Having chicken legs has at all times been a joke amongst gym goers, but there’s been an enormous shift in pondering over the past few years. Back within the day, it was never cool to have chicken legs, but guys didn’t train to eliminate them. They simply wore pants.
Within the 2020s, chicken legs still aren’t cool, but now guys and gals will hit the gym to get thicker thighs, reasonably than resign themselves to only wearing pants. Leg day has turn out to be a priority, and a well-built lower body is incredibly impressive.
But, how will we actually train to get thicker thighs? This text will cover every little thing you might want to know.
Table of Contents:
- What Are The Thigh Muscles?
- 14 Exercises You Need For Thicker Thighs
- Training Variables To Get Greater Thighs
- Nutrition For Greater Thighs
- The Advantages Of Thicker Thighs
- FAQs
What Are The Thigh Muscles?
The thighs seek advice from the upper portion of the legs in its entirety, whose full circumference is well the most important and the thickest a part of the leg. The 2 major muscle groups that comprise the thigh muscles are the hamstring and quadriceps. The thigh muscles attach to the thigh bone, also often known as the femur.
You may add the hip adductors and abductors, as they contribute to the general thickness.
Hamstring Muscles
The hamstring muscles are a muscle group that sits on the posterior of the upper leg. Together, it accommodates three different muscles that cross the hips and knees. These three muscles are:
- Semimembranosus: Essentially the most medial muscle, the semimembranosus, originates on the pelvis like other hamstring muscles. A broad muscle, it runs down the posterior of the thigh and inserts onto the shin bone together with the opposite two hamstring muscles. The semimembranosus is a broad muscle that extends the hip joint, flexes, and medially rotates the knee toward the midline.
- Semitendinosus: The semitendinosus is a protracted hamstring muscle just like the biceps femoris. It originates near the biceps femoris near the inside the posterior of the thigh near the inner sides of the pelvis. It then crosses the knee joint and connects to the inner side of the upper a part of the shin bone. Further, it also attaches to the fascia of the leg. The semitendinosus extends the thigh backward and allows for the medial rotation of the thigh and knee joint.
- Biceps Femoris: The biceps femoris is the most important and strongest of the three muscles. With the name biceps, it could be no surprise that it is also composed of two muscle heads, very like the biceps on the arm. The long head and short head of the biceps femoris are two muscles that work together to externally rotate the thigh on the hip and extend the leg backward. They’re the foremost contributors to hip extension, but in addition they flex and laterally rotate the knee on the joint.
Quadriceps
The quadriceps sit across from the hamstrings on the anterior side of the upper leg. Because the name “quad” may suggest, this muscle group comprises 4 different muscle heads. These muscles are:
- Vastus Lateralis: Sometimes known simply as VO, this muscle runs down the skin of your upper thigh. It plays the critical role of connecting your femur to your kneecap (patella), which makes it highly necessary for knee injuries. It’s the most important of your 4 quadriceps muscles.
- Vastus Medialis: This teardrop-shaped muscle runs along the inner a part of your thigh, also connecting your femur to your kneecap. While the upper thigh gets a variety of attention, try any of those 15 Best Vastus Medialis Exercises to develop an entire set of wheels.
- Vastus Intermedius: This muscle runs down your leg in between your vastus medialis and vastus lateralis. It is the deepest of the 4 muscles that make up your quadriceps.
- Rectus Femoris: Partially covered by the three vastus muscles, the rectus femoris originates in your hip bone and runs down the posterior thigh to connect to the kneecap.
The first job of the quadriceps is to increase the leg. Further, it also plays a small role within the flexion of your legs by pulling your thighs up.
Hip Abductors & Hip Adductors
Hip abduction refers back to the movement pattern during which the leg moves out from the body laterally. While several muscles are involved, the first muscle group is the gluteus medius of the gluteal muscles.
The gluteus medius sits on the skin of the upper hips and is the first hip abductor muscle. Interestingly, the hip abductor muscles’ primary function is not necessarily to lift the leg outward and help maintain balance. That is completed by pulling the leg outwards.
Working against the leg adductors, which pull the legs inward, these muscles creates a gradual base.
Imagine the burn that builds on the skin of your glutes from standing on one leg. To maintain the torso regular and to stop the hips from sagging, the adductors and abductors must fire concurrently to maintain a robust base. Weak hip abductors and adductors can lead to various overuse injuries within the hips, knees, and ankles.
14 Exercises You Need For Thicker Thighs
Let’s now go over a few of our favourite exercises to hit the assorted thigh muscles.
