11 leg exercises to strengthen, tone and develop muscles

The muscles of your lower body play a key role in supporting athletics and daily activities, it is therefore important to train your legs directly to strengthen strength, stability and overall function. There are many exercises to choose, with and without weight, which target all the main muscle groups in the legs, such as glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves. When you perform these exercises, you should always make sure you maintain an appropriate form and gradually increase the difficulty over time.

1. Squat

Squats lead to all the main muscles of your legs, such as your quads, your hamstrings, your adductors (muscles on the interior thighs) and calves. They also target some of your main muscle groups from the upper body, such as your back and your nucleus (abdomen, back and pelvis). You can make them without weight, while holding a weight in front of you near your chest or with a dumbbell resting on the upper back.

How:

1. Stay outside your feet, the toes, the toes have proven to be slightly and your chest with your welded nucleus (tense). If you use a dumbbell or a kettlebell, hold the weight by your chest.
2. Then push your hips back as if you were sitting in a chair by folding your knees about 90 degrees.
3. Once completely tilted, push the middle of your foot to stand up, extending your hips and knees while keeping your nucleus engaged and neutral (straightened).

2.

Walking slots are a dynamic (active) movement that defies the muscles of your legs and your stability and coordination. You can try them in various ways, including with dumbbells by your side, in front of you, or while using a bar. Choose a weight that works for you and is not too heavy, and be sure to keep most of the weight in front of your legs while you make the movement.

How:

1. Stay with your feet with the width of the hip, the core engaged and your hands on your hips or holding weights by your side.
2. Take a controlled step forward with one leg, lowering the rear knee to the floor while keeping your front knee aligned on your ankle.
3. Lower until the two knees are around 90 degrees. Then press your front foot to move forward with the opposite leg in the next slot, continuing in a walking model.

3. Divided Bulgarian squat

Fendus squats are an exercise that makes your glutes (muscles of your buttocks), hamstrings and calves. They challenge your knees, your hips and your ankles by keeping them aligned, which makes them a big movement to improve your stability from the lower body.

How:

1. Hold on a few feet in front of a raised surface, such as a lowered weight bench, and place the back of one of your feet on it.
2. Keeping your right torso and the core engaged, fold the front of your knee so that your thigh comes down to around 90 degrees while you squat.
3. Press the middle of your foot to push you away
4. Repeat several times on the same side before going to the other leg.

4. Intensify

The STEP-UP exercise targets your quads and glutes while contesting the stability of your knee, hip and ankle joints. A current error that people experience by doing this is when they grow back in the back of their foot instead of using their front leg to control the movement. Try to keep this in mind when you practice this exercise.

How:

1. Take weights and stand in front of a bench or a robust box with your hip width feet and your arms with your side.
2. Place a foot on the bench and press the middle of your foot to push you on the bench.
3. On the way back, lower your dragging foot (foot behind you) with control.
4. Repeat several times before changing the sides.

5. Leg press

Machines are an effective way to work on the muscles of your legs, and the leg press is a great option. Most leg press machines mainly target the muscles of your legs in different positions and allow you to adjust the weight. When you use a leg press, be sure to prepare your kernel, even if the machine has a rear support, so as not to put too much tension on the lower back.

How:

1. Sit on the press machine legs with your back flat against the cushion, position your feet around the width of the shoulders on the platform and keep your knees folded at around 90 degrees.
2. Push through your foot to extend your legs, straightening them without locking your knees at the top of the movement.
3. Now, slowly fold your knees to lower the platform to you until your thighs are about a 90-degree angle.
4. Repeat by pressing your legs again to straighten them.

6. Curl of the hamstrings

The exercise of loop of the hamstrings targets the muscles of the hamstrings. These muscles start in the pelvis and extend under the knee, crossing the hip and knee joints. The leg loop machine, an option to perform this exercise, works by folding the knee, which hires the hamstrings and helps strengthen them. Strong hamstrings are important for running, jumping and preventing injuries.

How:

1. Lie face down on the closure machine with the legs with the cushion resting just above your ankles. Keep your knees lined up on the pivot point of the machine (where it folds).
2. Prepare your nucleus and pull your heels to your glutes, arrowing your hamstrings when you finish the movement.
3. Slowly extend your legs to the starting position without dropping the weight, while maintaining the tension throughout the movement.

