We are all aware that despite their claims, they still struggle to build muscle and strength in their legs. I personally have struggled with this for years, but I’ve finally been able to pinpoint the cause of my small legs syndrome.
Most people’s regained leg size can be attributed to a combination of low training volume, restricted range of motion during lower body exercises, and poor recovery from too much high-intensity cardio.
In this article, I’ll explain why you might have smaller legs but a larger upper body, give you some workouts you can start doing to advance as quickly as possible and offer you some advice on how to build stronger legs.
Related: Why is Leg Day So Hard: Reasons&Solutions – Exercise World
Table of Contents
Why Do You Have Small Legs and a Big Upper Body?
As long as they keep their training sessions focused on improving their body and shoulder strength, men can effectively address this issue. In addition, the upper body is the main location for extra calories and fat to build up. Let’s get more specific on that:
Weak Leg Strength
skinny legs are weak legs. Everybody carries fat and muscle in various body parts. Even though you can easily add muscle to your upper body, your genetics may prevent you from developing large legs. It’s difficult, but not impossible, to face your genetics.
Your Practice is Stiff
If you want to achieve your goals, having a workout routine is a “must.” Change, however, is the secret to success. a modification of the exercises, muscles you work, timing, speed, repetitions, setting, etc. Almost everything causes our bodies to adapt. That’s why it’s a good idea to alter the way you work out. By doing this, you can maintain your equilibrium and avoid overtraining in certain areas.
More Carbohydrates
Are we referring to the carbs that all diet plans advise avoiding? Yes, reducing carbs is a good idea for fitness, but there are some nice exceptions to this rule when it comes to building muscle.
It goes without saying that you need to include healthy carbs, such as homemade oatmeal cookies, fruits, porridge, and other whole foods. Choose the carbohydrates that will fill you up with vital nutrients and provide you with energy.
Exercises geared toward building muscle require carbs. The 60-30-10 diet planning rule should be used. 60% of carbs, 30% – of protein, and 10% – of fats. Of course, you don’t have to be that exact, but try to stay within these bounds +/- 10%.
Not Doing the Full Range of Exercise Training
One of the most prevalent mistakes I observe frequent gym goers making is this one. There is a very high likelihood that any lifter with strong legs—their wheels—is squatting below parallel.
You must allow for full knee flexion when performing movements that target the quadriceps. As a result, the quadriceps won’t be subjected to as much muscular stress. When performing exercises like stiff-leg deadlifts and RDLs, you should try to keep your back flat while flexing your hips, and you should try to avoid bending your knees too much.
In the end, you should feel a deep stretch on the target muscle, and work the movement through the fullest range of motion you can achieve while maintaining a flat back and proper form. This often means lifting less weight and focusing on feeling the muscle work before you can progress back up in loading.
Capacity Training
Training with volumes is weightlifting. Low repetitions and many sets are required. Lower and high-volume pieces of training will help you build your leg strength and forget about skinny and weak ones.
Missing Leg Days
Some individuals simply don’t take leg strength training seriously. And that’s a pretty mindless strategy. You can do the best exercises for your upper body, but they won’t make skinny legs big. And as a result, you’ll just have an inverted triangle – certainly not something you were looking for.
Make leg days, spending 15–25% of the time on your upper body, and use the remaining time for leg exercises.
Best Exercises to Fix Small Legs Big Upper Body
The below exercises are some of the best movements you can do to build serious leg size and strength for the quadriceps and hamstrings.
High Bar Back Squat
When compared to low bar back squats, high bar back squats require the lifter to maintain a more vertical torso position, which in turn causes more knee flexion during the squat and less hip flexion. To grow your quadriceps significantly in size and strength, try this exercise. You can use variations like the tempo back squat to further enhance the muscle growth of the quads.
Romanian Deadlift
First, position yourself behind a barbell that is lying on the ground. For a better grasp, budge your knees. Keep your back and hips straight. Then, lift the bar by thrusting your hips forward without bending your back. Pushing your hips back while upright will allow you to lower the bar. Don’t bend your knees more than necessary.
With a 60-second break in between each set, perform 3 sets of 6 repetitions. With this exercise, you’ll target your glutes and hamstring’s top end. Your speed and agility on the track can both be enhanced by it.
Leg Press
The leg press is an excellent machine for increasing quad strength and size, but almost everyone uses it incorrectly. Make sure you perform these in the fullest range of motion, often maxing out your pain-free knee flexion angles and often using much lower loads than you are used to. Observe the seven most frequent errors people make when performing the leg press in this excellent video on leg growth.
Good Morning
Put a barbell across your shoulders, behind your neck. Make sure your shoulder blades are pushed back to take the weight off the bar. Second, tighten your abdominal muscles and slowly sag your hips to lower your head to the ground. Then, turn back after a brief pause.
With a 60-second break in between each set, perform 3 sets of 6 repetitions. You can use this exercise to strengthen your glutes and hamstrings.
Leg Roman Lift
The stiff leg deadlift is a key exercise for developing strong hamstrings. In contrast to the deadlift, it restricts knee flexion and primarily shifts the load to the hamstrings (and away from the lower back and supporting muscles). You can still severely overload the hamstrings even though you can’t lift as much weight as you would normally in a deadlift. If you struggle with hamstring size and are deadlifting, I recommend you swap these in and really force your hamstrings to grow. If you want to avoid making these stiff-leg deadlift mistakes, be sure to watch this video.
Hip Thruster
Lean against a fitness bench with your upper back. Between yourself and the support, you should make a 45-degree angle. Second, squeeze your glutes and core and raise your hips to lift the load until your back is straight and your knees form a 90-degree angle. Go back to your starting place.
You should do 3 sets of 6 reps, with a 60-second rest between each set. You can strengthen your glutes with this exercise. When your glutes are weak, they have a negative effect on the movement mechanics of the entire leg.
You should perform the exercises listed above to strengthen and enlarge your legs.
Final Thoughts
If your legs are small and have a big upper body, you will most likely need to train them more frequently using the workouts and training techniques discussed in this article. Some lifters do have trouble building bigger legs, but with the right program, knowledge of the building blocks of muscle, and regular training, bigger thighs and hamstrings can be developed.