Leg workout is crucial since legs don’t just give shape to your body but aids in keeping one moving and hauling every single day. Hence the need to focus and strengthen the leg muscles is even more important.
The exercise for legs entails working out the muscles of the leg, which improvises one’s core and balance coupled with honing skills that include building grip strength.
The Perfect Workout Exercises For Building Leg Muscles
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To achieve gains in the long run, one should never neglect their leg days. Upping the ante for a leg workout develops stronger legs that complement a shredded physique.
The standard of performance is directly dependent on a stronger lower body. One that can categorically assist in any field of sport, from gym workouts to functional fitness standards.
Understanding the Leg Muscles
Legs boast of several muscles which assist the body through flexing, bending, extending, and rotations. One that is customary for movement of any kind.
The leg exercises are focused on four major sub muscle groups. These constitute the quadriceps, the hamstrings, the glutes, and the calves.
The perfect amalgamation sees each of these muscles coming together in a perfect fit to give the most from a workout session.
Quads
The quads are also known as the quadriceps, are the front muscles on the thigh. These are accorded as the strongest muscles in the human body.
Hamstrings
The hamstring muscles are located at the back of one’s thigh. The hamstring muscles are three in number and aid in the movement of the hip and the knees.
Glutes
The glutes don’t fall under the bracket of the leg muscles but assist in facilitating the movement of the hips and the legs. The glutes also find heavy usage in exercises related to a leg workout.
Calves
The calf muscles facilitate the movement of the ankle, foot along with the toes. Located on the backside of the lower leg, the calves lie exactly between the knees and the ankle.
Some of the best leg exercises include squats, lunges, and deadlifts involving multiple joints. Switching exercises every couple of weeks can lead to the best results. A few of them are discussed below:
Deadlift
The deadlift constitutes 5 sets with 8 repetitions spanning 60 seconds each. A classic style of big lift that involves all the muscles.
The procedure guides one to stand upright with a barbell right in front and squatting down to grasp the same through gripping with an overhand.
Thereby attaining the stand-up position by pressing down the heels and keeping the chest up and the core braced. The final push sees the hip gyrate forwards to the top and further lower.
Leg press
A leg workout that constitutes of 5 sets and 8 repetitions that span 60 seconds each. This is one of those exercises that focus on working out the hamstrings and the quad as hard as possible.
The posture is attained by sitting over the machine as per the instructions dictated. The feet are brought together by placing closer for working out the quads and sometimes going all high and wide to work out the glutes and hamstrings.
The knees are bent and brought forward towards the chest and again pressed back for starting over.
Superset 1
Superset 1 is all about hitting the hamstrings and the quad muscles. The first of the two straight sets see the major muscles warming up.
This is followed by going in heavy maintaining the correct posture while finishing off the reps. While returning to the start one must get in slow which allows working out the muscles harder.
The first superset comprises the seated hamstring curl and the seated leg extension.
Superset 2
The second and final series of the superset constitutes moves of high repetition aimed at targeting the muscle fibers leading to fatigue.
The result of these sessions of leg exercises sees heart rate pumping high. Lighter lifts and bodyweight repetitions after finishing off every set are recommended for someone failing to complete the targeted repetition sets.
The second superset constitutes two major exercises involving the leg muscles. This includes dumbbell lunges and dumbbell squats.
While the former aids in working out all the muscles of the lower leg along with the lower back and abs. The latter is targeted at glutes, quads, hams as well as abs.
Amanda Wingfield is a certified Diabetes Management Specialist who also holds an MD in Endocrinology, with certifications from ABIM and AACE. She has a decade of experience serving thousands of patients through her independent practice and has been working in the capacity of an expert diabetes consultant for the past 4 years. Ms. Wingfield is revered by her regular readers for her in-depth research and evidence-based analysis of diabetes medications, supplements, and treatments, and her highly critical style of writing.