7. Leg extension

The leg extensions target the quadriceps muscles, which are the four muscles located at the front of the thigh. This exercise strengthens quadriceps by specifically focusing on the knee extension, which is the main function of these muscles. This improves knee stability and reduces the risk of injury.

How:

1. Sit on the leg extension machine with your back against the seat and the padded lever resting just above your ankles.
2. With your feet and toes bent towards you, straighten your knees to lift the weight, tightening your quadriceps at the top.
3. Lower slowly when you fold your knees to return to the starting position, keeping the tension on the quads everywhere.

8. Lank side

The side slits are a torsion on traditional slits which offer unique advantages of many avant-back exercises were missing. This exercise operates the muscles that support lateral movements, helping to improve mobility, balance and coordination laterally.

How:

1. Stay with your feet with the width of the hip, the committed nucleus and your hands by your side. You can do it with or without weight.
2. Take a big step on one side, folding the work knee at around 45 degrees while you land. Keep the right opposite leg.
3. Make sure that most of your weight is on the work leg, then push your foot to return to the starting position.

9.

The calf calf mainly targets your calf muscles, which are responsible for setting up your heels and are important for walking, running, jumping and maintaining balance. In addition to leading it to the strength of the calves, this exercise also engages the muscles of your feet, which helps to improve the strength of the feet, the support of the arc and the overall stability of the lower limbs.

How:

1. First of all, standing with your feet at the width of the hip, the toes pointing forward and your knees slightly folded.
2. Press through the balls of your feet to raise your heels as high as possible, tightening your calves like you.
3. Slowly lower your heels on the ground without dropping them, holding the tension in your calves.

10. DEADLIFT

The lifts of earth target the muscles along the back of your body, including your glutes, your hamstrings and your lower back muscles. These muscles work together to extend your hips, stabilize your spine and generate strength. Earth lifts are one of the most effective exercises to strengthen global force because they engage several large muscle groups. They also strengthen the right way to raise things, which makes them very effective for daily activities, such as picking up heavy objects safely.

How:

1. Take a kettlebell and place it between your feet.
2. Prepare your nucleus, the hinge (fold slightly forward) with your hips while folding your knees a little and gain the weight.
3. With a neutral spine, press your feet down and extend your hips and knees at the same time to recover the weight.

11. BRIDGE PLESSIER

Glutes bridges work your glutes and hamstrings. You can easily upgrade this exercise by adding weight to your hips when running it. Other versions, such as gluteal bridges with a single leg, can also dispute your unilateral (unilateral) force more, making this movement a precious addition to any training from the bottom or the complete body.

How:

1. Lie on the ground, folded knees and flat feet, about the width of the hip and arms by your side.
2. Reach your nucleus and push your hips to the ceiling as much as you can, tightening your glutes at the top without hiding your back.
3. Slowly lower your hips to the ground, maintaining tension in your glutes and hamstrings.

Choose sets and representatives

You should aim to make three sets of five to 15 repetitions or repeated movements during an exercise, such as lifting and lower weight.

Choose a weight for each exercise that allows you to stop about three to five repetitions before failure, that is to say when your muscles can no longer finish exercise. Leaving three to five repetitions in the tank helps you keep a perfect shape while defying your muscles.

Training frequency

You should aim to train your legs two to three times a week. You don’t need to concentrate your entire training on legs training these days. However, as a general rule, you must target your leg muscle groups with a handful of exercises several times a week to make the best party. Over time, you will also want to continue to increase the number of sets and representatives you make, while increasing the weight.

Reheat and cool

As with any training, it is important to warm up to run the blood towards your muscles and prepare your body for a heavier exercise. Cooling after a training session also helps your body recover and relax. Five to 10 minutes before and after your training, it’s a good amount of time for warm -up and cooling exercises.

Leg training is essential for any well -balanced exercise program because it strengthens strength in some of the most important and powerful muscles in the body. Strong legs support better overall performance, that you can weight, run, play sports or simply spend through daily life. There are many exercises to choose to add to your routine. When you incorporate them, do not forget to listen to your body and avoid growing if the exercise causes pain.