Do you dread leg day? Doing lower body workouts can be really difficult, but they're definitely worth it. “Your lower body is essential for so many functional movements in your everyday life,” says personal trainer Kristina Earnest, Certified Personal Trainer. Your lower body strength allows you to do everyday activities, such as climbing stairs or squatting to pick something up. These activities may seem simple, but they require strength and stabilization from your legs.
To get the best results from your leg workout, include moves that target all the muscles from different angles. There are two main halves of your legs- the front part and the back part. The muscles in the front of your legs, including your quadriceps, adductors, and hip stabilizers, as well as the fronts of your calves, make up the anterior chain. Additionally, the posterior chain includes your hamstrings, glutes, back of your calves, abductors, and additional hip stabilizers, as Earnest explains.
In addition, leg workouts also involve other muscles. For example, consider a squat. This move will work your glutes, quads, and core all at the same time. If you want to get both a strength and cardiovascular workout, you should train large or multiple muscle groups, according to Earnest. This type of workout will get your heart rate up. “That is a bang for a metabolic buck.”
Common Questions About Leg Workouts
- How many sets and reps should you do in your leg workout? Your reps, sets, and even rest times vary based on your fitness goals, per Earnest. If your goal is building strength and power, do 2-5 reps and 2-5 sets. If your goal is building specifically in size, aim for 6-12 reps and 3-5 sets. If your goal is muscular endurance and cardiovascular health, increase to 12+ reps, with 2-3 sets.
- How many times per week should you work legs? When you're starting out, Earnest says two sessions per week is a good target. As you progress, you can train your legs two to four times each week on non-consecutive days. Leg days help you build/maintain strength, but training them too frequently can be counterproductive, she adds.
- How should you warm up for leg workouts? Warm up moves are critical for a good training session. Warming up your lower body loosens the joints and increases blood flow to your muscles. Not only does this help you perform better, but it will also aid in injury prevention.
- How should you cool down properly? For your cool down, it is important to allow your body to gradually recover to return your heart rate and blood pressure back to its pre-exercise level. It also helps regulate your blood flow, which aids in proper recovery and helps lower the presence of muscle soreness.” Some of her suggested warm ups include jumping jacks, good mornings, and glute bridges.
- What is the most effective leg exercise? Look for multi-joint, or compound exercises, Earnest says. These work a few different muscles at once to efficiently build muscle strength and size. Hip thrusts, dumbbell step-ups, and Romanian deadlifts are some of her faves.
Back Squat
The backbone of any lower body strength routine is the back squat. It is a compound exercise that uses all the muscles in the legs. This exercise not only requires muscles in the lower body to lift the load, but also muscles in the upper body to stabilize it and protect the spine, making it one of the most effective full-body exercises you can do. The back squat is a great exercise to help you build strength and muscle. It also reinforces movement patterns that we use in our everyday lives, making it a great choice for an exercise.
Benefits of the Back Squat
- The back squat allows for more loading compared to many other leg movements.
- The back squat recruits the core and strengthens your postural muscles.
- This exercise leads to a gain in functional strength, allowing lifters of all ages to reap the benefits.
How to Do the Back Squat
Rest a barbell on your shoulders, and grip it with your hands shoulder-width apart. Rest a barbell on your shoulders, gripping it with your hands shoulder-width apart, and set it to shoulder height in a power rack. Get in position for the squat by positioning the barbell on your upper back or across your shoulder blades for low-bar squats. To prepare for this exercise, brace your core muscles and lift the weight out of the rack. Back up slowly by taking one small step at a time with each foot. Stand with your chest up and squat down until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Now, push up with your feet through the floor to drive backwards.
Front Squat
The front squat is a great alternative to the traditional back squat. If you have a lower back or shoulder injury, the front squat variation may be a better option for you. This squat variation is more difficult because you have to hold the barbell in front of you, which challenges your upper back and torso muscles. The load is also shifted from your back to your front. This also requires more stability in the chest and forces the lifter to be upright, which is better for recruiting the muscles of the core and maintaining good posture.
Benefits of the Front Squat
- The front squat can be more comfortable on the back for some lifters than a back squat as the weight is loaded in front of the body.
- The front-loaded position recruits more of your core and strengthens your upper back muscles to help improve your posture, too.
- This move does not allow lifters to load the exercise too heavy, improving their ability to focus on proper technique.
How to Do the Front Squat
Set a barbell in a power rack to shoulder height, loaded with an appropriate weight. Reach your hands out in front of you so they touch the bar. Put your middle three fingers on the bar, then push your hands up. Keep your elbows underneath the bar and pointing straight forward. The bar should be resting across your upper chest. There is another starting position for lifters who cannot get into the required position because they lack mobility. The bar is rested on the collarbone (which is painful) and the arms are crossed so that the opposite shoulders are touched. This position is called the genie rack position. Pull the bar off the rack by taking a step back and keeping your elbows pointing forward. Keeping your chest up, squat down until the tops of your thighs are parallel to the floor. Push through your feet to return to the starting position.
Bulgarian Split Squat
Placing your leg on a raised surface creates instability which in turn increases the range of motion for the exercise. The Bulgarian split squat is an unstable exercise which causes you to have to balance, recruiting smaller muscles in your hips and quads that help with stability. There are many benefits to squatting with a more extended range of motion. This includes increased mobility and muscle tension placed on the glutes, hamstrings, and quads.
