With so many options and choices available on how to train the lower body, many of us get overwhelmed and skip the leg day entirely. However, concentrating on the leg workout is also essential for complete lower body muscle development. Many of us have started working out at home since 2020 due to the pandemic and thus just like other workouts, leg workouts also can be performed at home.
However, whether you work out at home or at the gym, the ideal leg workout includes training the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calf muscles (and even the glutes).
Importance of Leg Workout
Leg workouts are an important aspect of a balanced fitness routine that builds and develops strength, and stability. But it’s important to stay consistent with your leg workouts since the leg’s large muscles are an integral part of your overall fitness.
Benefits of Leg Workout
As mentioned in the earlier section of this blog, leg workouts engage the major muscle groups of your body, which helps to improve overall performance in turn supporting a healthy movement pattern in your daily life.
Below mentioned are some of the benefits of a leg workout:
- Strong and developed leg muscles keep your body balanced, and this isn’t possible if you focus only on your upper body.
- Working your glutes, quads, and hamstrings with different exercises can help to maximize and boost athletic performance.
- Lower-body muscles help in creating a strong, and stable foundation, thus enabling resistance that travels upward into your core and upper body.
- It is also important to know that there is the utilization of lower-body strength for all types of movements, including throwing, batting, or reaching overhead.
- Strong and well-built leg muscles prevent injury and manage chronic conditions such as arthritis, heart disease, and diabetes.
This article covers two categories- leg workout at home and leg workout at the gym/fitness facility. And in each category we’ve considered the following aspects:
- Different exercises which can be performed.
- Various machine options.
- Planning a workout routine for lower body strength training.
Leg Workout at Home
When going to the gym is not an option, let’s make sure that lack of equipment or space doesn’t restrict you from getting a good leg workout. Whether you have a complete home gym, a few weights, and accessories, or just a room and an exercise mat; here’s a short brief to help you make the most of your leg workout day!
5 Leg Workouts that can be Performed at Home
Good Mornings
If you have a barbell at home, start by placing it over your upper back slightly below your shoulder. Keep your legs apart around your shoulder width, hold the barbell and bend down (as if you’re wishing someone good morning courteously!) without bending your knees too much and focusing completely on your lower back. This exercise targets your lower back and glutes muscles effectively.
Squats
Squats are always a common inclusion in most leg workout sessions. Squats are beneficial not only for your legs and glutes but also for your core and can help make everyday activities easier. Some of the squat variations that can be performed are:
Air Squats: Also known as bodyweight squats, air squats are performed using your own body weight, while regular squats may use additional weights instead. Performing this exercise with correct form can make you feel the burn in your thighs and in your glutes.
Jump Squats: While in the basic squat position, drop down, and on the way up, throw yourself up through your toes into a jump. Land softly, immediately, and take off going up again. Jump squats offer a lot of strength and aerobic benefits, such as building muscle and strength, boosting aerobic and cardiovascular fitness, burning calories and fat, improving sports performance, etc.
Goblet Squats: Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell close to your chest with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and toes pointed slightly out. Keep your chest out and bend your knees until your hamstrings touch your calves. Return to the starting position and repeat. It is one of the most effective workouts in developing lower body strength while keeping the core engaged.
Sumo Squats: Unlike traditional squat, in sumo squat the feet are placed wider and the toes are angled out away from the midline of the body thus creating a new challenge due to foot positioning changing your base of support. Quadriceps, gluteus muscles, hips, hamstrings, calves, and inner thighs are the muscles worked.
Lunges
Lunges are a great home leg workout, take a large step forward with one leg and lower the other leg (like a walking position but taking a bigger step). Keep your front shin vertical and your rear foot stretched out behind you. Perform this with an alternate leg action thus working your hips, hamstrings, quads, and glutes.
Deadlifts
The deadlift and its variations prove hugely beneficial to people, especially those who play sports. The exercise activates and targets the hamstrings, glutes, and quadriceps. These muscles are vital in endurance sports such as swimming, cycling, and running. Some of the exercise variations such conventional deadlifts, Romanian Deadlifts, Single Deadlifts, etc.
Step-Ups
Stand near a staircase or find a stool or box you can step on. While carrying weights in your arms, step up and get back down with alternate leg movement to target your glutes and hamstrings (calves, core, and lower back muscles will also get engaged to keep proper form.)
Standing Calf Raise
Just like the step-up, find a short bench or a staircase; stand with your toes resting on the surface and your heels over the edge. Lift your body up while being on your toes and get back to the starting position. This is one of the easiest exercises which can target your calf muscles effectively.
Leg Workout Machines- Home Gym Equipment
Into Wellness/Realleader USA offers an entire range of home gym equipment out of which you can select the ones that you need for your leg workout. These machines are compact yet target the required muscles, making them the perfect choice for home gyms. The home gym segment also has a variety of attachments that can be used with benches and racks thus offering multiple exercise possibilities.
Planning a Home Workout Routine
Since it is a home workout, you can pick any object as your weight for a leg workout, just make sure the correct form is maintained. If you have dumbbells or kettlebells, you can definitely grab them, if not, then pick up a bottle or packet of laundry detergent or a packet of wheat flour, or even a weighted backpack. Here’s a basic workout planned using the above exercises.
