When you think of lower body workouts, you can automatically imagine the squat machine and leg press. But even when you stay home, you don’t have to overlook your leg day. However, doing countless repetitions of squats and strides can get boring.
How do you keep things interesting and keep your progress from stagnating? Add some warmth to your leg workouts by trying one of these eight leg exercises. Or it really burns your lower body by doing them all in one sitting.
“Elevator” squats
These three-step squat variations are like three repetitions in one, raising your legs three times faster than a standard squat. If you are doing this correctly, your time under stress is crazy. When you’re done, your legs will explode.
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Lean your hips back and bend your knees, lowering your butt as if you were sitting in a chair.
- Go down as deep as possible, then go up a quarter of the way.
- Come down again, this time come halfway.
- Go down one more time, then go all the way up.
These can be done as dumbbell or kettlebell squats or with back or front barbell squats.
High heel squats
Do mobility problems prevent leg augmentation? The high heel squat helps reduce stress on the joints, emphasizing the leg muscles rather than directly on the knees and ankles. Raising your heels creates a lot more stress on your quads.
- Place both heels on a pair of weight plates, a book, a slant (ramp), or other sturdy object that is a few inches high.
- Load with your chosen weight (weigh in each hand, kettlebell on the chest or barbell on the back).
- While keeping your back straight and chest up, lower your hips back and down until your buttocks dip below your knees.
- Go back to the starting position.
Try not to lock your knees on top of each repetition. This constant tension will result in a huge quadruple burn.
Bulgarian squat
If you are really looking to increase the heat in your leg routine, incorporating Bulgarian split squats is key. This one-sided (single-legged) movement of the lower body can be done either with your body weight alone or by adding kettlebells and weights to increase intensity.
Without the need to gain a lot of weight, sets of 20 reps on each side will get you to call the fire department to shut off your legs.
- Stand with your back to a bench, chair, or step, placing one foot on top, the sole of the foot facing up.
- Bend the front leg until the knee is at a 90 degree angle and the knee of the rear leg almost touches the ground.
- Push through your front foot to get back on your feet.
Hip thrust with isometric stamina
This movement may not necessarily increase muscle size, but adding isometric support to hip thrusts increases endurance and adds intensity to your workout by increasing your time under tension (the amount of time the muscle is under tension).
The result? A healthy burn on the buttocks and hamstrings. This dynamic isometric representation and retention scheme is excellent for increasing the time under tension.
- Sit with your back resting on a bench, step, or chair and your glutes on the floor, with your feet flat on the floor.
- Push your hips up into the air until your torso and knees form as close to a 90 degree angle as possible.
- Perform 10 repetitions, then hold the final repetition for 10 seconds.
- Perform 8 repetitions, holding for 8 seconds in the last one.
- Do this for up to 2 repetitions.
Hold a barbell, weight, or other weight on your hips for a greater challenge.
Overhead squat
When it comes to power and stability of the entire body, very few exercises compare to the overhead squat. Done correctly, an overload requires core strength, shoulder mobility, ankle and knee stability, and tons of energy.
- Hold a barbell, barbell, weight plate, or other heavy weight with both hands above your head, with your biceps aligned with your ears and your arms straight out in front of you.
- Keeping your core tight, lower your body in the same motion as squatting on your hips below your knees.
- From there, go back up, pushing the bar upward as you go.
Bulgarian jump squats
Adding the split jump squat is a sure way to step up any leg workout. Used as part of a superset with power-focused moves like goblet squats or single-leg deadlifts, these burners will buzz you up pretty quickly.
- Start in a lunge position, dropping your knee back until it almost touches the ground and swinging your arms back for momentum.
- Jump as high as you can, raise your arms above and land with the same leg in front.
- Perform for about 20 seconds, then switch legs.
One-legged glute bridge with band
Let’s not forget to work your biggest muscle: the glutes. They are responsible for hip and thigh movement, and if they don’t shoot correctly, your legs probably aren’t at full capacity, either. Adding this one-sided stop burner should help.
If you think about it, we move our legs one by one: walking, jogging, jumping over a puddle. There aren’t many more leg exercises that activate your glutes better than these.
- Using a small resistance band tied just above the knee, lie on your back, with your knees bent, feet close to your rear, and arms at your sides. Raise one leg up in the air.
- Pressing through the foot on the floor and arms, lift your hips off the floor as high as possible.
- Slowly lower to the ground.
- Do all repetitions on one leg before changing legs.
Low stride
Were you really hoping to leave without mentioning the possibly most intimidating leg day finisher? Of all the stride variations (walking, reversing, sideways, jumping, etc.), none is more demanding on the legs than the low stride, whether you do it with weights or only with your body weight.
This variation does not allow much rest between repetitions, which is equivalent to a more constant tension.
- Standing with your feet shoulder width apart, take a step forward.
- Plant your foot and drop your hips until the front knee reaches approximately 90 degrees and your back almost touches the ground.
- Stay as low as possible in your stride, bring the other leg forward, throwing yourself on the opposite side.
- Keep walking forward, trying to stay on the same level all the time.
