Q: What Leg Exercises Should I Do For My Skinny Legs? By Hugo Rivera
A. A. While I do not know how much protein you are taking in from those 2,200 calories, I would suggest that you have between 132 to 198 grams of protein every day.
You are doing a ton of work and if you have any lower than 132 grams you will be risking a catabolic state (state in which your body burns muscle for energy).
Regarding legs, a lot of cardio without enough protein burns them out. Assuming that you are taking in enough protein, my recommendation would be that on leg day you split your cardio and weight training at different times. Cardio right after a leg workout seems to also affect my leg size as well.
As a matter of fact, many bodybuilders do not even do cardio on their leg days. Therefore, if you don't have enough time to come to the gym twice on leg days, then do not perform cardio on those days.
Another thing that I would like to recommend is having some l-glutamine after your workouts. This amino acid is very helpful in reducing cortisol levels .
Sample Leg Training Split to Improve Leg Development
Tuesday: Quads & Calves
Friday: Hamstrings and Calves
By splitting them you really focus on each specific part of the leg. Doing this has brought me incredible gains in the leg department which in my opinion was lacking.
Hugo Rivera CFT, SPN, BSCE. is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, multi certified personal trainer, industry consultant and fitness expert who not only knows training and nutrition theory, but also applies it on a daily basis as evidenced by the fact that he's always in shape and by his awards and high placings at numerous national level bodybuilding competitions. He is also an internationally known best selling fitness author with a very successful franchise of books called "The Body Sculpting Bibles" which collectively have sold over a million copies. Hugo is also author of the very popular “Body Re-Engineering” e-book, which teaches you how to gain lean muscle mass and get lean without drugs, or fancy expensive supplements, using the secrets he devised after many years of weight problems as a child. For more information on Hugo’s Muscle Building / Fat Loss Program please click on the link: www.losefatandgainmuscle.com