Leg Training for the Road Warrior
When you are on the road you don’t always have access to a gym. Whether on business or vacation, you may sometimes find yourself in a place where there isn’t a gym within miles. This is particularly true on a summer camping trip. Don’t despair, however, because you can still give your body a good workout without apparatus. All you need is your own body weight to supply the workload.
Everyone is aware of the standard exercises that can be done virtually anywhere such as the crunch, chin up, and push up. However, these traditional movements often primarily the upper body and the legs go overlooked. There is a way to change that with a workout that features the legs prominently.
Warm up
Prior to working any muscle group it is wise to warm up that area. You can do that for your legs with the frog squat stretch. Squat down into a bottomed out position with your legs slightly apart. Place your hands on the ground between your legs, palms facing down. From here raise up as high as you can go on your legs while keeping your hands on the ground. Make this an active stretch, moving up and down while maintaining your palms down and touching the ground position. This move will get the hamstrings and thighs warmed up and ready to go.
Non-lock Squat
The squat lies at the center of all good leg gains and that holds true for body weight movements as well. One way to generate more of a workload for your quads is to use a non-lock action. Squat down and come back up, but stop just a couple inches short of locking your thighs at the top. Immediately squat back down. Move quickly through 20 squats. You may find this movement more challenging than you might expect. The pressure really builds in the legs because they get no rest until the entire set is complete. Perform a couple of sets of this challenging squat style.
Bounding
Next up is the “bound”. To perform this movement you simply squat down and jump as far as you can both forward and upward. That is, you want to get both height and distance. Make each jump as powerful as possible, and bound several times in a row, putting as much effort equally into all the bounds (in other words, don’t taper off toward the end). Perform three sets of the bounds.
Single leg split squat
The single leg squat puts all of your body weight on one thigh. Plant one foot on a solid, elevated surface (such as a bench or chair) and squat down on the other leg. Go deep – no cheating allowed. Move fairly quickly and pump out 10 repetitions for each leg. Perform 3 sets of this movement per leg.
Back to the Frog Squat
Wrap up the routine with a few more frog squats. Make the movement more active than static.
This routine will give your legs a great workout and you can perform it virtually anywhere, so don’t use being on the road as an excuse for letting your legs fall apart.
This article by Paul Becker was published with his permission. Paul, a bodybuilder and fitness expert, is the owner and operator of TrulyHuge.com. Click the link to his website for more workout tips.
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