Consider that most of the exercises are going to hit your entire lower body muscles. Subsequently, when now we have an exercise placed for the quadriceps, for instance, that just means the quads are the first muscle group.
5 Best Exercises For Quadriceps
We’re first going to begin with the quads. These are the muscles that folks will see first once you’re walking toward them, and first impressions are crucial. Use these exercises to make your quads pop.
1) Barbell Back Squat (High Bar):
We do not need much explanation for why these are in your “must-do” list. The back squat is literally considered one of the foundational movements you need to be doing. For the lower body, the squat is king.
2) Front Squat:
The front squat is a pleasant little variation so as to add muscle mass to the front of your thighs. Because the front squat has the burden on the front of your body, your torso is required to remain more upright, meaning less hip flexion. This ends in less recruitment of your posterior muscles, and it’s as much as the quads to select up the slack. Oh, you will get a killer core as well.
To directly compare the 2, read Front Squats vs Back Squats: What’s The Difference?
3) Sled Pull (Backward):
This can be a little bit of a “secret” exercise that you just rarely see. I really like easy and effective, and that is what you get with sled work. It’s our theory that folks think it’s too easy, so it likely doesn’t work. Don’t make this error.
Once you do backward sled drags, you are almost performing a ton of mini-leg extensions. Because it’s principally a brutal leg extension machine, you’ll feel recent styles of pain in a superb way.
Try more great variations in our article on the sled push and pull.
4) Leg Extensions:
Leg extensions are an amazing isolation exercise so long as you utilize them inside reason. Don’t go excessively heavy, and make sure to use controlled motion.
5) Goblet Squat:
Goblet squats work in the identical manner as front squats except less technical. We generally use goblet squats for some killer high-rep quad burn!
4 Best Exercises For Hamstrings
Now for the posterior. These exercises are guaranteed to present those behind you a superb view, but in case you want much more, take a look at the 23 All-Time Best Hamstring Exercises.
1) Deadlifts:
One other obvious lift, the deadlift, is ultimately an enormous hip extension. And by huge, we mean it is the strongest lift for most individuals. Combining a hip hinge with a ton of weight, it’s pretty clear you wish these for hamstring development.
2) Barbell Squat (Low Squat):
The low barbell squat is a variation of the barbell squat that can put more concentrate on the hamstrings. To perform these, your starting position places the barbell a number of inches lower than a typical squat. Consequently, the torso must bend over more to maintain it over your center of gravity. This requires more hip flexion and, thus, more hamstring activation.
Try our Squats Guide for much more great variations.
3) Nordic Leg Curls:
The Nordic hamstring curl is an intense hamstring exercise that utilizes your body weight and eccentric contraction. The eccentric contraction is crucial for muscle growth as studies have found it plays a major role in muscle damage and hypertrophy.
Despite the fact that it is a body weight exercise, don’t confuse this with being easy. These will make your hamstrings scream.
4) Lying Leg Curls:
Lying leg curls hit the hamstrings in a singular manner that seems to permit higher isolation of the hamstrings. Once you perform these, use appropriate weight and concentrate more on performing a full range of motion, especially the ultimate couple of inches. You need to use a standard leg curl machine, or as shown in the image above, you possibly can recreate the movement with a dumbbell.
For more great exercises, take a look at these 10 Best Dumbbell Hamstring Exercises.
2 Best Exercises For Abductors
Now, we’ll take a look at how we will grow the skin of the hips using hip abductor exercises.
1) Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift:
The one-leg Romanian deadlift is a superb exercise to construct thick thighs, specifically the skin. Since you stand on one foot, that leg must work additional time to keep up balance.
In the event you’ve ever stood on one leg and felt the skin of that thigh-burning, that is why. Nonetheless, with the single-leg deadlift, you are standing on one leg AND doing a hip hinge. This requires significant balance, so the hip abductors fire like crazy.
2) Cable Rope Hip Abduction:
What’s the very best strategy to train hip abductors? Use the cable machine to perform hip abduction! I like using the cable because it allows us to get a full range of motion across the body.
3 Best Exercises For Adductors
Now, let’s get to the pesky inner thighs. Here’s tips on how to slim and strengthen your adductors.
Keep in mind that these muscles don’t add a ton of mass to assist construct thicker thighs. Nonetheless, you might want to counteract the strength of your other thigh muscles.
Muscular imbalances are one of the common reasons for injury, meaning you should not neglect any…even when it’s now “showy.” Subsequently, if you would like to grow big, strong abductors and glutes, you furthermore may need hip adductor exercises.
