ok.... i'll admit it. i HATE working out legs. to make matters worse... my legs are friggin toothpicks. REAL skinny. i work my upper body regularly and my routine consists completely of dumbells, body weight techniques and resistance bands. i've had great results so far. is it possible to build leg muscle mass with only using the equipment i have?? i keep putting off starting on my legs... and i would appreciate any suggestions/advice people have! thanks!

Look at "Death by Bodyweight".

There are plenty of BW things you can do to get your legs going. But eventually you WILL need weight. Real weight.

thanks TenP. I will definitely look in to that. my legs are horrible. anything to get me going!

If I had a dollar for every time you recommended this ....

For the meantime, just start with some lunges and squats and heel raises..., all of which you can do whilst holding your dumbells to add weight. Then look into deadlifts, stiff leg deadliefts and even power cleans...

Thanks Trainer01. I plan on hitting legs this weekend and will incorporate your advice. Repped.

Would this plan be a good start:

Squats - 4 x 12 (20 lb dumbell)
Lunges - 3 x 12 (10 lb dumbells)
Calf Raises - 4 x 12 (20 lb dumbells)

Do lunges hit the quads? Any exercises I can do to isolate quads without a machine?

Thanks again!

Lunges & Squats both hit the quads hard, no need for isolation from the equipment you have so far.

The Squats, lunges, and calf raises are a good start. At least all leg muscles will be getting worked.

Concentrate on form & technique. If the weight is too light, increase it, or you may have to add mroe reps and/or do a more slow, controlled eccentric phase of the lift.

One thing now, don't EVER stop training legs. They are HALF of your body! Training them increases upper body gains as well due to the increase in hormones being released (in simple terms)

Good luck

Thanks BigTom. I need all the advice I can get when it comes to legs.... and even more motivation! Repped.

Should I follow the once-a-week rule for legs as well? Although I have, assume I've never touched legs before. They're that bad.

Do them, you'll see . Yes, they do hit the quads and you should stick with those and squats rather than machines. I'd throw some deadlifts in there too, which aren't the greatest exercise with dumbbells, but it's a good place to start.

What "once a week rule"? If you think that you can only train each muscle once a week, that's not true, ESPECIALLY for a beginner such as yourself. Most, if not all, beginner programs will have you doing legs 3x a week.

Just what I was about to say; you don't want to be training your quads more than your hams.

Single arm romanian deads can be very effective for hams and spinal errectors, they don't really replace regular deads but I always like to add in some unilateral work anyway

Thanks for all the advice guys. I appreciate it. I have a lot better idea of how to get going on legs now.

I'm think I'm going to start a Journal entry and log my daily meals and workouts... and would appreciate continued advice if you check my thread every so often!

Very good idea, this way people can monitor & make sure your doing it right