Fit Nigerian Men and Their Skinny Legs (PS: Please add the eye rolling emoji here!)

I'm wearing my white on green today, my way of standing in solidarity with the Super Eagles since I really can't afford the original jersey or wait, I can't use that to workout so I shouldn't have mentioned  this anyway. I'm talking men but not about how “ they are scum”. As my friend Toyin had often put it “Tuka, your leg travel?”  

I guess every Nigerian guy who hits the gym can relate to the question “Do you work your legs?” If you've been asked that, you should probably work your legs. 

I have been asked that couple of times in my journey and it's always a wake up call for me. Sometimes it's not even a question, it's a conclusion, they simply say “You should work on your legs”. Some of these critics don't even hit the gym, if they did they would know what it took and damn! The very stubborn calves, they have no idea.

Maybe this not about Nigerian men alone, maybe it is about African men but I made it a Nigerian problem when I walked into the barber shop the other day and a fellow customer who obviously realized I was one of those “gym nuts” quickly inquired “ Why is it that Nigerian Bodybuilders can't work their legs like foreign professional athletes? I gave all the support I could to the brothers saying they did but sometimes you wouldn't notice when they are on pants, isn't that what we always say?

I figure this is the reason some guys don't want to workout, they think they would be disfigured, after all even the trainer is “disfigured”. So, yes I think this is an important subject and for those mesomorphs or endormorphs who have naturally big thighs don't lose it except it's all fat. 

I gave some thought to this topic, some serious thought and I tried to understand at first why the legs are so “difficult” to build and at the same time, gains so hard to keep. It's a struggle you know, when you find that those who have properly built lower body have a rather slender or toned upper body making the lower build more conspicuous than the upper body, whilst this could be seen as “proper” some would prefer to have the broader cobra upper body at the expense of the lower body. 

If we should go by common sense, the end goal should be balance but the reality is that balance is almost as non-existent as equality. Here are some of my thoughts firstly, on the cause of the problem. 

Why we have skinny legs 

The way to go about this is considering those who have achieved lower body definition. In most cases, there are two categories and they are short distance sprinters and footballers (soccer). I understand that proper use of the leg muscles will earn muscle strength and visible growth. That is if we use them almost everyday like the pro athletes.  

But what happens when I squat daily but still don't see the desired results?

I look at the general population and I think( this is infact a hypothesis) we all under train our legs and also over-use or abuse them. Since squats are rather painful and require endurance. One must engage in them daily or on more workout days to get use to them or appreciate them, however gains are often lost because we use our legs unknowingly in a whole lot of aerobic workout. I know, not when you sprint or use the treadmill, when you walk long distances to save money (trekking) or avoid traffic jams and when wait on queues(e.g ATM or bank hall queues) . We unknowingly stress our legs and lose mass gained in the gym. 

To prove this, we should consider the upper body muscle groups: chest, shoulders, back and arms. Off all groups the most difficult to build would be the arms or shoulders in most people than the chest. The arms are frequently used but because we also often unknowingly use them to lift objects from one position to another, we also unconsciously build the muscle group. The shoulders, chest and back are not  subjected to much stress when the hands are used so the gains in these group last longer. So the arm muscles fade faster because of overuse but can also be regained quit quickly because sometimes we lift objects and unknowningly train the muscles. 

The Solution

I would tell people that if they won't work their legs they shouldn't bother working out. There are two or more ways to go about this. The hard way would be training like an athlete. You should use HIIT for short sprints and jump squats, also use resistance bands to create more pressure in legs. You should dedicate ample time to working your legs in the gym and maybe lesser time on upper body. You should also avoid stressing or over using your legs as mentioned  above. Optionally, In order to avoid this “deformed” appearance, if it bothers you so much, you should avoid the use of heavy weights as a beginner or weights altogether and stick to body weight and sprinter-oriented athletic training which would take more time to heed results but such results would be almost everlasting. 

I hope this throws some light on the subject and motivates you to make better decisions. 
You can see a video of some lower body workout you can do