1) Sumo Squat:
The sumo squat goes to strengthen your adductors and improve your hip mobility. Altering your foot width will enable you feel it roughly in your inner thighs. We love these as they’re among the finest strength training exercises and permit a variety of stress to be placed on the adductors.
2) Cable Hip Adductor:
Like cable hip abduction, if you would like to train your hip adductors, perform hip adduction. Enough said.
3) Plie Squat:
Plie squats resemble sumo deadlifts, but as a substitute, you hold a single dumbbell between your legs. Don’t think you possibly can’t load these high enough simply because you utilize a dumbbell. I wish to plie squat for burnout sets toward the top of a training session for a killer adductor burn.
Try the 9 Best Inner Thigh Exercises for more great adductor movements!
How To Get A Greater Butt And Thighs: 3 Bonus Exercises
Listed below are some bonus thigh exercises to toss in your session, especially in case you also want booty training for the gluteus maximus.
- Leg press (all foot placement)
- Bulgarian split squats (and normal ones!)
- Barbell hip thrust
What Is The Best Cardio Exercise To Make Your Thighs Greater?
When tips on how to get your thighs larger is considered one of your primary training goals, cycling is among the finest cardio exercises. Everybody responds in another way, but we have seen some trainees’ legs respond like crazy to cycling, indoor or outdoor. Just take a take a look at the professionals to see what I mean.
Throwing in some cycling HIIT or intense, steady-state rides could help with the general development of your thigh muscles. Plus, you are going to get your cardio and all the opposite advantages of stationary bikes.
Give it a shot and see how you are feeling. In the event you want an example of some leg-building cardio, do this:
- 1 Minute: 70% Effort
- 30 Seconds: 90-95% Effort
- Repeat 10 Times
- Total 15 Minutes
- Ouch
For more options, take a look at our article: How To Do Cardio Without Running: The two Best Non-Running Cardio Workouts.
3 Training Variables For Greater Thighs
Going to the gym doesn’t mechanically mean you will see muscle growth. To get larger thighs, you might want to specifically train to extend the muscle fibers and add more muscle mass. It’s relatively easy when you understand the methods to extend muscle growth.
1) Training Frequency:
For those wondering how often to coach, you might want to train at the very least twice per week to optimize muscle growth. This helps you to get essentially the most training while allowing enough recovery between sessions.
That said, it’s possible you’ll need to bump this as much as 3 times per week for a short time. While twice per week is best for long-term growth, hitting a muscle group 3 times per week might be effective for the short term (4-6 weeks), assuming you might be eating enough to support this growth.
This extra volume could be what is required to kick your muscle growth into high gear.
2) Variety:
Variety is the spice of life and training, and it’s the way you get thicker thighs. As seen above, your thighs principally have 4 sides. Not only are there 4 muscles to hit, but all of them function in another way when your body is in several positions.
This implies they may receive different stimulation from different angles. Subsequently, you might want to add variety to your training regime to hit your muscles at various angles for optimal growth.
To be clear, this just isn’t “muscle confusion” or anything like that. You must have variety in a structured manner. For instance, run a set of exercises for 4-6 weeks after which swap out with those which can be similar biomechanically.
Some ways so as to add variety are:
- Different foot width
- Different foot placement
- Biomechanically similar movements (sumo deadlift and plie squat)
Again, persist with the essential exercises and just rotate through those; there isn’t any have to at all times use brand-new exercises. For instance, use a sumo squat instead of a normal-stance back squat.
3) Multiple Rep Ranges:
Much like above, use quite a lot of reps to hit the various training variables:
- Strength
- Hypertrophy
- Endurance
All these play off each other, so improving one will improve the others. Further, in my skilled experience, I even have seen different rep ranges work higher for various people. This comes from personal experience, anecdotal experience, and training others.
For instance, some people respond higher to heavy weights, and a few use light weights. We all know people whose thighs blow up just from cycling! Try quite a lot of reps and see how your body responds.
Nutrition Suggestions For Greater Thighs
Constructing thicker thighs requires two different variables. The primary part is clear: You could train them using the appropriate exercises and variables (see above). Nonetheless, you have to also remember you could’t make big thighs without feeding them!
Constructing muscle requires energy, which implies more calories.
Still, you would like to construct muscle, not fat. To do that, you might want to be maintaining a healthy diet in a slight caloric surplus of 300-500 calories. The upper the excess, the greater the prospect of gaining extra fat. Depending on who you might be and your goals, this will likely or is probably not a difficulty, so consider that when deciding how big of a surplus you wish.
