Volique Legs

Healthy Legs

Leg Exercises You Can Do From Home

We’ve all been there, waking up feeling unmotivated, tired and downright grumpy. The mere thought of getting out of bed and throwing ourselves into a fitness regime or workout is horrific at times. Workouts and exercise in the morning are beneficial because they give you more energy and a better mood for the rest of the day.

When you think of leg exercises, your mind runs to squats, deadlifts, etc. However, lower body moves involve a lot more than just your quads and hamstrings. At MyPinsOnline, we specialise in legs and have put together a few leg exercises you can do at home.

Full Squats
Squat exercises should be included in all workouts as they support many fitness goals, including strength training, muscle building, toning and weight loss. When looking to define and strengthen your glutes, hamstrings and calves, you can’t go wrong with squats—complete three sets of 8-15 repetitions of this exercise.

Squat Jumps
Squat jumps can be slightly more challenging compared to the original squat. However, they are highly effective for toning and burning fat because they focus on muscles within the legs as well as the adductor muscles—complete three sets of 8-10 repetitions of this exercise.

Bulgarian Split Squats
The Bulgarian split-squad is designed to help stretch the rear leg while strengthening your front leg by loading the weight over your front leg. Place one foot on a surface, like a chair, bed or bench and then sink your front leg as low as you possibly can—complete three sets of 8-12 repetitions of the exercise on each leg.

Calf Raises
Calf Raises are recommended exercises to include in any leg workout. They help with the toning and defining of your lower leg muscles as well as the strengthening of your gastrocnemius and soleus muscles—complete three sets of 8-15 repetitions of this exercise.

Lateral Lunge
The lateral lunge is a simple yet effective exercise that will have you loading your weight over each leg. This forces the activation in the quad and glute muscles. Reach your leg out to the side of your body and sink low into a squat and keep your other leg straight—complete three sets of 8-15 repetitions on each leg.

Glute Bridge
Glute bridges aren’t only great for your glutes, and they also provide a great workout for your thighs, pelvis region and core. Being lying on your back with your legs bent, you want to drive your hips up to the ceiling in slow and controlled motion. With each hip thrust, try to hold the top of the exercise for two seconds, complete three sets of 8-15 repetitions.

When you do these exercises, you’re not just hitting major muscle groups; you’re also working the core muscles, improving your balance and honing things like grip strength, which will help in the long run.

It is also important to pay attention to muscle pain and the difference in outright pain. If you feel pain at any point in your workout, stop doing that exercise and try something else. However, if the pain continues, we recommend speaking to a doctor or medical professional for advice.