Leg workouts are one of the most underdone exercises in most fitness routines. People focus on their upper body, especially βbeginners but what they donβt understand is that legs workouts are the foundation of βoverall body fitness.
Strong legsΒ provide a solid foundation for all other exercises, such as weight lifting. You canβt do a heavy deadlift if your legs arenβt strong enough to carry weight. Furthermore, leg workouts often engage your core, and improve your body strength, balance, and stability.
Common reasons why leg workouts are frequently neglected are preference for visible upper body gains, time constraints, or simply a lack of knowledge about their importance.
In this blog, we'll delve into the anatomy of your legs, explore key principles for effective workouts, and provide specific exercises for building strength, power, and definition.
Lower Body Muscles
Your lower body comprises four major muscles, the Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Glutes, and Calves. Each of these muscles plays an important role in movement and overall body stability.
- Quadriceps (Quads) - This muscle is located at the front of your thighs and plays a key role in knee extension. You need these muscles for squatting, jumping, and running.
- Hamstrings- This muscle is also a part of your thighs located at the back. These muscles play a role in knee flexion and hip extension. You need these muscles for running and kicking.
- Glutes- Glutes are the largest muscles in your body and are also referred to as the βengine of your lower body. It consists of three muscle groups, Gluteus maximus. Gluteus medius and Gluteus minimus. These three muscles make up your buttocks and play an important role in hip extension, abduction, and rotation.
- Calves - These muscles are located at the back of your lower leg and are responsible for plantar flexion, which propels you forward while walking running, and jumping.
Effective Leg Workouts for Maximum Results
Like any other workout leg workouts also require a strategic training plan. You canβt just jump straight at heavy weights. Before adding maximum weight to your leg exercising machine you should prepare your body by doing stretch and mobility drills to increase flexibility and range of motion.
Overweight and improper form are two common reasons for leg injuries. The best way to perform leg workouts without the risk of injury is βprogressive overload.β Meaning, that you gradually increase the weight, sets, and repetitions as your leg adapts and gets stronger over time.
Lastly, include strength, power, and endurance training in at least one session. You can change your workout plan every week as per your needs. You can include strength training in one session, endurance training in another, and so on.
Leg Workouts for Strength, Power, and Definition
Exercise 1 - Prisoner Squat
How To:
1.Align the knees with the toes.
2.Keep the thighs parallel to the ground.
3.Maintain a neutral spine position.
4.Open your elbows.
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Common MistakesοΌ
Do not squat by knees, do not let the knees cave inward, always keep hands open, keep the body parallel to the shins.
Exercise 2 - Standing Knee to Chest
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How toοΌ
1.From standing position, lift one leg and grab knee with both hands.
2.Actively pull knee up and into your chest.
3.Release and return foor to floor.
4.Repeat on other side.
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Common MistakesοΌ
keep your core nice and tight throughout to maintain balance.
Exercise 3 - Top Half Squat to Reverse Lunge
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How To:
1.Stand with feet hip width apart, Toes pointed out slightly.
2.Keeping chest up, drive hips back, allowing knees to come forward in direction toes are facing.
3.Aim to get 90 degrees at both knees. with eyes forward.
4.Holding the squat, step one foot backwards to acheive a reverse lunge.
5.90 degrees at both knees.
6.Alternate between legs to step back into the lunges.
7.Don't allow body to lift or stand up during movement.
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Common MistakesοΌ
Step backwards until your knees are at a ninety-degree angle.
Exercise 4 - Alternate Leg Forward Lunge and Twist
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How To:
1.Step Forward with feet hip width apart.
2.Keeping chest up, drop rear knee towards floor.
3.Front knee to stay over the foot (don't let knee drift sideways).
4.Aim to get 90 degrees at both knees.
5.Keeping chest up, rotate body towards the lead leg.
6.Rotate back and return back to standing position.
7.Driving thru front heel, lift body back to start position.
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Common MistakesοΌ
Keep your chest up.
Exercise 5 - Lateral Step Up
How To:
1.Standing in beside the Bench with left leg beside bench.
2.Step left foot to the side and onto bench making sure full foot is on the bench.
3.Ensuring knee is over the foot, lift your other foot up onto the bench.
4.Step right foot back down and stand beside the bench.
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Common MistakesοΌ
Hold the trunk steady and swing your arms to assist the movement.
Exercise 6 - Top Half Squat
How To:
1.Stand with feet hip width apart, Toes pointed out slightly.
2.Keeping chest up, drive hips back, allowing knees to come forward in direction toes are facing.
3.Aim to get 90 degrees at both knees. with eyes forward.
4.Driving thru heels, explosivly jump vertically.
5.Be sure to keep core engaged and land softly by dropping into the squat on landing.
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Common MistakesοΌ
Back to the partial squat.
Exercise 7 - Power Vertical Jump
How To:
1.Start in a standing position. Slowly drop into a squat position and arms forwards with hands in front of face.
2.Explosively, throw arms down as you drive through legs.
3.Jump into the air with a straight body and arms.
4.Land softly, by keeping knees bent and slowly bring arms forwards with hands in front of your face.
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Common MistakesοΌ
The knees should track in line with the toes throughout the motion.
Exercise 8 - Jump Twists
How To:
1.From standing position. Feet together and arms held at shoulder height with bent elbows.
2.Start by doing a small jump into the air, twisting feet in one direction and upper body in opposite direction.
3.Aim to get feet to land at approx 180 degree between each landing.
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Common MistakesοΌ
Keep your core nice and tight.
Exercise 9 - Variable Speed Running On Spot
How To:
1.Keeping core engaged and chest up.
2.Slight bend in hips.
3.Start with a slow tempo, then exposively go to a fast tempo.
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Common MistakesοΌ
With your arms swing back and forth.
Exercise 10 - Deep Squat Hip Openers
How To:
1.Holding machine, slowly lower into a deep squat with back straight. (neutral)
2.In this deep squat, slowly shift weight to each foot.
3.Aim is to feel if you are tight anywhere.
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Common MistakesοΌ
Keep your back upright.
Common Mistakes to Avoid in Leg Workouts
Here are some common mistakes you should avoid while doing leg workouts.
Avoid Overtraining
Your leg consists of some of the biggest muscles in your body. The bigger the muscles, the more rest it requires to repair and rebuild them. Donβt push yourself too hard just because you can push the 100 kg leg press machine. Overtraining can lead to fatigue, decreased performance, and even injuries.
Neglecting Proper Form and Technique
Most people sacrifice proper form for heavier weights, causing muscle imbalance and injuries. This is the reason why you should always go for progressive overload workouts. Always start with lighter weight and focus on mastering the technique before adding any weight.
Ready to Build a Solid Foundation?
Leg workouts are a vital part of strength training, but are often missed as the legs are not the show-off muscle, and letβs face it, leg workouts are hard! But still, you need strong legs for weight lifting, and resistance exercises and to support your bones, heart, and overall health as you age.
There are tons of leg exercises out there but you donβt need to perform all of them. You need to know what exercises to choose to see the best results. We have listed 10 leg workouts for building strength, power, and definition. You can do these exercises from the comfort of your home on Speediance Gym Monster.
To maximize results, you should also take into account diet and supplementation. It is important to get sufficient protein, carbohydrates, and fats to provide recovery, energy, and hormonal balance. Lastly, keep your exercise simple. Do 3-5 exercises and do them well.