Follow these easy guidelines to your macros. And make sure to take a look at our article on Counting Macros for a deeper dive.
1) Protein:
Protein accommodates amino acids, the constructing blocks of muscle. That is crucial macro to construct your thighs thicker with muscle mass, so don’t skimp. Absolutely the minimum amount of protein needs to be 1.6g per kilogram of body weight.
Nonetheless, 2.0g is the overall suggestion for serious athletes and lifters. Read more about how much you wish specifically in our article: How Much Protein Per Day To Construct Muscle?
2) Fat:
Fat is interesting within the lifting world because it doesn’t directly impact your performance within the gym. It plays a large number of critical secondary roles, though, corresponding to:
- Supports hormone levels
- Transfer and absorption of nutrients
- Improves immune system
For these reasons, the fat intake for an athlete or lifter should never go under 30%. At the identical time, make sure to get cholesterol for testosterone production and omega-6, as many have a lopsided ratio with omega-3.
3) Carbs:
Carbs are going to fuel your athletic performance. Further, while the precise mechanisms are unclear, carbs play a pivotal role in muscle hypertrophy. For this reason it’s best to NEVER do keto or low-carb diets when attempting to construct muscle. (We’re not saying these do not have a superb use. It’s just not for constructing muscle).
Regardless, since you have already got your protein and fat needs, you just fill the remainder of your calories with carbs. Again, you possibly can alter your fat and carbs intake some so long as your fat is >30% and your carb intake is sufficient at >30%
The Best Supplements For Greater Thighs
On top of eating a healthy weight loss program, adding a number of supplements to your routine may play an enormous role in overall muscle gain.
- Creatine
- Protein Powder
- Pre-workout
To start, take a take a look at our 15 Best Pre-Workout Supplements, the 14 Best Protein Powders, and the 8 Best Creatine Supplements.
3 Advantages Of Thicker Thighs
Apart from being awesome, several good things include having thicker thighs. Here’s a summary of a few of my favorites.
1) No More Skinny Legs:
As mentioned, having thicker thighs immediately projects that you just train hard within the gym. While there are some with poor genetics, every real trainee must have decently thick thighs inside reason. Plus, it should enhance your aesthetics.
To balance out massive, muscular thighs with a well-defined torso, take a look at our article on The Best Aesthetic Workout Routine (For The Perfect Physique).
2) Stronger Body & Higher Performance:
The thighs are where all of it happens by way of performance. Not only do they control things like running and jumping, nevertheless it’s as much as the thighs to assist create a robust base for upper body movements. Muscular thighs mean faster, stronger, and more stable performance.
3) Fewer Injuries:
No home is protected with an old, weak foundation. Because the thighs are paramount to locomotion and posture, quite a bit can go unsuitable if yours are weak. When there’s a lagging muscle, it causes other muscles to compensate, which results in fatigue and poor form.
Consequently, injury occurs from overuse and faulty biomechanics. Subsequently, if you might have weak thigh muscles, principally every little thing from the waist down will suffer.
FAQs
Listed below are some further answers to questions you’ll have about growing thighs within the gym.
How long does it take to get larger thighs?
Total time to get larger thighs is determined by variables like training frequency, load, and nutrition. Nonetheless, with consistent progressive overload and caloric surplus, some people can start seeing larger thighs inside 4 weeks. That said, for a real and lasting physique change, it could take 3-6 months of coaching.
How can a thin girl get thick thighs?
For a thin girl to get thick thighs, train your legs a minimum of twice per week, using quite a lot of quad, hamstring, adductor, and abductor exercises. Test lower rep ranges with higher weights all of the strategy to high rep ranges with lower weights to see how your body responds.
What number of squats should I do a day?
To grow any muscle group, be sure to coach it with at the very least 10 sets each week. You need to use a combination of the exercises in this text to mix those sets over 3-5 sessions.
How To Increase Muscle Mass For Thicker Thighs: Summary
I’ve gone over a few of my favorite exercises, training variables, and nutrition tricks to stimulate muscle growth to your leg muscles. As mentioned, nonetheless, they’ll only work in case you make a directed effort to construct more mass.
Like all muscles, use variety, train often, and train hard. In the event you follow this, your regular-fit jeans might be your recent skinny fit!
Start your training today with our Ultimate Leg Workout For Strength & Mass and 5 Killer At Home Leg Workouts Without Weights.
