Guide to working the legs (leg exercises): That your legs are not the weak point

 Introduction

Many of the users who decide to practice this sport, calisthenics, pound themselves day after day on the bars, achieving considerable gains, both in terms of strength and aesthetics of the torso. The problem lies in the lower body. Few calisthenics practitioners can find a good balance both at the muscular level and at the level of strength between the muscles of the lower and upper body.

When searching online, most of the exercises that we can find are for the upper body, chin-ups, dips, push-ups ... in very few occasions you see athletes working leg exercises.

When we walk through the parks, we can find the practitioners of this sport only hooked on the bars, working the upper body muscles but we do not see practically any of them performing squats or any similar exercise that does not involve the muscles of the arms. They forget that poorly planned work can stagnate our progress and repeat the same exercises and tricks on the bars one day after another can often injure us, due to overloads due to lack of rest and imbalances between the muscles.

When we ask many calisthenics about leg workouts, we can see the alarms go off. Most of these participants do not do leg exercises !! They tell us that no one has ever been able to recommend exercises for the muscles of the legs and they are lost when it comes to choosing leg exercises to strengthen and tone the lower extremities.

The best leg exercises that you should include in your workouts. Exercises to do in the park or at home:

1. Squats

It is the star exercise for the legs. It is considered one of the most complete exercises that we can perform since it works most of the muscles of the lower body, in addition to the abdomen and lumbar area, present in the entire movement as a stabilizer of the spine.

• Stand with your legs shoulder-width apart.

• Bend your knees to allow your glutes to begin to descend.

• Make a minimum descent until you reach 90º from your knees, if you can perform a deep squat you will work your glutes to a greater extent and you will be increasing the intensity of the exercise by increasing its route.

• Extend your knees and go up to the starting point.

If you have bars or dumbbells you can add load, so the work that your thighs and buttocks must do will be greater.

Some of the variants that you can include will be to perform squats feet together, sumo squat (with legs spread wider then the shoulders), squats with a fixed bar (multipower), or static wall squat (isometric squat). With each of the variants, you can change the stimulus applied.

2. Pistol or one leg squat

It is a complex exercise to strengthen the legs, which is performed without external load. It is one of the most demanding and difficult exercises that you can do without material. You will fully strengthen all your legs anywhere so you will have no excuse to do it.

• Stand with one leg straight.
• With the leg that is supported, you should perform a knee bend.
• You should go down until you try to keep your leg stretched horizontal with the ground.
• You should progress downhill little by little.

3. Stepdown

It is an exercise that will challenge the muscles of your glutes and quadriceps, in addition to involving the stabilizers of both the knee, hip, and spine.

You will only need the help of a step.

• Stand sideways on a step or platform with one leg resting on the surface and leaving the other leg unsupported.

• Try to touch the ground with your unsupported leg.

• You should bend the knee of the leg that is fixed.

• Control movement to prevent excessive eversion of the femur.

• Do 8 to 12 reps and switch legs.

4. Lunges.

The lunges are an essential exercise if you want to work the antagonist muscles of the legs. It is an excellent exercise that can be done both with and without material, so it can be included in your routines in the park. To do it with material, I recommend that you use weighted vests.

It is one of the most complete movements to work the legs, specifically the hamstrings and glutes.

The technique is simple:

• Stand up and take a long step with one of your legs.
• Bend the knee of the front leg and the back leg, closest to the 90º angle in both.
• Move forward alternating the position of your legs.

5. The hinge

This movement is essential to gain mobility in the hamstring muscles. It is an exercise that can be done without material, although from here we recommend it with the help of a pick.

By fixing the spine in it, we will isolate the hip flexor muscles, allowing the hamstrings to stretch throughout the entire route.

• Hold the pike behind your head. The head, the spine, and the buttock are supported on it.
• Bend your knees slightly and bend your hips forward. You must maintain your posture and try to do as much travel as possible.

6. Lumbar bridge

It is one of the leg exercises to strengthen the legs at home. With the lumbar bridge, you will strengthen the lumbar, gluteal, and femoral muscles. It is a simple exercise that you can do with or without material. Since if you are in a gym you can add a load on the pelvis, so the work will be more intense.

• Lie on your back on the floor with your legs bent and the soles of your feet supported.

• The hands are on each side of the waist, resting the palms on the floor.

• Raise the hips by squeezing the gluteus and to a height that the spine remains aligned.

• Hold in the highest position for a few seconds and return to the start to repeat.

If you do not have bars or discs to increase the difficulty, you can try the variant of doing it with only one leg.

7. Bulgarian squat

This exercise tests your glute and quadriceps, as they will have to lift most of the weight of your body since you work unilaterally. It is one of the favorite exercises for those users who want to develop great legs since it gives a good stimulus that allows us to hypertrophy our thighs.

To do it correctly you must take note of these points:

• Stand with your back to a step.
• Take a foot back and keep it supported.
• The other foot should be put forward.
• Bend the knee of the lead leg to lower the hips, while the knee of the supporting leg is lowered.
• Try to keep your trunk upright throughout.

8. Squat jumps

If you're looking to increase lower body strength and power, look no further, as jump squats will help you work your leg muscles efficiently.

It is a type of exercise called plyometrics, which must be performed as explosively as possible to enjoy the benefits that this type of training can bring us.

• Do a leg squat.

• At the lowest point, apply the greatest possible force to be able to perform a jump accompanied by the extension of the knees.

• Take your feet off the ground and land to perform the same movement again.

• You must apply force as explosively as possible.

