What is the best workout for legs?
Strong legs are vital for your overall health. Ordinary everyday activities like walking necessitate leg strength. Including a workout for legs into your daily routine is vital for your health.
Creating an effective leg workout is not rocket science. There is no single best leg workout. Instead, the best strategy is to adopt various leg workouts to target various parts of your lower body.
What movement patterns are required in a good workout for legs?
Simple is always better when designing an effective workout for legs. The basic lower body movements —such as hip hinges (deadlifts), squats and lunges — should take up most of your workout. The general rule of thumb is to begin with a squat movement, then a hip-hinge movement, and finally single-leg movements.
After you have improved your body stamina and strength due to these movements, you can challenge yourself with other varied movements.
Moreover, if you are a beginner hoping to boost your general fitness levels, select 3–5 exercises per leg workout to focus on major movements, performing at your peak. Do not overstretch your workouts , lest they strain or injure your body.
For your warmup, begin with 5 minutes of light to increase heart rate and blood flow. Subsequently, perform your stretches with movements like leg swings, hip openers, bodyweight squats, and lunges. After your workout, you can continue your stretching. Focus on 3 to 5 sets of exercises.
We focus on five major leg workouts below:
1. Back squat
This workout focuses on the back of your body, including the glutes and hamstrings.
- Place a barbell on your traps and stand erect with your feet shoulder-width apart. Look ahead of you. Be mindful that your toes are pointed out to a small degree.
- Sit back into your hips, bend your knees, and inch downwards toward the floor. Ensure that your knees move a little out.
- Lower until your thighs are parallel to the ground, then push back up to your original position.
2. Front squat
This exercise trains the front of your body — especially your quads.
- Place a barbell onto the front of your shoulders, gripping your fingers on either side of your shoulders to support the barbell. Push your elbows up as you look ahead.
- Sit back into your hips, bend your knees, and advance toward the floor.
- Ensure that your knees track out and your chest remains erect.
- Lower until your thighs are parallel to the ground before returning to your original position.
3. Walking lunges
Walking lunges challenge your balance, as well as your quads, hamstrings, and glutes.
- Begin with your feet together. Grab a dumbbell in each hand for performing a weighted walking lunge.
- Keep your chest proud and look right ahead.
- Lunge with your right leg as you advance forward until your thigh is parallel to the ground.
- Push up through your right heel, returning to your original position.
- Repeat this process with the left leg.
4. Stepup
Boost your leg strength, balance, and power with a stepup.
- Stand with a bench or another raised surface about one foot in front of you. Grab a dumbbell in each hand for a weighted stepup.
- Step onto the bench with your entire right foot, and push up through your heel to bring your left foot to meet your right foot.
- Elevate your left knee for added difficulty.
- Step down with your left foot to revert to your original position.
5. Leg curl
Doing a leg curl with a machine can isolate your hamstrings and calves
- Lie flat on your stomach and get into the leg curl machine.
- Ensure that the roller pad is just above your heels.
- Firmly hold the support bars on one or both sides of the machine.
- Work on your core and lift your feet, pulling the pad toward your posterior.
- Pause at the top, then revert to your original position slowly.
If you are a beginner, select 3–5 exercises, do them well, and watch your leg strength increase.
Note that what makes the most difference in muscle growth is your resistance training volume (how many sets and reps you are doing). Higher volume sessions (3 sets of 12 reps, or even 4 sets of 8 reps) usually offer better results than working the same muscle group multiple times in a week [1].
References
[1] N. Davis, “Leg workouts: The 15 best leg exercises, and how to plan a Leg Day,” Healthline, 12-May-2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness/leg-workout. [Accessed: 11-Aug-2022].
Tools Designed for Healthier Eyes
Explore our specifically designed products and services backed by eye health professionals to help keep your children safe online and their eyes healthy.
