Building your lower body is essential whether you’re trying to boost your sports performance, reduce weight, or improve your overall fitness.
Your legs help to move your whole body. It provides support, which makes it possible to carry out your daily activities.
In this article, we’ve put together some of the best home workouts for legs that will help strengthen your lower body. If you want quick and effective ways to get stronger legs, then this is for you.
Home Workout for Legs:
5 Techniques to Strengthen Your Lower Body
1. Squats
The squat is one of the best workouts to strengthen your lower body. While it works virtually all the muscles from your lower back to your feet, it mainly targets your glutes, calves, hamstrings, and quadriceps muscles. It is a great exercise to tone your thighs, butt, and core.
Procedure:
- Start by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart. Keep your back straight and your shoulders rolled back. Make sure you engage your core.
- Push out your hips and flex your knee as if assuming a sitting position. Your knees should be behind your toes.
- From this position, flex your elbows and move your forearms close to your chest.
- Go down so that the back of your thigh is parallel to the floor, then return to the starting position.
- Do 3 sets of 10 reps each.
2. Lunges
Lunges are one of the most popular home workouts for legs. It is a strengthening exercise for people who seek to strengthen and tone their bodies while also improving overall fitness and enhancing athletic performance. It works your back, hips, and legs, helping to improve mobility and stability. This is a resistance exercise that can be used to strengthen your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves
Procedure:
- Stand with your legs shoulder-width apart. Keep your hands on your waist and your shoulders rolled back. Also, keep your core engaged.
- With your left leg stationary, take a forward step with your right leg.
- Flex your knees and lower your body so that your thighs and shins are inclined at an angle of 90 degrees to each other.
- Raise your body to return to the starting position.
- Switch legs and repeat.
- Do 3 sets of 12 reps each.
3. Calf raises
Calf raises help to strengthen the calf muscles and benefits the hamstrings, providing your knee with better support and stability. It is a popular strengthening exercise that helps to work your legs and improve their appearance.
Procedure:
- Stand close to a wall with your hands on the wall for balance. Your legs should be shoulder-width apart.
- Lift your feet upwards so that you’re standing on the balls of your feet.
- Hold in this position for a few seconds then slowly return to your original position.
- Repeat the procedure 10 to 12 times.
4. Box step-up
The box step-up is an effective workout routine that is used to improve symmetry, balance, and coordination while developing strength and power in the hamstrings, glutes, calves, and quadriceps muscles. It helps to increase stability in the hip, knee, and ankle joints.
It is a great all-around exercise and alternative to plyometric exercises (exercises that involve rapid stretching and contracting of muscles to develop muscular power).
One of the advantages of the box step-up exercise is that it is used to work each leg individually, building strength equally on each side and improving balance.
All you need to perform this home workout for legs is a step, sturdy chair, or bench, and some weights (optional).
Procedure:
- Stand tall facing the bench with your hands by your sides.
- Put the whole of your right foot on the bench, keeping your left foot on the floor.
- Drive-up through your right leg and stand on the bench with both feet. Extend your leg completely straight before bringing the opposite foot onto the box.
- Lead with your left leg as you step back down and return to the starting position. The descent should be slow to properly load your joints and give you a better positioning.
- Do about 10 to 15 reps.
- Switch legs and repeat.
- You can use a dumbbell or kettlebell for the weighted variation of the box step up. Hold down the weights at your sides or in a front rack or back rack position. In this variation, always concentrate on your positioning and the efficiency of your movement.
5. Straight leg raises
The straight leg raises help to strengthen your quadriceps muscles, which are the muscles just in front of the thigh. These muscles help to absorb shock before it gets to the knee, decreasing the strain on the knee and helping to reduce pain.
Procedure:
- Start by lying down flat with your back to the floor. You can use an exercise mat or a folded blanket to act as cushioning under your back.
- Bend one leg slightly at the knee and keep the other leg straight in front of you.
- Slowly raise the straight leg upwards until it gets to the same height as the bent knee.
- Hold at that point for 5 seconds, then bring it down slowly back to the floor.
- Repeat the procedure 3 more times.
- Switch legs and repeat. You can add an ankle weight as it gets easier.
Takeaway
Your lower body contains over 200 muscles and is the easiest area to build lean muscle. This is why you should keep it strong and mobile as much as possible.
It is important to note that these home workouts become unsafe if done incorrectly as much as they are effective when performed the right way.
Also, always make sure to complement these routines with a healthy diet. Eating right is an essential part of burning calories and building muscles. Eat whole, unprocessed foods and drink lots of water to give your body all the essential nutrients it needs to keep you going.