Building Powerful Legs

Isn't it a running joke that guys where pants during the summer because of their chicken legs? Hey, yep, women you aren't too innocent either! How about trying to hide body parts you don't like with clothes? So, even if we admit to being guilty of these things, so what?

Listen up guys, you can't be powerful and strong without those legs being in top shape! Classic bodybuilders even knew the importance of strong legs. From Schwarzenegger to Pudzianowski leg training is at the center of anyone who wants the best of both worlds, muscle and functional strength. Research has shown that training the lower body with big movements such as squats and deadlifts causes more of a release of testosterone. This has been theorized why subjects in some studies have seen an increase in arm size without direct upper body work, but simply from squatting. Ever seen a great squatting without muscle?

Ladies you have it worse, you probably get more garbage information sent to you more than guys. Clever marketing and airbrushed ads are great for making ladies confused to actually works. The truth is, the ladies with the great bodies in the magazines do the same type of exercises you might expect of a strong individual, squats, lunges, step-ups, deadlifts, cleans, etc. Forget the Suzanne Somer's nonsense, I have transformed too many women's bodies with just these very ideas.

You may ask, "how does this relate to sandbags?" I have long said that sandbags allow for new exercises to be performed that can't be done with barbells, dumbbells, and kettlebells, as well as making classic exercises feel new!

You may think a squat is a squat, but that simply is not true! A sandbag zercher or bear hug squat often feels significantly heavier because of the where the load is placed on the body and the awkwardness of the sandbags. I have rarely seen lifters perform too many repetitions of sandbag squats with our large sanbag loaded to 200 pounds.

Lunges can become more powerful by performing variations such as shoulder, overhead, or bear hug. Oh, don't believe me? Check out this video I put together some of the unique and most beneficial sandbag drills you can do for the lower body!