Benefits of the Bulgarian Split Squat
- The increased range of motion for better mobility and more muscle recruitment.
- The unilateral (single-sided) setup helps build coordination and improves balance.
- The Bulgarian split squat creates instability, which recruits smaller stabilizing muscles.
How to Do the Bulgarian Split Squat
Using a dumbbell in each hand, stand in front of a bench. Place one foot, laces down, on a bench. Squat down until both of your legs bend at a 90 degree angle while keeping your core tight. Bend your knees further, but don't let them touch the ground. Press down on this for a beat, then release and come back up.
Leg Press
The leg press machine is easier on your back and allows you to use more force than other machines. This means you can use heavier weights for this exercise than you would for most leg exercises. This exercise is highly effective in developing strong and large thighs. It's also safer to rack the sled by turning the handles in and out. The leg press can be loaded and unloaded quickly, making drop sets more efficient. You can perform a set with a lot of repetitions, then take the weight plates off, do another set, take the plates off, and so on.
Benefits of the Leg Press
- You can press heavier weights with just your legs.
- The leg press allows you to essentially perform a squat but without the weight bearing down on your spine or torso.
- This is a great movement for high-rep sets and drop sets.
How to Do the Leg Press
Sit down in the leg press seat and put your feet in the middle of the sled, keeping them about shoulder-width apart. Press the sled out of the rack and lower the safety bars. Slowly lower the sled towards your chest until your thighs break 90 degrees. Push the sled back up but do not lock your knees out. If your back or hips lift off the seat while you're driving the weight back up, you went too far down.
Hack Squat
George Hackenschmidt's beloved brainchild, the hack squat, has evolved to become one of the most popular and effective machine variations for adding serious strength and muscle to your legs. This exercise strengthens the squat movement pattern, which in turn strengthens many other lifts. The machine not only provides a bonus, but also creates external stability to help prevent injuries and work around any pre-existing injuries. This is due to the machine having a predefined movement pattern.
Benefits of the Hack Squat
- Because it’s a machine, the hack squat provides more stability compared to free-weight squat variations.
- This move’s predefined path safeguards against injury and helps work around pre-existing injuries.
How to Do the Hack Squat
Your stance on the foot platform when squatting will be similar to your stance when squatting without the platform. Your feet should be about shoulder-width apart, with your feet angled slightly outward. Your feet should be in line with your knees as they move forward during the descent. To maintain a strong and stable torso, keep your abdominals engaged and your lower back pressed firmly against the back pad. Keeping your head in a neutral position, lower your body until your thighs are parallel to the foot platform. Use your feet to push yourself back up to the starting position.
Romanian Deadlift
This deadlift variation is different from the standard deadlift because you lower the barbell to mid-shin level by driving your hips back while keeping your core engaged. The Romanian deadlift is a great exercise for building muscle and improving your regular deadlift. It also strengthens your hips and lower back, which can help prevent injuries when doing similar movements.
Benefits of the Romanian Deadlift
- The Romanian deadlift specifically targets the hamstrings, a muscle that flexes the knee joint.
- The Romanian deadlift forces you to lift lighter weight with more control, strengthening your hips and lower back.
- This move will carry over to your traditional deadlift.
- The slow and controlled movement will help to build more hamstring muscle and strength.
How to Do the Romanian Deadlift
[Fill in your own instructions for how to completing a reverse-grip deadlift here.] Lift your torso and then lower your hips, pulling up on the bar until your hips are in a straight line with the rest of your body. Now, lower your hips back and bring the bar until it’s in the middle of your shins. You should feel a stretch in your hamstrings. End the movement by thrusting your hips forward, and then bringing the weight up to the original position.
Nordic Hamstring Curl
To do this bodyweight hamstring curl, you will need to kneel on the ground, with your feet positioned behind you. From this kneeling position, lower your body towards the ground by only flexing your knees. The weight of your body is supported by your hamstrings. This exercise is great for helping you to build muscle and reduce your chance of getting injured. A study published in the Journal Physiotherapy followed 50 elite soccer teams in Denmark for 10 weeks during a mid-season break to see the effects of their hamstring training. Many teams added Nordic hamstring curls to their workout routine, performing two to three sets of five to 12 repetitions per session, one to three times per week. The group that did Nordic curls had 15 hamstring injuries compared to 52 in the group that didn't do them. (1)
Benefits of the Nordic Hamstring Curl
- More muscle as you’re targeting your hamstrings primarily with your body weight.
- Less risk of hamstring injury as eccentric (or lowering) strength has been linked to healthier hamstrings.
- It can be performed anywhere you can anchor the foot.
How to Do the Nordic Hamstring Curl
Anchor your feet underneath a sturdy object, such as a loaded barbell, a bench, or the legs of a cable machine. Kneel on an exercise mat to complete the move. To do a proper squat, extend your arms out in front of you to help keep your balance, keep your torso straight as you lower yourself towards the floor, and bend your knees to reach a squatting position. The further from the anchor point you are, the harder the move will feel. Catch your body with your hands as it falls backwards, and then use your arms to push your body back up to the starting position.
