AT HOME LEG WORKOUT - NO EQUIPMENT

Make sure you are eating enough protein
if you are trying to build muscle!

Happy Sunday! I thought I would take the time to share with you an at home, no equipment, leg workout!

If you are serious about adding size to your legs, the most efficient way is to be lifting challenging weights. Now, as a beginner that only has 5 pound weights lying around the house, it's not difficult to create a challenging upper body workout! But your legs are so much stronger and more powerful, 5 pounds won't be quite as challenging. You can certainly get stronger and even increase muscle mass with no equipment, but this will take more time and may not yield as good of results as heavy lifting will (but more on why you CAN build muscle at home in a bit!).

All of this goes to say that basically, as someone who wants to get bigger legs, this can be frustrating when you have limited or even no equipment around. So I highly HIGHLY recommend either joining a gym, or starting one in your own home! You don't have to get all fancy- the basics you need are dumbbells and resistance bands! As you progress more and more, you can add equipment such a barbell rack or even a cable station. If you figure out you'd rather join a gym, go ahead! Or if you aren't really in love with this type of resistance training, try something else out. It's all about finding what works for you:)

Howeverrr, if you are on vacation, traveling for another reason, or maybe you can't make time to go to the gym, this little workout is a great substitute! We are going for metabolic stress- one of the three primary ways to grow muscle- which is the "pump" or burning sensation you feel. One of the most vivid examples I can relate to is how on FIRE my quads feel after a couple minutes of a wall sit. The best way to attain this "pump" is to focus on constant tension during an exercise. This is one reason I love 1.5 squats- you perform a half squat followed by a full squat, which all equals one rep. Pulsing or pausing at the peak tension of a movement (at the bottom of a squat or the top of a hip thrust) will also increase metabolic stress! This is why you CAN build muscle at home, because instead of 10 heavy squats, you can do 100 bodyweight squats- the first focus on mechanical tension, the latter on metabolic stress. It is best to incorporate both types of mechanics into your training split for the best possible results! And if this is the case where you are not able to access equipment for a day or even a week, don't worry about not being able to grow muscle size! This is a lifestyle, with no deadlines or due dates! You don't see results from one workout, but hundreds.

Okay okay, for the workout! This is structured in a "ladder." You will do 10, then 20, then 30 reps of each exercise. If you are feeling good, try to go all the way to 50! Make sure to take very little rest during this whole workout; we want to maximize that metabolic stress!

Workout: 30 minutes 

• Glute Bridge TO G.B. Hold TO Single Leg G.B. (each leg) {10, 20, 30 reps}
• Fire Hydrants {10, 20, 30 reps}
• Donkey Kicks {10, 20, 30 reps}
• 1.5 Squat {10, 20, 30 reps}
• Single Leg Hyperextensions {10, 20, 30 reps}
• Hyperextension hold {10, 20, 30 seconds}
• Static Lunge (each leg) {10, 20, 30 reps}
• Walking Lunge {10, 20, 30 reps}

And that's it! I hope you guys found the quick chat about some drivers of muscle growth helpful, and try this AT HOME workout out!!

Hannah