Leg day can be intimidating – some websites joke about the soreness that hits you a few days after a intense leg workout. It’s not necessary. A good beginner leg workout leaves you a little sore but not too sore. And with simple beginner exercises you can build up your leg strength and muscles for the day.
Why Leg Exercises for Beginners
It’s not good to skip legs. Your legs are your foundation and regular use of them has many benefits. Having an early leg workout gives the best results. For beginners, incorporating leg exercises is key to achieving fitness goals and daily activities.
What Muscles Do Leg Exercises Work?
Your legs have different leg muscles that instructors refer to during their workouts. This is the calf muscle that connects behind the knee to the Achilles tendon. Your calves push you forward when you walk and allows you to rise with your toes. Dorsiflexion: The lower leg muscle starts from the shin bone and attaches to the heel bone.
Leg Day Basics
On a leg day you want to target the muscles of the upper body to strengthen the areas that are important for daily movement. With a strong foot it becomes a bit easier to climb stairs, run to the baby, lift or carry heavier things. The muscles you need to target during leg training are your glutes, hamstrings and quadriceps. You can do this through compound exercises like squat and isolated exercises that targets a single group of muscles.
For beginners, the leg press machine is a good alternative to weighted squats, provides stability and allows for different exercise variations to engage more muscles and results.
Left Leg and Right Leg
When doing leg exercises, it’s important to target both left and right legs to maintain balance and prevent muscle imbalances. This is especially true for exercises like lunges and step-ups where one leg is working harder than the other. To target both legs, try to alternate legs with each rep or set or do exercises that works both legs at the same time like squats and leg press.
For example, when doing a lunge, step forward with your right foot and lower your body down until your back knee is almost touching the ground. Then, push through your front heel to get back up. Alternate legs with each rep, step forward with your left foot on the next rep. This will help you to target both legs equally and prevent muscle imbalances.
The Starting Position
The starting position is a key part of any leg exercise. It sets the foundation for good form and technique and helps to engage the right muscles. When doing leg exercises, make sure to start in a position that feels comfortable and natural.
For example, when doing a squat, stand with your feet shoulder width apart and your hands by your side. Keep your chest up and your core engaged, weight evenly distributed between both feet.
Similarly, when doing a lunge, stand with your feet together and take a big step forward with one foot. Keep your front knee behind your toes and your back knee almost touching the ground. Keep your chest up and your core engaged, weight evenly distributed between both feet.
6 Best Leg Exercises for Beginners
The best leg exercises are part of a beginner leg workout. From there you can increase the resistance then increase the flexibility by doing active full-body exercises like push presses, renegade rows and cleans. For now, this 6-pack of exercises will strengthen your legs and thighs.
Bodyweight Squats
In the legs of any gym goer the Squat - which targets the glutes, hamstrings or quadriceps - is part of the body’s workout routine. On leg days for beginners you’d probably start by doing a weight squat to tone your muscles. When you’re comfortable with the bodyweight squat you can start putting down the kettlebells and dumbbells. You’ll get into the bench and start wrestling with your slack.
Also, when doing lunges make sure to position your foot forward and maintain good body alignment to perform properly and avoid injury.
- How to Do It: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Lower your body by bending your knees and pushing your hips back, as if sitting in a chair. Keep your chest up and core engaged. Return to standing.
- Repetitions: 10-15 reps
Lunges
- How to Do It: Stand with your feet together. Step forward with one foot, lowering your hips until both knees are bent at about a 90-degree angle. Push back to the starting position and repeat on the other side.
- Repetitions: 8-10 reps per leg
Glute Bridge
- How to Do It: Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart. Push through your heels to lift your hips toward the ceiling, squeezing your glutes at the top. Lower back down.
- Repetitions: 10-15 reps
Step Ups
- How to Do It: Find a sturdy bench or step. Step up with one foot, bringing the other foot to meet it at the top. Step back down and repeat on the other side.
- Repetitions: 10 reps per leg
Calf Raises
Stand with your feet apart and your hips wide to target your calf muscles. Press your foot ball into your heel. Slow down the heel and keep the pace. Do this 5-7 times in one set. Have an object to hold onto to keep yourself stable. For the challenge add dumbbells or kettlebells.
Side Leg Raises
- How to Do It: Lie on one side with your legs stacked. Raise the top leg toward the ceiling, keeping it straight, then lower it back down.
- Repetitions: 10-15 reps per leg
Best Beginner Leg Workouts at the Gym
Getting to the gym can be intimidating. It’s hard to find the right beginner workout machine and equipment to use. We’re here to help. Start with this leg workout for beginners. Leg exercises are important in a gym setting to build functional strength and make daily tasks easier.
Beginner Leg Day
This beginner leg workout is for beginners with no extra weight. But it’s a good idea to use a dumbbell if you want to. Do 1-2 sets of 12-15 reps per exercise, don’t limit yourself. The goal of this exercise is to make the exercise hard but still doable. Adding dumbbells or medicine ball to the routine makes it easier. Warm up for 5-10 minutes before you start exercising.
Mistakes to Avoid
When doing leg exercises there are several mistakes to watch out for. These mistakes can put unnecessary strain on your joints and muscles and reduce the effectiveness of the exercise.
One mistake is letting your knees go past your toes when doing a squat or lunge. This can put unnecessary strain on your knee joint and increase the risk of injury. To avoid this, keep your weight in your heels and your knees behind your toes.
Another mistake is not engaging your core when doing leg exercises. This can cause you to lose balance and generate power from the wrong muscles. To avoid this, engage your core throughout the exercise and focus on generating power from your legs and glutes.
Lastly, don’t overarch your back when doing leg exercises. This can put unnecessary strain on your spine and increase the risk of injury. To avoid this, keep your chest lifted and core engaged and focus on maintaining a neutral spine throughout the exercise.
Is 5 exercises enough for legs?
Sets and Reps to exercise your leg muscles are enough. Then do 3 sets of 3-6 reps each exercise. This will make your muscles tired not tired.
How many leg exercises as a beginner?
For a beginner or newbie, do 2 leg exercises in quad-thigh length – one leg extension and the other leg stretch.
4 exercises enough for legs?
Yes , Top quad exercise for leg muscles: back squat. Back squats. Bulgaria splits. Lunge barbells.
