Are you looking for the ideal leg strengthening exercise that you can include in your workout routine? Though the leg isn’t as fascinating as other parts of the body muscles, it makes up a considerable fraction of the total portion of the body’s muscle with the tight muscles being the biggest of them all. Despite the fact that building the leg muscles don’t matter to quite a number of people, it’s imperative that you spend a tremendous amount of your workout time working on it.
In this post, we will examine some leg strengthening exercises that have the potential of helping you build-up your leg muscles. Similar to how you would prep for other forms of vigorous physical activity, always start with some 5-15 minutes of warm-up exercises before kicking off with your leg exercises. This is will help in activating the tissues surrounding your muscles and preventing your legs from getting injured during the workout.
Below is a list of some of the most effective leg-strengthening exercises:
- Leg Extensions
This is an excellent leg strengthening exercise. With the leg extensions, you get an all-round exercise as it works on all the primary muscles surrounding the leg. This is done with leg extension machine. Locate the leg extension machine at your local gym house, hook your leg underneath the roller pads and gently push the knees. Stop at intervals with your legs extended outwards before returning it to its starting position.
- Squats
Squats can be done with two types of equipment; the free weight squat stand and the secured squat stand. For those new to this leg strengthening exercise, It would be wise of you to make use of the secured squat stand for your safety. Squats require concentration, and a little mastery as any little mistake could lead to a severe injury on the leg, back, and neck. Start by standing shoulder width apart with the barbell resting on your shoulder. Slowly bend down until your legs are close to being parallel to the ground, and then gently push back up.
- Lying Leg Curls
To carry out this exercise, locate the leg curl machine, and lay down flat on your stomach. While lying down, hook your feet underneath the curl pad. With your feet fastened to the curl pad, gently curl your legs up and towards the lower back. Stop at intervals while being in total control of the machine.
- Straight Leg Dead lifts
The straight leg dead-lifts is an incredible leg strengthening exercise that aims at the lower back and hamstrings. Deadlifts are great for functional strength and stability. Similar to the squat workout, the straight leg deadlifts are pretty challenging to do but have significant benefits on the legs. If you are still new to this equipment, endeavor to make use of lighter load in order to lower the possibility of getting injured.
- Leg Press Calf Raises
The leg press calf raise is an exercise performed on the calve muscles. This can be done either by standing or in a seated position. Carrying out this leg strengthening activity using the leg press adds some external resistance to the movement as the muscle within the calf quickly responds to heavy loads.
- Lunging
Lunging happens to be one of the most common exercises we include in our workout routine. This exercise is referred to as a whole leg exercise owing to the fact that a large group of muscles (biceps, quads, gluts, and hamstrings) are exercised upon while lunging. To do this, you will need to use some weights while keeping the knee above the toes at all times. This is essential in order to protect your toes from damage or injury.
These workouts will help build the muscles in and around your legs effectively. All you need is to be persistent and consistent.