Start with 5 to 10 minutes of warm-up: Try a simple, gentle one before you begin stretching. It can include brisk walking, light jogging, or jumping jacks to get your muscles warm and your heart pumping. Don’t forget to include simple stretching movements in your warm-up.
1. Good Mornings:
2 sets of 10 reps.
Target muscles: Hamstrings and glutes.
2. Goblet Squats:
3 sets of 12 reps.
Targeted muscles: Quads and glutes.
3. Lunges:
3 sets of 10 reps.
Targeted muscles: Glutes, hamstrings, and calves.
4. Romanian Deadlifts:
2 sets of 12 reps.
Targeted muscles: Hamstrings, glutes, core, and upper back.
5. Step Up:
3 sets of 10 reps.
Targeted muscles: Glutes and hamstrings (calves, core muscles, and lower back muscles also get engaged to maintain proper form).
Leg Workout at Gym/Fitness Facility
For regular gym-goers, leg day is an essential part of any good gym routine. Different compound exercises play an important role in building a powerhouse that’s fit to excel in the gym while playing sports and also in everyday life. Leg workouts also get the heart pumping and burn boatloads of calories, improving your cardiovascular fitness along with developing strength.
Different Exercises and Machines
Gyms and fitness facilities have multiple leg workout machines, however, we need to know and understand which ones are the most appropriate ones to use. Into Wellness/Realleader USA gym equipment are the ones that can be trusted due to their superior biomechanics and user-friendly features. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced fitness enthusiast, the machines can be used with ease and target the right muscles. Listed below are some of the Into Wellness/Realleader USA machines and their respective exercises for leg workout sessions.
45 Degree Leg Press FM 1024D
The Into Wellness/Realleader USA 45 Degree Leg Press machine is an excellent machine to target your quadriceps, glutes thus strengthening thighs, hips, and glutes. It is an excellent compound push exercise machine and can be found in most of the gyms and fitness facilities offering strength training.
This machine has 3-Level adjustable back support for supporting correct pressing angles. The wide rubber-coated foot platform allows different foot positions for multiple muscle group activation. It’s easy and quick locking-unlocking mechanism makes the machine user-friendly.
Leg Extension M2 1005
This leg extension machine targets the quadriceps muscles- the front of the thigh. This exercise is performed to build lower body strength and muscle definition as part of strength training. Technically, this is an “open-chain kinetic” exercise, which means, while in the leg extension, you’re moving the padded bar, wherein your legs aren’t stationary, and thus the chain of movement is open in the leg extension.
The most impressive features of this machine are, the 4 starting positions for superior pre-stretch adjustments and range of motion adjustment and the six-level hydraulically adjustable backrest that allows correct knee joint alignment with the axis of rotation.
Prone Leg Curl M2 1006
The Prone Leg Curl is a muscle isolation exercise that targets two primary muscle groups: the calf muscles and the hamstrings. Leg Curl not only strengthens and improves flexibility in your hamstrings but also targets other muscle groups employing a stomach-down position.
Some of the features of this machine are the 6 starting positions for superior pre-stretch adjustments; 3 levels of foot roller adjustment to help adjust the knee joint with the axis of rotation. And it has a divergent angle between hip and chest pads to minimize lower-back stress.
Adductor-Abductor PF 1006
The Into Wellness/Realleader USA Adductor-Abductor machine is a combo machine that can target the inner or the outer thigh muscles, to define and shape the upper legs. It helps users to target the hip adductor and abductor muscles by facilitating two opposing thigh movements in a single unit.
This machine has 360-degree swivel knee pads for quick inner or outer thigh changeover. The machine also offers equal resistance through the entire range of motion.
V-Squat HS 1035
The V-squat machine by Into Wellness/Realleader USA is one of the most essential machines to train the legs, targeting the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes. It is a complete lower body workout impacting the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes effectively.
Squat Rack FW 1018
Into Wellness offers a free weight series that consists of benches and racks, and the FW 1018 Squat Rack is a very convenient unit that offers multiple stacking options for weight plates and dumbbells. This can be used to perform deadlifts, squats, and other free weight exercises.
Into Wellness offer many other leg workout combo machines that are available in different product series depending on your requirement.
Integrating Leg Exercises in Your Workout Plan
Don’t forget to warm up thoroughly, starting with some gentle lower-body mobility movements and dynamic stretching. Trainers in your gym would advise the same before you start any strength training exercises. Here’s a basic workout plan that you can follow in your gym on your leg day:
1. Leg Press:
3 sets of 8 reps.
Targeted muscles: Quads and glutes.
2. Leg Extension:
3 sets of 10 reps.
Targeted muscles: Quadriceps.
3. Prone Leg Curl:
3 sets of 10 reps.
Targeted muscles: Hamstring and calf muscles.
4. Adductor-Abductor:
2 sets of 12 reps (each).
Targeted muscles: Inner and outer thigh muscles.
5. V- Squat:
2 sets of 10 reps.
Targeted muscles: Quads, hamstrings, glutes.
Conclusion
Since you’ve reached this far, you must have realized the importance of training your leg muscles along with your entire body regularly if you want to develop strength and improve overall fitness. It’s okay to skip a day or two sometimes, especially if you’re sick or injured. However, make sure to plan for how you will make up the lost time in the coming weeks.
It’s all about maintaining balance and keeping up with the schedule, so work your leg safely with the correct form and avoid neglecting these important muscles to develop your overall physique.
