1. Squats: When trying to put on some mass, you need to stick with the fundamentals. Squatting is and always will be one of the top exercises for overall fitness. But you need to make sure it is done right. I see time and time again, people in the gym doing what is called a half squat. They load the bar to quick with too much weight, and proceed to squat down only 45 degrees. TAKE YOUR TIME! Squat university ask the question, why would you put weight on a squat before you can do it properly? Take a step back, do about 25 body squats. If you struggle going down to a full 90 degrees, make a box for yourself. I typically pile 8 plates on the ground to reach a full 90 degrees. Control yourself on the way down, touch your butt to the box and explode up. Have your feet roughly shoulder length apart, toes at a slight angle. If you struggle with going all the way down, and keeping your knees without going past your toes, work on your ankle mobility (stretch out your calves). It may sound odd, but try it. For the actual workout, slowly add weight to the bar until you reach you five rep max. Once you know your five rep max, take a hundred pounds off. This is your 20 rep max. Proceed to do three sets of twenty, twice weekly, adding five pounds every time you squat. Do this for eight weeks, failing on set three before you hit 20 reps. I know it sounds odd, high reps are associated with toning, this is a myth.
2. Heels Elevated Goblet Squats: A goblet squat is where you hold a dumbbell, almost like a front squat. Elevate your heels on a plate and keep a narrow stance to focus on the quads. Elevating the heels takes the pressure slightly off your knees and allows you to squat nice and deep to really stretch the quads out for explosive results. A narrow stance allows the weight to be focused more on the quads to top of the burn from the regular squats. Following the three sets of 20 on regular squats, do the goblet squats for three sets of 15. Make sure to pause at the bottom for one to two seconds. The best way for muscle growth is time under tension and reps.
3. leg Press: Leg press is not a replacement for squats. It is however, a great way to burn out your legs. Make sure the seat is set far enough back to get a full extension and a deep squat. The myth that you should never go past 90 degrees on any of these exercises, is in fact a myth. If you watch any real lifter, whether that’s an Olympic lifter, body builder or athlete, they all go to at least 90 degrees if not more. Do at least four sets of 15. On the last two sets, do drop sets to further burn out your legs. Just because you hit the 15 reps doesn’t mean you are done, take weight off and go until failure for those last two sets. This provides deep tears into the leg muscles for greater growth.
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