Biomechanics - Anatomy of LEG Training

To maximize muscle growth, it is hardly recommended the understanding of muscle anatomy and functions that muscles are designed to perform.

With this knowledge, you can optimize your training, using the muscles on the functions for which they are prepared.

The difference between good physiology and aesthetics and bad ones can be determined by the lower body muscle mass, therefore is so important to train leg muscles correctly.

You will find the principal fitness knowledge you must know about anatomy, biomechanics, and leg training, as well as an exercise guide to improve your routine. Also, find a routine example that you can start right now.

Legs are composed of big and strong muscles, with a convex distribution of the fibers, which brings the ability to perform a big amount of force but limiting the movement planes this force can be applied (you can move your shoulder in almost every direction, but you cant do it by your quads).

This muscle set is widely complex, therefore a good knowledge of it is required for training, health, and aesthetics optimization. This knowledge will bring you the chance to have the biggest, strongest, and most powerful legs you can.

Below we are running towards an anatomy analysis of leg muscles, watching one by one, which are the muscles that compose this amazing part of the body.

The Quadriceps Femoris is the most known leg muscle. This muscle complex runs completely across the front of the legs. It is composed of three different heads: The rectus femoris , and the vastus intermedius, lateralis, and medialis.

The three of the vastus is born on different femur altitudes, while the rectus femoris born in the coaxes bone, giving the Quadriceps the availability to perform the movement on different articulations (hip and knee), as it will be revised later. This is why we can perform biarticular movements, such as a squat with this muscle.

All three quadriceps heads died on the knee by a common tendon, called quadricipital , which is located on the base and laterals of the knee. This muscle connection makes up the patellar tendon, which extends across the knee to the upper part of the tibial bone.

In between the hip and the knee, three different muscle groups compose the posterior tight muscle.

This muscle group is known as hamstrings , which is composed of the muscles semimembranous, semitendinous, and biceps femoris.

The biceps femoris is as well build by two different heads, the long head, and the short head. The short head travels from the coaxes bone to the tibial bone and the shot head which is born on the femur and travels also to the tibial bone.

Semitendinous muscle is born, with the long head of the biceps femoris in the coaxes bone, and goes all through the tibial bone.

Semimembranous is the littlest one of the hamstring muscles. It borns on the femur bone and goes, again, to the tibial bone.

Note the important tendinous complex that goes all the way through the knee, this tendons make athletes suffer a big amount of injuries in this zone.

Glutes are composed of three different muscle groups. The gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus . This is an important muscle complex due to his implication on a major part of leg movements and hip stability. Take also into account that glutes are the part of the body where muscle density is higher.

The Gluteus maximus is the biggest, thickest, and strongest muscle of the gluteal muscles. Gluteus medius is also a big and strong muscle while gluteus minimus is much smaller than the other two muscles. All three-muscle born on the coaxes and travels all the way through the buttock to finally insert on the femur.

The different muscle groups are shown in the next image:

Known as the adductor muscles, this is a muscular complex located on the inner tight of the leg and is build by three different muscles, the adductor longus, adductor magnus, and adductor Brevis.

There are also another two muscles (pectineus and gracilize) which are smaller than the three major adductor muscles.

Glute muscles are supported by different muscle groups located on the exterior regions of the leg, which help on the hip abduction movements. These are known as abductor's muscles.

This is a muscle group formed by three different muscles: pyramidal, sartorius, and tensor fasciae late .

Going through the low part of the leg, the very first word that comes to our head is calves. This is a muscle region formed by three different muscles: gastrocnemius and soleus.

The gastrocnemius is better known as calves. It is built by two different heads, medial and lateral head . These two muscles are born on the femur and die on different parts of the foot bone.

The soleus is located above the gastrocnemius. It is a shorter muscle, which is born on the tibial bone and dies again on the foot, forming the widely known Achilles tendon.

Quadriceps muscles are crucial to perform actions like walking, running, or jumping. These all actions are developed by the hip extension/flexion and knee extension/flexion.

The most powerful function of the quadriceps muscles is knee extension (lift the feet while the knee keeps fixed, see

the image below).

As we have shown before, one of the quadriceps heads (rectus femoris) borns above the hip, this is why this muscle also can perform power in the hip flexion movement (bring the trunk closer to the leg).

The principal movement of quads muscles is the knee extension, being able to develop a big amount of force on this movement, while is weaker flexing the hip.

Hip flexin.

The functions of hamstrings are basically the opposite of the quadriceps. While the quadriceps perform force on the knee extensin and hip flexion, the hamstring muscles are in charge of the knee flexion and hip extension .

In the images below, you can easily see these movements. The hip extension consists of the move away from the trunk to the legs, while knee flexion is about to move the feet closer to the glutes.