What are the thigh muscle exercises?

The thigh is an important organ and part of our human body. Having a strong thigh is vital to each of us. But in reality, not everyone can get what they want. Many people often complain about the fat in their thighs every day. They fantasize every moment about when the fat in their thighs can turn into muscles. If you want to turn the fat in your thighs into muscles, the best way is to exercise. So, what are the exercises for thigh muscles? Let’s take a look.

There are several specific ways to exercise your thigh muscles:

1. Wide and narrow stance squats

If you're a little tired of regular squats, try changing the distance between your feet to give your muscles some new stimulation.

Wide stance - A wide stance squat means that the distance between the two feet is greater than the shoulders, and the angle between the toes is approximately "1:58" (the position of the clock hands). The barbell should fall comfortably in the middle of the trapezius muscles, rather than behind the neck, which is more conducive to reducing the load on the psoas muscles. The squat motion is like you are sitting on a bench, lowering your body downward and back. The depth of the squat should be slightly shallower than a normal squat, with the thighs just below parallel to the ground.

This squatting style is commonly used by powerlifters, who can use very heavy weights with practice. The thigh adductor muscles can also be better exercised during the movement.

Narrow Stance – Also known as the “SissySquat.” Stand slightly narrower than shoulder width with toes pointed forward. If your ankle joints are not very flexible and you tend to lift your heels when squatting, you can wear special weightlifting shoes or put a 1-2 cm thick wooden bar or barbell plate under your heels. Be careful not to raise the heels too high, as high heels will destroy the stability of the movement and make the body easily lean forward when squatting.

Narrow stance squats allow you to squat deeper, until your thighs are close to your calves, but never rely on rebounding to complete the movement, as that is harmful to the knee joints and makes it difficult to keep your waist tight. Because the distance between the two feet is closer and the stability is slightly worse, the weight of the narrow squat will be less than that of the normal squat, but the stimulation to the quadriceps will be increased.

These two types of squats can be used alternately with regular squats to stimulate the muscles differently.

2. Incline squat

The characteristic of oblique squats is that the pressure on the waist is less than that of squats, so you can train your legs more confidently. And by adjusting the position of your feet, you can focus the exercise on your quadriceps (feet slightly back) or biceps (feet forward). The depth of the incline squat only needs to be over 90 degrees, and there is no need to lower it too low. Pay special attention to not letting the inertia of gravity fold the thighs and thighs together, because this can easily pull the buttocks away from the cushion and cause serious sacral injury.

3. Romanian Deadlift

Deadlifts typically target the lower back muscles, but if you straighten your legs a little, the biceps femoris and glutes will do most of the work. This exercise helps develop the biceps femoris more than any other leg curl.

The biggest difference between the Romanian deadlift and the ordinary deadlift is that you lift the barbell from the rack, first slowly lower it to the height of the knee joint through isometric force, and then straighten your body and kick your legs to restore it to an upright position. Remember to keep your chest up after raising the barbell. Tuck in your abdomen, waist, and shoulders, and keep your knees slightly bent at all times. When lowering the barbell, bend forward from the hip joint without bending over. This exercise is developed from the straight-leg deadlift. It avoids the possible injury of locking the knee joint and excessive stretching of the biceps femoris, but maintains the effect of developing the posterior thigh muscles.

4. Farmer's Walk

This exercise is actually a series of lunges and squats. It is effective for developing the inner thigh muscles, quadriceps and gluteal muscles. The key to the movement is balance and standardization. The weight used should be from light to heavy. The walking distance can be 10 to 20 steps per group, 2 to 3 groups each time. Note that after holding the dumbbells with both hands and hanging them at the sides of the body, the upper body should always remain upright and the center of gravity should be vertically downward. The body cannot lean back or forward. After taking a step, lower your body, bend your legs and squat down. The knee of the front leg cannot exceed the toes, the knee of the back leg points to the ground, and the heel is lifted. Lower until your front thigh is parallel to the ground and then push off, using the force from your back leg to push back and take the next step forward.

Perfectly mastering these four methods will be very beneficial and helpful for those who want to have thigh muscles. If in the future we can strictly follow the methods introduced above to exercise the thigh muscles, then I believe that in the near future, each of us will be able to say goodbye to thigh fat, and it will be replaced by beautiful and flawless thigh muscles.