BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO...TRAINING LEGS

If you're new to strength training, or simply want a bit more clarity, PT David Birtwistle is on hand to help you guarantee leg-day results

- David Birtwistle

As this is a guide to leg training for beginners, it's worth noting from the start that how you train should be heavily based on what you're looking to achieve. If you're starting out because you have a specific sport to improve your physical capacity in, then your training should focus on that specific sporting adaptation.

However, this article is going to approach things from a more general angle and assume that, like most gym-goers, you've decided to start lifting because you want to improve your overall quality of life - and most likely get stronger and build more muscle mass.

Keep it simple

With the goal of building more muscle mass and gaining strength, you should consider that, ideally, you want to use the minimum effect dose to create the specified adaptation. There's no point in throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. Be purposeful with your training and use minimal training to create the biggest adaptations, utilising your beginner superpower of being able to make a lot of progress in a short space of time.

It's important not to be too influenced by more seasoned gym-goers, or use advanced protocols that are necessary for others to ogress but could be harmful to you. You need time to develop the conditioning to lift, before adding too much volume, or increasing the stimulus too much with excessive time under tension, drop sets or negative training.

The focus you should have at this stage is to develop joint stability, muscular control and endurance, alongside really nailing proper exercise technique. All this will set you up with a solid foundation from which to build - and hopefully prevent injuries from occurring.

Bodyweight basics