Leg Workouts
Working out your legs requires balance and good form. Pushing your chest out (called Proud Chest), keeping your back straight, pushing your hips back into a squat, and carefully lowering your arms to shin level ensures you're doing a single rep. Do as many of these as you can with good form and carefully notate the number of reps you were able to complete.
The client performed this exercise on top of a vibration machine specifically designed to increase circulation and alleviate discomfort in the back.
Alternatively, you can perform this exercise in front of a mirror to check yourself for good form.
Muscles targeted: Quads, Lower Back, & Forearms.
Working with bars and weights can be intimidating at first, but when done safely and with good form, they can deliver some incredible results! Don't forget to exhale when you push!
The client is shown performing Pelvic Hip Thrusts with a weighted barbel and a resistance band.
This exercises helps to strenghten the muscles primarily in the gluteus maximus (buttocks), quads, and hips. It also helps stabilize your pelvic floor muscles, your lower back muscles, and your knees. The latter is especially helpful for those struggling with low bone densitiy in both the femur and the hip bones, and can help align the joints in your knees, all while promoting balance and strenght in your glutes.
Muscles targeted: Quads, Lower Back, & Glutes
This may look like a traditional squat, but if you look closely, you'll notice that our client is actually briefly touching the bench as he lowers into the squat. As soon as the butt touches an object (whether that be a box, bench, chair, etc.), the depth of the squat is pre-determined and allows you to know how low to go.
The benefits of box squats are substantial: first and foremost, it allows you to workout your entire lower body, specifically strengthening your hamstrings and glutes. In addition to building awareness of your complete squat depth, it also helps you build up strength in your overall squatting depth. Whether you're building towards a personal record, wanting to improve your ability to stand up, or working out for rehab injuries, a box squat is definitely something to look forward to on leg day!
Muscles Targeted: Glutes & Hamstrings.
One of the most beneficial (and dangerous if performed incorrectly) exercises is the Barbell Squat.
In this video, you'll notice the client is instructed to exhale on the up while keeping the back straight, and concentrating on rolling the bar past the knees. Good form is imperative to avoid straining the lower back muscles while a proper weight ensures that the muscles are being exercised but not pushed past the beginner's limit.
Barbell Squats are essential for challenging the core while strengthening the glutes, hamstrings, and quads. The slow yet repetivie motion helps with mental health to increase grit and discipline, while the phsycial health is challenenged with an increased caloric burn and can help build strong bones. Again, if done properly, Barbell Squats can help prevent future injuries; when done incorrectly, they can cause unnecessary strain (and pain) to the lower back.
Muscles Worked: Glutes, Hamstrings, Quads, & Lower Back
One way to enhance your workout with Barbell Squats is to incorporate a resistance band. This extra resistance helps to further strengthen your muscles through the increased difficulty.
In this video, the client must still keep the back straight, the weight balanced, all while keeping the resistance band taut by taking a wider stance.
Muscles Targeted: Glutes & Hamstrings.
Box squats might look incredibly easy, but they can prove to become increasingly difficult the further into the reps you get.
In this video, you'll see how the client is instructed to keep a "Proud Chest and to keep the hips forward." This ensures that the back doesn't bend backwards and make the exercise easier but less effective.
Breathing properly is also essential to make sure you don't feel lightheaded once your reps and sets are completed.
Box squats can be done with a barbell, a dumbbell, or on their own until you feel confident enough to incorporate a weight. Just be sure that your butt actually touches the seat before counting it as a full rep!
Muscles Targeted: Glutes, Hamstrings, & Lower Body.
You're probably more familiar with exercise as a machine where you open your legs and place them on the inside side of a padded metal bar. This is the same exercise, yet shown in a different way.
In this video, you'll hear the client being instructed to open the legs wide and keeping the feet close to the butt to ensure correct form.
Your abductor muscles are responsible for rotating your legs at the hip. Proper performance of this exercise can target your gluteus maximus, but it also works your gluteus medius. The latter is often overlooked on leg day, so incorporating adduction and abduction exercises can help encourage a fuller, rounder muscle growth in the butt.
Muscles Worked: Abductor muscles, Glutes (Maximus & Medius)
If you ever wanted a hack for making leg day easier, here's one! Squats primarily target the glutes and hamstrings, but when you balance slightly on an inclined (or elevated) chock, it can actually help strengthen your back! This is done by alleviating some pressure on the back while strengthening the back muscles.
Incline/Elevated squats are commonly used in rehab exercises and can enhance the recovery process for the lower back.
In this video, the client is showing excellent form and breathing techniques while using resistance bands and a dumbbell to enhance balance and get just a bit more sweat per squat.
Muscles Targeted: Lower Back, Glutes, & Quads.