To stay active, strong, and independent, it’s essential to include leg exercises in your overall fitness practice. Leg exercises keep you mobile and work some of your body’s biggest muscles, which can help keep you healthy and avoid injuries. Weight-bearing and resistance exercises are great for your bones, heart, and general health
as you get older, but you need strong legs to do them. It can be hard to know where to start with leg exercises when there are so many to choose from. Read on to find out what fitness experts say are the best leg workouts for people of all ages.
Benefits of leg exercises :
Strong leg muscles are good for you in many ways. Daniel Giordano, a doctor of physical therapy and chief medical officer of Bespoke Treatments Physical Therapy in New York, says that leg exercises can help avoid injuries by making the muscles in the legs stronger. This makes the joints more stable and improves general balance. “Strong legs are important for sports and other physical activities and can help you do better in sports.”
Here are the five main reasons why you should do leg exercises:
- Increased muscular strength and endurance in the leg muscles
- Improved balance and stability, especially as you age
- Reduced risk of injuries
- More stable lower body joints
- Improved athletic performance
1. Deadlifts:
Deadlifts make your center, hamstrings, hips, and lower back stronger. They can make your legs and core stronger generally and help you stay balanced and stable. You can work on form with a broomstick instead of a barbell, in this case, before adding the right amount of resistance for your fitness level.
How to do it:
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your toes looking forward. The barbell should be close to your toes on the floor in front of you.
- Maintain a straight back and bowed knees while performing the exercise.
- Hinge at the hips and work your core. Grab the object with an overhand grip.
- Use the muscles on the backs of your legs to stand up straight and lift the hammer off the ground. At the top of the move, keep your arms straight so the barbell hangs at your hips.
- Stand with your back straight, shoulders up, and stomach tight.
- Lower the load to the ground slowly by bending your knees and letting your hips hang out.
- Perform two or three sets of ten reps each.
2. Box Jumps:
Box jumps are plyometric exercises (movements that exert the highest muscular force in a brief time) that work the quads, glutes, and calf muscles. They can improve your cardiovascular fitness and your explosive leg strength, which is the ability to move quickly and with total effort, like when you jump, leap, or run. Prior to doing jumping exercises, you should make sure your legs are strong and have a warm-up with active exercises like heel raises, step-ups, squats, or hops in place.
How to do it:
- Stand in front of a sturdy box or platform that’s appropriate for your current fitness level. The height of the box should be challenging but not so high that it compromises your form. Try starting small, with a 6-inch step, and increase the height of the step as you feel comfortable. It should feel like a stretch to get up on the box, but it’s doable.
- Place your feet about hip-width apart and hold your arms out at your sides.
- Dip into a high squat position. Swing your arms backward, and then jump up and land on top of the box with both feet. Absorb the impact by bending your knees slightly, keeping your weight balanced over your midfoot, and maintaining an upright posture.
- Step down to the floor. Alternatively, if you feel confident, you can jump down, landing softly on your feet. Remain facing the box at all times.
- Perform two to three sets of 10 reps.
3. Glute Bridges
Bridges strengthen the glutes and lower back, as well as improve core stability and help maintain balance and stability.
How to do it:
- Put your feet flat on the floor and bend your knees so they are hip-width apart. Hold your arms out in front of you and put your hands down on the floor.
- Lie on your back, legs bent and hip-width apart, feet flat on the floor. Position your arms at your sides, palms down on the floor.
- Lift your hips off the ground using your glutes until your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your knees (or as near to this alignment as your range of motion permits).
- Hold for a few seconds before returning to the beginning posture with your hips.
- Perform two to three sets of ten repetitions.
4. Walking lunges
Walking lunges will put your balance, quads, hamstrings, and glutes to the test.
How to do it:
- Start by putting your feet together. Grab a dumbbell in each hand and do a walking stretch with weights on them.
- Step forward, lunging with your right leg until your thigh is parallel to the ground while keeping your chest proud and your eyes straight ahead.
- Push up through your right heel, coming back up to the starting position.
- Continue forward with the left leg.
5. Leg extensions
If you want to work on your quads, leg raises are one of the best workouts for you. You can easily do this machine-based exercise that works your mind and muscles to significant effect in the quadriceps. This exercise is best for working out your legs when you do it with a lot of reps (12 to 15). Take the time to try this solo exercise. It’s an essential part of your leg day workout.
How to do it:
- Set the machine up so that your feet are under the padded lever and your knees are in line with the hinge point.
- Pick a weight that you can easily handle, and if there are handles, grab them.
- Exhale as you straighten your legs out in front of you. Make sure your back stays straight.
- Don’t move the weight for two counts, then slowly move it back to where it started.
- Do the move again and again until you reach the number you want.
Tips: If this is your first time doing this exercise, start with a lighter weight and add more weight as you get better at it.
