Leg day. Those dreaded 2 words. Shouldn’t be. Nothing provides more post-workout satisfaction than the completion of a successful quad blasting. The kind that leaves you all Gumby-like, wobbling down the stairs afterwards. You know what I’m talking about. Or do you?

Building a big set of wheels is the foundation for serious training and a must if you want to call yourself a bodybuilder. Though I don’t have the biggest legs on the planet, I regularly put in my time and am proud of the wheels I’ve built. Thus, I’ll share with you 5 tips that have helped me greatly in my leg development:

1. Train quads before hamstrings.

No weak links in the chain. Seems like a no brainer, but not always the case. Quads require the full cooperation of the smaller hamstrings, so they’ve gotta be fresh to do their part in the session.

2. Give quads their own day.

Thus giving hamstrings their own day. Drop the ‘legs day’ approach. Listen, if you’re gonna give back its own day (the largest upper body part), why wouldn’t you do the same for quads (the largest lower body part). Break it up and watch that VMO grow. Yes, that means a second leg day. Typically, a proper quads workout is so taxing and demanding that following it up with hamstrings (and often calves) in the same session seems to be an afterthought. The result is hams end up getting skimped on, thus affecting their development.

3. Change up your foot positioning for fuller quad development.

This has made a huge difference in the fullness and overall development of my quads. Think of 3 stances to use: Wide for inner thigh, close for outer thigh and sweep, neutral for incorporating a bit of both. I train my calves the same way, but we’ll discuss that in another article. It’s kind of like using different bench angles for fuller pec development – top to bottom. Think 360-degree leg development. Stop training them in 2D.

4. Frequently double up on weekly leg workouts.

I do this even when there’s still some DOM soreness from the last workout, like 2 days earlier. I like this tactic because my focus on quads is still so high from the last killer quad workout. If a week has past like usual, I have to start re-building up my focus to be ready for the ungodly pain to follow, but if I’m fresh off of a very recent quad day – I’m mentally already there.

5. Take the same approach to legs as the average gym rat does towards upper body.

So many make the beginner’s mistake of favoring those ‘mirror muscles’, thus warping their posture to look like neandrathals and being all ‘top heavy’ looking like they’re riding a chicken with those tiny legs. Remember Tom Platz aka ‘Quadzilla’? He utilized the approaches mentioned here and more to his leg training, which made them his signature freak body part. Calves are also of utmost importance to tie it all together. In previous articles, I’ve alluded to emphasizing forearm training to greatly improve on arm development. The same approach should be utilized towards legs via consistent, additional calf training. Make them a priority, and enhanced legs await you.

Remember, with these tips I’m not just talking quads – I’m talking hamstrings, calves, tibialis anterior – the whole damn lower body lot. Next time your buddy asks you what you’re going to train today say, ‘It’s leg day again” with a big shit-eating mischievous grin on your face.

Now go hit ’em hard.