Complete Book of Butt and Legs

Proper Technique. The Body Proper technique is essential to have a successful training program. It is important for two reasons: First, it provides the optimum results in the least amount of lime. Second, proper technique decreases the chance of' injury during training. This chapter contains important training principles essential for complete lower body development. The Complete Butt and Leg Philosophy To achieve successful lower body development, you need to train and condition all the muscles in your lower body. An unbalanced approach in lower body training will cause muscular imbalance and/or weakness. This can lead to structural problems and can also increase chance of injury during sports, exercise, and other favorite activities. The lower body is a system that works synergistically. in most movements, one muscle group acts as the prime mover, another group works in an assisting capacity (secondary mover), while a third provides stabilization. If you don't train for development, one or two of' the muscle groups will not perform optimally and overall performance will suffer. To achieve your full potential you must train not only the entire lower body, but the whole body, with a balanced program. STARTING OUT The most frequently asked questions when beginning a training program are: "What should I do?", "How much should I do?", and "Where should I start?" There is no single, correct answer to these. Every person is different. You must intelligently- experiment to find the answers. Let's address these questions separately. "What should I do?" You should include exercises that will train all the muscle groups in the body. This book targets the lower body but by no means should You limit your training to the legs and butt only. "How much should I do?" When starting out you should do just enough to promote fatigue, no more. Your total exercise volume (sets and reps) should be minimal, perhaps no more than one set with fifteen to twenty repetitions for each selected exercise. This will eliminate the negative physical and mental effects of excessive muscular soreness and will decrease the potential for injury from fatigue and lack of concentration. "Where should I start?" The following two principles will help you determine a proper starting place: When learning a new exercise, use minimal intensity (if possible) and perform it while you are fresh. Once you have mastered the exercise technique, increase the intensity (weight) gradually until you can no longer perform the movement for the prescribed number of repetitions, or until you have a breakdown in proper technique. After this happens, drop back to the previous, lighter weight. This will be your starting point. When experimenting with finding a starting weight, perform no more than three sets per exercise, per session. This may sound tedious, but remember that technique is the key to success. Be patient; proper execution of your exercises is not only safer, but the results will be greater in the long run. The Basic Principles OVERLOAD AND PROGRESSION For a muscle to get stronger it must be overloaded. Overloading means subjecting your muscles to more stress than they are accustomed to. Overloading muscles can be accomplished in two ways, both progressive. First, add volume. This is done by increasing the repetitions per set, adding sets, or by adding additional exercises for that muscle group. Second, increase the intensity of training: this can be accomplished by increasing the resistance (adding weight or doing a more difficult exercise) or by decreasing the rest time between sets and exercises. These forms of progressive overloading should be done separately (either increase volume or iBrungardt, Kurt is the author of 'Complete Book of Butt and Legs' with ISBN 9780679754817 and ISBN 0679754814.