, also known as the groin muscles, are responsible for laterally rotating the femur. If you’ve ever suffered a groin injury, you know just how important they are for walking, running, climbing stairs, and almost any other activity.

Few people actually focus on strengthening these muscles as they are worked by compound exercises such as squats and leg presses. For most, this exercises are probably adequate, but those who participate in activities like biking, skating, soccer, and other sports will benefit by specifically targeting the adductors.

Strengthening these muscles can significantly increase your leg power and stability. A great exercise for this is the hip adductor machine. If you don’t have access to this machine, place a rubber band around both of your thighs and spread your legs working against that resistance. Wide-stance squats will also work the adductors.

Your hip flexor, or iliopsoas, is actually a combination of three muscles: psoas major, psoas minor, and iliacus. These are the strongest hip flexor muscles and function to raise the leg. This movement is crucial for walking, running, and jumping.

The iliopsoas muscle is susceptible to shortening in some sedentary people, which is why it is important to stretch and work this muscle. A great exercise for the hip flexors is the lying leg raise. These hit both your abdominals and hip flexors. Lunges are also a great exercise for the hip flexors. By strengthening this muscle you can improve your speed and agility.

The last muscle you need to take into consideration during your leg workouts is your gluteus maximus. Many compound exercises will work your gluteus maximus, like the squat, leg press, lunge and hamstring curl. To specifically target this muscle, try weighted hip thrusts. This requires you to lie on your back with your knees bent.

Contract your abdominals and glutes and raise your hips off the floor. Pause for a second, keeping your glutes contracted, then lower. Glute kickback machines are also a great way to work this muscle. Your gluteus maximus helps raise your leg and support your pelvis and femur. Improving glute strength can help your agility, balance, and speed.

When working your legs, be sure to keep these three very important muscles in mind. Try working these few exercises into your routine to be sure that you maintain overall leg strength and definition.

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