The Importance Of Leg Extensions In Your Workouts
Leg extensions are an integral part of most bodybuilder’s routines from the moment they hit the gym. The machine is inviting, and the movement isn’t all that complicated. You simply extend your leg. It’s not all that complex, is it? Even as your level of bodybuilding classification moves from beginner to intermediate to advanced, the leg extension continues to be a mainstay all along. Simply put, you need this movement if you want to add shape and definition to your thighs. However, the exact placement of leg extensions on a leg day varies from bodybuilder to bodybuilder. Here are some of the most common uses.
Warm-up
If you watch their DVDs, you’ll see that most professional bodybuilders use leg extensions as a warm-up on leg day. This may seem odd, as many people in your gym will walk in the door, hang up their keys, and run to the nearest open squat rack, right? The pros are smart enough to realize that they need to protect their legs from injury (and thus protect their livelihood), making the use of leg extensions to bring blood into the legs essential.
Pre-exhaust
Check out any pre-exhaust routine for thighs, and most of them will have a set of leg extensions immediately followed by a set of squats or deadlifts. This is fairly standard. The leg extensions allow you to draw blood into the area, and effectively isolate the quadriceps. The compound movements of squats or leg presses that follow are useful for training the entire leg, glutes, and often hips and back as well.
Finisher
A lot of bodybuilders place the leg extension at the very end of their leg routine. At this point in your workout, your structural stability, or ability to safely support and lift a free weight, begins to become compromised. You want to keep pumping blood into your thighs, but you also know that injury could result as failure is reached. The leg extension is a very safe movement for keeping the thighs pumped for another 10 to 12 minutes, without any meaningful risk of injury you’d see with squats, lunges or leg presses at this point in the routine.
Warning
Going beyond 90 degrees, at either the top or bottom of this movement, is a recipe for disaster. You are shifting the tension of this movement from the thigh muscles onto the knee tendons. Any swinging is also unnecessary. If you cannot smoothly move the weight though a maximum 90 degrees of movement, then you are just using too much weight. Lessen the workload and focus upon your thighs, not your ego!
You should mix up where you place leg extensions on leg day. Remember that some bodybuilders will use them in 2, even 3 spots on the same leg day. Since their role is one of warm up, pre-exhaust, cool down, and more, this is fine. Train hard and heavy with the squats and leg extensions, but always remember that it is the leg extensions that bring out the detail in your thighs!
Dane Fletcher is the world-wide authority on bodybuilding and steroids. He has coached countless athletes all over the world. To read more of his work, please visit either www.BodybuildingToday.com or www.SteroidsToday.com Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/fitness-articles/the-importance-of-leg-extensions-in-your-workouts-1646319.html