9. Split jumps

Another leg exercise to improve the power of your legs, this time focused on the back of their muscles.

It is an intense exercise, which will make you feel like your legs are burning and your heart rate rises.

• Start with one leg forward.

• You must flex both legs and take advantage of their extension to change the position of both.

10. Nordic Curl

It is one of the best exercises for preventing hamstring injuries. It is widely used in team sports since with this exercise, the muscles are worked eccentrically, gaining strength.

It is a fairly demanding exercise that requires good execution techniques.

• Get on your knees.

• Hold your heels with a barbell or with the help of a partner.

• Drop forward, retaining the movement.

• When you hit the ground, bounce your hands back to the starting point.

11. Sissy Squat

It is an isolated leg exercise for the quadriceps that is not very common to see it performed due to its complex technique. The Sissy Squat is an exercise that you can do anywhere but you must be careful, as a bad technique will end up injuring you.

• Stand with your legs shoulder-width apart.

• Keeping your hips neutral, you should bend your knees forward.

• The body should fall backward.

• Make a progressive descent, the objective of which is to place your knees as close to the ground as possible.

12. Clam with rubber

Although it is commonly recommended to strengthen the hip abductors and external rotators, this exercise helps you in activating the gluteus, so it may be interesting to perform it for those who have these weakened muscles. It is an exercise that can be included both at the beginning of the session to achieve activation and a greater work of the gluteal area during the session or as a finalizer to finish exhausting the gluteal muscle fibers.

• You must be lying on your side.

• Use an elastic band tied around the knee area.

• The two feet remain together and semi-flexed.

• Try to abduct your top leg without lifting your foot off its support.

13. Jumps to the drawer

Aerobic exercise and lower body muscle power are what you will achieve with this exercise. It is essential in disciplines such as running or Crossfit, so the transfer of its benefits goes beyond a single discipline.

It is an exercise that you can do anywhere, without the need for material. You only need a step, a bench, a step, or a platform where you can jump and land safely.

• Do a jump on a platform about 50 cm high.

• Take another jump back to the land where you started from

Exercises to work out in the gym

1. Quadriceps on machine

If you want to work your quadriceps in isolation, this is the exercise for you. It is a simple movement that you can perform in any gym since it is one of the best known and most recommended machines to work the legs.

Its use is very simple:

• Sit on the machine and adjust the backrest so that you are comfortable.

• Do a knee extension that allows you to straighten your leg.

• Hold the weight at the highest point for a couple of seconds and control the eccentric or lowering phase.

2. Femoral on machine

If you have the facilities of a gym you can perform specific exercises such as the lying leg curl. The posterior musculature of the thigh is difficult to work, so in the femoral machine, you can do it in a controlled and localized way.

• Lie down on the seat of it.

• Grab on the front handles for traction that further concentrates your hip muscles.

• Do a knee bend to bring your heels to your glute.

• Hold the load for a couple of seconds and then return to the starting point.

3. Hip thrust

This is one of the best lower body exercises. The work mainly falls on the buttocks so it is a magnificent exercise to develop the area as a whole, you will also be involving the core, so its benefits are quite remarkable.

• Sit with your shoulder blades resting on a bench.

• The legs are bent and the feet are resting on the floor.

• A bar is fixed in the pelvis while it is held by the ends.

• With a hip thrust, you should rise to the horizontal.

4. Press

The leg press or press is a safe way to work all the muscles of the leg. It is a pushing exercise that allows good work on the vast lateral, the vast lateral, and the rectus femoris.

•  Lying down or sitting down (there are presses to perform the work horizontally and lying down).

• Place your legs on the platform, shoulder-width apart.

• Keep your feet on the platform without lifting your heels off the platform

• Drop the weight towards your body by bending your legs.

• When you reach an angle of about 90 degrees, push to extend your legs.

5. Pull through

This is an exercise that will get you out of your legwork stagnation. It's a simple movement that works your glutes, lumbar, and hamstrings to the maximum.

To do this you will need a pulley.

• Attach a rope to the lowest position on the pulley.

• Grab the ends of the rope with each of your hands and stand with your back to it.

• With your knees, semi-bent, and your torso bent forward, pull the rope with a hip thrust.

• Stand tall and squeeze your glute.

The more distance there is between your body and the pulley, the more resistance you will have to overcome, so the exercise will take more intensity.

6. Front squat

The front squat should be a staple in your training routine. It is an exercise that works most of the muscles of your body since the effort falls mainly on the muscles of the legs, but you must maintain control of your body by activating the stabilizing muscles such as the transverse abdomen or the core.

• Hold a barbell in front of your body, close to your chin, and hold with your shoulders.

• Keep your elbows raised to protect them and not hurt yourself in them.

• Go down as straight as possible without leaning your torso forward.

7. Russian swing

It is a very suitable exercise to work the lower train, it also helps you develop abs and lose fat.

This swinging movement with a kettlebell strengthens the back muscles of the leg, buttocks, abdomen, lumbar, in addition to giving you an aerobic stimulus.

• Start with a kettlebell between your knees.
• The knees are semi-bent and the trunk lowered.
• With a rocking motion of the dumbbell, extend your legs and squeeze your glutes.

Conclusion

Leg work is very important whatever the sports discipline we dedicate ourselves to, as it will help us avoid decompensation, in addition to improving our strength in the lower body. Transferring these gains to the other exercises and tricks that we can perform.

Include any of these exercises to work legs in your training routine, you will notice faster progress in all exercises, thanks to its transfer when performing any other movement.