Robinson Joel Nairobi demonstrated how to perform a leg press on November 3, 2021. Lucy Wanjiru | National Weather Service

For most fitness enthusiasts and those who postpone the start of exercise next month or a year, having a perfect lower body is a dream.

However, wrong exercises may make your body disproportionate, with a heavy upper body and slimmer below the waist.

Without proper training, you may suffer from "chicken legs" or "Johny Bravo" syndrome.

Robinson Joel, a fitness instructor at the AV Fitness Center in Kilimani, Nairobi, commonly known as Robby-Piyo, explained that there are three main factors that cause body imbalances in exercisers.

The lower body forms larger muscles in the thighs, buttocks and legs. This makes it difficult to see quick results when exercising the upper body. In addition, many people did not put in that much effort. The second factor is that people are not suitable for their body type.

"Not all lower limb exercises are suitable for your body type," Robinson said.

Another factor is malnutrition, but you expect quick results. He suggested that to condition and shape the lower body, eat the same amount of protein and carbohydrates and some fat.

"In the case of abnormal training, you can't eat as usual. After exercise, eat a lot of calories, including macronutrients such as protein, carbohydrates and fat. A good meal includes baked potatoes with chicken breast and rice. Chicken breast contains a lot of protein. ," said the trainer.

Robinson explained that in order to have a clear lower body, they need to combine explosive actions such as box jumping, staggered cone jumping and tire jumping with strength training.

He pointed out that through these exercises, your target is the four muscle groups of the lower body, including the hamstrings, the powerful muscles of the legs, and the back of the thigh; the quadriceps are usually called the teardrop muscles because they are in the thighs. The front part forms a good teardrop shape; the buttocks and leg muscles on the buttocks are connected to the tibia and fibula.

Then there are the hip flexors, which are responsible for providing more stability during agile movements and powering the legs during fast movements.

"A good lower body training program will include all four muscle groups. It is recommended that during leg exercises in the gym, you should not combine it with any other exercises, but rather focus entirely on the four muscles," he suggested.

For toned legs, find a suitable exercise program to put a lot of load on the calf muscles to help them grow. For this reason, combining strength training and explosive exercises will cause the leg muscles to split.

"When you explode and jump, it's like carrying twice your weight. That's why sprinters have the best calf muscles you want. This is because their sprint training routine involves a lot of explosive movements," he Say.

Trainer Robinson said that some strength training exercises include the following:

This is a compound exercise that can exercise the legs and strengthen the abdomen. In order to obtain the correct technique, make sure that your knees are in a straight line or behind your toes, not in front. The back must be straight, the soles of the feet straight, and the legs slightly wider than the width of the shoulders. If you want to exercise the leg muscles, then you must increase your strength in squats. Increase weight and be more representative when doing squats.

If the goal is only to exercise and exercise the lower body, use three-quarters of your body weight for 15 to 20 low-intensity and high-frequency reps.

"There is no leg training day without squats. If you have a weak lower back, use a waist belt. The waist belt helps balance the pressure on your abdomen before and after, ensuring that your spine is in the proper position when you squat."

For people who have problems with squats, this training can be a good substitute for squats. "The heavier you become, the harder it is to squat properly. The leg lift is a good alternative to avoid hurting your back when doing squats," he said.

Sit in a predetermined position, load a controllable weight, and then push while adjusting your feet at different angles, with your toes facing in or out. You can also isolate each leg at a time to see which leg is stronger than the other leg, allowing the weaker leg to keep up with the speed.

Robinson Joel demonstrated how to perform leg extensions on November 3, 2021. Photo | Lucy Vangiru | National Weather Service

Robinson explained that there are many different ways to do this exercise. First of all, it is a posture mode where you slowly rise and then fall, or you rise and hold for a few seconds and then put them down.

"If you want to exercise or gain muscle, use heavy weight, but if you want to exercise muscle, use high reps to reduce weight."

This is more focused on the hamstrings, which helps to isolate strong muscles.

Robinson said that this exercise exercises the lower calves so that they have a better structure than chicken legs, although not many people like to do this.

There are other machine-oriented exercises, including rebound machines for the gluteal muscles, adductors, and abductors. These muscles severely isolate the hip flexors and are very popular with female fitness enthusiasts.

The coach recommends kettlebell sumo squats, goblet squats, lunge lunges, dumbbell box lunges and dumbbell walking lunges as the best off-camera exercises for exercising the lower body.