To get thicker legs, a skinny girl needs to start doing a strength training workout routine focused on the leg muscles. At the same time, she should eat a high protein healthy diet and increase her daily caloric consumption by about 500 calories.
Exercises to Get Thicker Legs
In order to get thicker legs, a woman needs to add muscle to her quad muscles, hamstrings, glutes (butt muscles), and calf muscles. That means doing exercises that target those muscle groups. Here are the must-do exercises that you should be doing to get thicker legs …
1. Squats
How to Do It:
- Stand in front of a loaded squat rack and get under the bar with it resting across your trapezius.
- Unrack the bar and step back with feet hip-width apart, back erect, and looking directly ahead.
- Hip hinge to bring your thighs down to a parallel position to the floor.
- Power through the heels to push back to the start position.
2. Lunges
How to Do It:
- Stand with a pair of dumbbells in your hands and held at your sides.
- Take a large step forward and drop your rear knee to the floor, maintaining an upright torso position.
- Push through the front thigh to return to the start position.
3. Leg Extensions
How to Do It:
- Sit on the leg extension machine and load the appropriate weight.
- Grab the side handles and extend your legs up to about 10 percent short of full lockout.
- Lower under control and repeat.
4. Leg Curls
How to Do It:
- Sit on the leg curl machine and load the appropriate weight.
- Push down with your lower legs to fully contract the hamstrings.
- Reverse under control and repeat.
5. Seated Calf Raises
How to Do It:
- Load the appropriate weight on a seated calf raise machine
- Sit on the machine with the balls of your feet resting on the edge of the footplate.
- Extend your calves to full extension.
- Lower all the way down under control and repeat.
6. Glute Bridges
How to Do It:
- Lie on the floor on your back with your knees bent and loaded barbell across your hips (use a towel for padding).
- Grab the bar for support and then thrust your hips into the air to full extension.
- Hold the top position for a 2-count.
- Lower under control and repeat.
7. Box Jumps
How to Do It:
- Stand in front of plyo box that is 16 inches in height.
- Bend your knees and draw your arms back to load for the jump.
- Now jump with both feet to land on the top of the box.
- Step back down and repeat.
Sets and Reps
In order to train for muscle gain, you should do both high and low reps. For each of the exercises described above (except box jumps), you should do six sets, with the following rep scheme:
- Set one – 30 reps
- Set two – 20 reps
- Set three – 15 reps
- Set four – 10 reps
- Set five 8 reps
- Set six – 6 reps
Rest for 45-60 seconds between each set.
For Box jumps, do 3 sets of 15 reps.
Extra Tips to Tone Up the Lower Body
Doing body strength training exercises is just one part of a good leg muscle growth plan. The other part has to do with eating. To gain weight you need to increase the number of calories per day that you are consuming. This will create a caloric surplus where you have more energy than you burn up each day.
So long as the excess calories are made up of muscle-building nutrients, you will be able to use them to repair and rebuild the muscle damage that has been caused by your strength training. Concentrate on consuming high-quality lean protein foods such as chicken, eggs, lean red meat, and whey protein powder.
You also need to be taking in complex carbs in order to replace the glycogen that you have used up in your training. Get from such foods as sweet potato, oatmeal, green leafy vegetables, and wholemeal bread.
Even though you need to be eating extra calories, make sure that you are concentrating on healthy food. If you get those calories from things like ice cream and muffins, your weight gain will be mainly fat!
You should take in protein every three hours, aiming to consume 20-25 grams each time. That works out to a palm-sized serving of chicken, three eggs, or a whey protein shake. In addition, consume carbs after your workout to restore glycogen levels.
Final Thoughts
In order to thicken up skinny legs, you need to do a combination of strength training and increased calorie consumption. You also need to give your body plenty of rest to fully recover and rebuild muscle tissue. Do your leg workouts twice per week, giving yourself two days rest between sessions (i.e Monday and Thursday).
By training hard and consistently and maintaining a high protein daily caloric surplus, you will soon transform your skinny legs into an athletic, toned, and thick lower body.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the best type of lifting for building muscle?
The best type of lifting for lean muscle development involves doing a range of reps to work both Type 1 and Type 2 muscle fibers. You should do sets as high as 30 and as low as 6, using a weight that makes it a struggle to get the last couple of reps. you should also exercise through a full range of motion with both compound and isolation exercises.
How do I build leg muscles at home?
To build leg muscles at home, you need to have some type of resistance to work your legs with. Resistance bands are a cost-effective option, allowing you to do exercises like squats, stiff-legged deadlifts, and lunges against the band resistance.Â
What is a slim thick body?
A slim thick body is a body that has a low amount of body fat with a good amount of muscle mass. Rather than a bodybuilder physique, a slim thick body looks like an athlete, showing a good amount of muscle definition through both the lower and upper body.
