How to Make Skinny Legs More Muscular
Building Leg Muscle
You can build leg muscles by exercising on a regular basis but exercising regularly is not enough. The workouts need to be difficult. If you want to continue to build muscle then you need to continue to modify or replace the exercises so they continue to strain your muscles. If your muscles adapt to your routine and you don't change your routine then you will not become more muscular.
If you work at improving your leg strength, speed or endurance then you can make your skinny legs more muscular like I did. My legs were skinny. Now they are muscular.
Cardio
Biking, running and rollerskating are great exercises for building leg muscle. You can work at improving your endurance, your speed or both. An easy way to improve is to keep track of your exercise performance and set goals that involve increasing the distance or duration. If you exercise inside you can use displays for feedback. When exercising outside you can plan your route. Google maps is useful for that.
I find exercising outside is much better because failure is not really an option. To make the exercising more intense go up some hills. Increasing the resistance can increase the strength of your legs. Another way to increase your leg strength is to sprint. The main reason I have big hard leg muscles is because I bike long distances during the warm weather and run inside a lot during the cold months.
Swimming can be good for your leg muscles if you use your legs to propel yourself through the water. Increase your speed and your endurance to strengthen you leg muscles.
I Plan Long Distance Bike Rides With Help From Google Maps
Jumping rope is another way to build leg muscles. Even after all the biking and running I could tell that I had gained some more leg muscle after a week of jumping rope. Stand on your toes and jump at a fast pace. Your feet should not go very high off the ground. When I did it I could feel the strain it was putting on my muscles. Jumping high in the air or running and jumping can also give your leg muscles a good workout.
Weight Lifting
Lunges and squats are bodyweight exercises that work your legs. You can also use weights to make the exercises more intense. These exercises involve bending down and then getting back up. The reason they work is because it is something most people don't do on a regular basis. The squat movement is similar to sitting on a very low seat and then getting back up using your leg muscles. Lunges are very similar to squats but one leg is out in front.
Standing on one leg is a very easy way to double the weight on your leg. You can do squats with one leg or stand on one leg while doing balance exercises.
Leg lifts and leg curls have you sticking your legs out in front of your body and lifting a light or medium weight. You do them while siting or laying down. There are exercise machines you can use or you can just lift something like a heavy ball. To do hamstring curls you lay down on the floor and lift most of your body with your legs. Your heels, hands, arms, shoulders and head touch the ground while the rest of your body is in the air. I can do them using my stability ball.
Frequency, Duration and Intensity
To get good results you could work out 5 or 6 days a week or just 1 day a week. You could workout for 20 minutes or 2 hours. Your muscles will adapt to your routine. The most important thing is that you give your body a reason to make your legs more muscular. The exercises should put enough strain on your muscles that your muscles need time to recover. Make sure the exercise is intense enough to cause muscle fatigue.
You don't need to workout frequently. You just need to workout on a regular basis and you need to workout enough. Focus on getting your muscle to adapt to exercises that require big strong leg muscles. Going for a really long bike ride requires stronger muscles than short bike rides. So biking long distance once a week gives me better results than biking short distances 5 days a week. If you exercise too often then it could prevent the muscles from getting bigger. Give the muscles a chance to become stronger before straining them again. Exercising less can give you better results sometimes.
I recommend making your legs more muscular by doing intense cardio exercises and that you do those exercises outside when possible. Exercise bikes, elliptical trainers and tread mills can help you build muscle but it is hard to beat going outside and actually going somewhere while you are exercising. Do a variety of exercise and focus on improving. Before long you will look down and notice your legs are no longer skinny and weak. Your legs will be strong and muscular.
Get your legs to adapt to a routine that requires strong leg muscles and your legs will become more muscular.