First we do leg curls, then we squat…

First we curl: what you need to know…

Obviously, if big legs are the goal, hardly any other exercise can compete with the squat, but that doesn’t mean you should squat as the first exercise in every leg workout.

Leg curls, whether seated or lying, fill the hamstrings with blood. As a result, the effect of the squat on the quadriceps is felt even more distinctly.

By prioritizing the back of the thigh, we can also give it more training load, which results in fuller hamstrings that “hang” in side poses.

When we talk about adding mass to the legs, there is hardly any exercise that rivals the squat. Of course, other exercises are valuable too, but the squat was, is and will remain the cornerstone of advanced leg training. That doesn’t mean, however, that every leg workout must always begin with the squat.

Start your leg workout with leg curls…

I always start my leg workout with leg curls, and there are specific reasons for it. First, leg curls are an unjustifiably underrated builder of the back of the thigh. Starting with curls gives you a proper feel for the hamstrings and proper training load on them. All too often, training the back of the thigh means 2 – 3 miserable sets after everything else, at the end of the workout as the last or second-to-last exercise.

Second, many lifters are extremely quad-dominant. If you look at bodybuilders in side poses, many have thick legs overall but lack that hanging, defined and massive hamstring. Prioritizing leg curls is one solution for building such a massive, well-separated back of the thigh.

More benefits…

There is one more benefit that PubMed journals don’t talk about: doing leg curls before squats lets you feel the quadriceps, and the squat movement as a whole, better during the squats that follow. A pumped hamstring creates a proper cushion while squatting and in the bottom position of the exercise, which helps the squat specifically from the hip joint. The hip joints feel as if they are moving “oiled”.

What’s more, strange as it may seem, if you start with leg curls, your knees don’t need as much warm-up and working in before squats as they usually do. There is no scientific evidence for this, but decades of experience with hundreds of lifters confirm that it is so.

Another good thing about leg curls is that this exercise lets you effectively use techniques such as partial repetitions and drop sets. These are good ways to increase blood flow to the legs. And generally, leg curls are a good exercise for developing hamstring strength and mass.

Sample plan…

Try this on your next leg day. The first exercise is leg curls. Do 2 – 3 warm-up sets, then 4 x 8 working sets. Really feel the peak contraction. In the fourth set, also do eight repetitions, but immediately afterwards do 25 half-range repetitions. Work in the mid-range.

Your hamstrings will definitely be thoroughly worked after that, and if you keep training this way for a while, it will soon show in how your legs look, too.

Original article here.

Author: Janar Rückenberg (translation)

Come and train! ArtGym