Do I have to work my legs?

DeniseMan

Member
Hi all. Am a 45 yr old female. I really don't find the time to work my legs seperately. Right now I am doing Gym Style for my upper and use my elliptical with Cardio Coach for cardio. My elliptical not only has resistance but also motion controlls. The motion controls make it more of a stepping motion. Combined with the resitance I'm wondering if that is enough leg work. What would the benifit be by adding a leg workout?
 
Hi Denise,

For me the benefit in a structured leg workout is the assurance that you are developing all your leg muscles, targeting the various different parts of your leg. Unless you vary your types of cardio activities, you may be developing some muscles to the exclusion of others, and could end up with an imbalance & possible injury.

Stebby
 
Yes.

And no.

What are you after and where are you now? You can tailer your lower body work for the results you want. I do full body workouts that use compound moves that hit everything (one push, one pull, one squat variation... sometimes two of each) and the little 20-30 minute workouts I do now are the most results-getting I've ever done. But I like muscles and my shoulders could probably use some added work so, at some point soon, I'll need to start making changes. But a squat move or two seems to be more than enough to hit EVERYTHING in my lower body without singling out any particular part. An example of tailoring MY workouts: I have naturally thick calves. Even when I was doing marathon body parts sessions I avoided any direct calf work. I felt my calves were getting worked indirectly through all my other standing work and since I didn't want them to get any larger it didn't make sense to directly work them.

Pay attention to how the development of your body progresses. If you feel you have symmetry and are pleased with the strength gains you have, you're golden... for now. But as your body changes and the symmetry starts to fade you will need to fine-tune your workouts, adding and taking away moves that will/won't get you what you're after. If, for instance, you're lower body starts to look underdeveloped next to your upper body, add some compound squat moves for fastest results.
 

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