Whether you love it or hate it, you can’t deny the benefits of having a solid pair of legs. Many people love doing leg workouts, but many do not. Making your legs stronger is not a choice. It is a must-do thing that everyone should do.
Legs are the foundation over which our whole body stands, and they also maintain body balance. Many people give excuses to skip leg day, one of the most common being that they workout at home and are not able to train their legs properly.
This excuse is far away from the truth. Even at home, you can build your legs optimally with minimal or no equipment. So throw away the excuses, and let’s learn how to build strong leg muscles by working out at home.
If we break down the leg muscles, then we can categorize them into the following muscle groups:
- Quadriceps Muscles (Quads)
- Hamstring Muscles
- Glutes (Hips Muscle)
- Calf Muscles
Except for the quadriceps muscle, every other leg muscle is situated on the backside of the body.
Training each leg muscle is essential for maintaining the body’s stability, power, and balance.
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Best exercises to grow legs at home
When we train our legs, we often put less emphasis on the muscles that are on the back of the body, especially the hamstring. However, you need to keep in mind that if the overall leg does not develop or get stronger, then we will not get the optimum result. The lagging portion will always pull back the other stronger muscles, as each leg activity is correlated with the other.
In this article, we will provide you with an exercise to help you grow each leg muscle optimally so you can develop strong legs as a whole.
Squats
As we know, squats are regarded as the king of leg exercises. They put a good amount of tension in the quads and glutes, and they are great for overall leg development.
When performing squats at home, you can do bodyweight squats. If this seems too easy for you, you can perform back squats or dumbbell squats.
As it will be hard for most people to add weight to the squats, we demonstrate how you can perform bodyweight squats at home.
How to perform:
- Stand straight with your feet shoulder-width apart. Toes should be pointed outward.
- Arch your back and tighten your core.
- You can raise your arms in front of your body for more stability.
- Push your hips back and bend your knees while going down on the squat position.
- Push your body up with the power of your heels.
Bulgarian Split Squat
One of the top exercises for the legs contributes to developing the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes together.
Overall, it is a great exercise, but it can be a bit difficult to begin with. If you find it hard to perform the Bulgarian split squat, you can do it using your body weight only. It puts a great stretch on the legs, which promotes muscular growth.
Also, as it is a unilateral exercise (one leg at a time), it helps fix muscular imbalances. Performing it with body weight is the same as performing it with dumbbells, except you will not hold the dumbbells in that case.
How to Perform:
- Grab moderate-weight dumbbells.
- Sit on the bench or a chair, stretch one leg in front of you, and place the other on the bench (your toes should only be on the bench).
- If you are doing the right leg at first, then grab the dumbbell on the left hand and vice versa, or you can hold the dumbbells in both hands.
- Keep your body upright.
- Slowly go down while controlling the weight.
- Push the weight up using the power of your heel.
Bodyweight Lunges
Lunges are a great stability builder. It helps to improve muscle power and stability.
The best part about bodyweight lunges is that you do not need anything to perform them; just a straightway is enough.
How to Perform:
- Stand straight with your hands on each side of your waist.
- Your legs should be within shoulder-width distance. Arch your back and embrace the core.
- Take a long to medium step and put the weight of your body onto the leg you took the step on by lowering your body. Bend the other leg so you can go down entirely.
- Press your body up by using the power of your leg, and then do the same with the opposite leg.
- Do at least 5 to 10 reps for each leg.
Stiff Legged Deadlift (SLDL)
We know that when training legs, the hamstring is most neglected. However, a strong hamstring provider provides various benefits, such as improving stability and increasing athleticism.
One of the best and most convenient exercises for training the hamstring at home is SLDL. It trains the hamstring in the stretched position. You can use your body weight or a pair of dumbbells to perform SLDL.
How to Perform:
- Stand upright with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Grab a pair of dumbbells or a barbell and grab them with an overhand grip (palm facing toward your body). If you are a beginner, then you should use your body weight.
- Embrace the core.
- Keep your Legs straight and Lean forward till you go parallel to the ground or till you feel you cannot go down without bending your back. You should be able to feel great stretching in your hamstring.
- Push your hips back while leaning forward.
- Slowly raise your body by straightening your hips until you reach standing.
Dumbbell Hip Thrust
When training your legs at home, doing an isolated glute movement can be very beneficial.
One of the best glute builders is hip thrust. When performing it at home, you can use dumbbells or barbells.
Many people do not have a barbell at home, so we will demonstrate the exercise by using dumbbells.
How to perform it:
- Set up a bench, or you can do it on the side of the bed.
- Keep your upper back resting on the bench or bed, sit on the ground, and put the dumbbell on your thigh.
- Push your body up and keep your back straight. It will be your starting position. Hold the dumbbell firmly with both hands.
- From there, push the weight up using the power of your glutes. Squeeze your glutes in the top position and hold it for a second.
- Slowly lower the weight. You do not need to go fully down; just go a little lower than the starting position.
Single-leg Calf Raise
Most people forget about training their calves when training their legs. Calves need some separate training to develop. They are power generators, and in sports like running, cycling, and swimming, they play an important role.
So, never let your calf muscles get untrained. A single-leg calf raise is an excellent exercise for growing stronger calf muscles. It applies a great stretch to the soleus and gastrocnemius, which helps the calf muscle grow more muscular.
How to Perform:
- Grab a dumbbell in the alternative hand (If you are performing for the right leg, then the dumbbell should be in the left hand and vice versa.)
- Stand on an elevated place and lift the rested leg.
- Only your toes should be on the platform.
- Hold a wall or something for stabilization.
- Push the leg up and hold it for a second.
- Slowly lower the leg down as much as possible in the bottom portion.
There are many leg exercises you can perform at home. However, if you perform the exercises mentioned above with progressive overload, you will undoubtedly develop a strong pair of legs.
You do not need to perform all the exercises on the same day. Break the exercises into two parts and perform three on each leg day.
If you need any further clarification regarding the leg exercises, then send us an email.