I can’t figure out why, but people universally neglect to train their legs. It’s a funny thing, since proper leg training will dramatically deliver total body results.
Walk into any gym and you’ll see the bench press taken, the dumbbells being curled and an empty squat rack in the corner.
Leg exercises are tough, I won’t deny that, but the benefits are more than worth the exertion.
A Case for Your Legs
Your legs are made up of a few big muscle groups, so it’s no surprise that training them will get you big time results. Training your legs will…
Build strength for everyday life. How often do you use your legs? Most of us depend on our legs constantly throughout the day, so wouldn’t it make sense to strengthen our individual mode of transportation? Kind of like putting a supercharger on the engine of your car.
Exercising your legs isn’t only about increased strength; you’ll also improve your coordination and balance. This means that you’ll be able to do and experience things that you otherwise would have missed. You only live once, right?
Uncover natural muscle shape. Let’s be honest, toned legs are attractive. I’m not saying that you’re legs will bulge with muscles (unless we trained you for that), but I am saying that consistently training your legs will uncover your natural toned shape.
Melt fat from your body. As I mentioned above, leg exercises are tough. Your legs are a large part of your body, so each exercise literally moves your whole body. This is precisely why a good leg workout will fire up your metabolism to melt fat away. You’ll burn more calories while exercising your legs than any other body part.
Due to the intense nature of a leg workout, your metabolism becomes elevated for more than 24 hours. That means that for an entire day your body continues to burn extra calories without any extra effort on your part. Who wouldn’t love that?
Many of my clients discover a whole new level of confidence after getting their legs back into shape. Women especially enjoy the freedom to wear shorts or a skirt without feeling embarrassed to show their legs. Wouldn’t you love that freedom?
Oh, and I should tell you that as you strengthen your legs you’ll also reduce the risk of injury to your ankles, knees and lower back because you’ll actually learn to pick things up off the ground the right way.
Now that I’ve convinced you to pay more attention to your legs, here are three of the top exercises you should do. Each of these exercises have dozens of different variations, so have fun and always keep your workouts fresh and challenging.
The Lunge: Start with your feet hip width apart, take a long step forward and bend your knees until the rear knee touches the floor. Exhale as you press yourself back up to a standing position, or continue through with your step into another lunge.
The Squat: Start with your feet shoulder width apart, initiate the movement by breaking at the hips slightly, Start to bend through your knees while keeping your back neutral. Get your hip crease below knee height and then exhale as you push back up to a standing position.
The Dead Lift: Set your feet hip width apart. Stand close to the bar so your shins are in contact with the barbell. Hinge over at your hips with a slight bend through the knees. Grip the barbell just outside of your shins. While keeping your back neutral stand tall until your shoulders are stacked over your hips, knees and ankles. Reverse the movement and lower the bar back down to the floor.
By no stretch of the imagination are these three the ONLY leg exercises out available. And that’s the other great thing about training your legs… you have tons of options and variations.
If you would like more guidance on what leg exercises you can incorporate into your training program or would like to know how to perform these exercises correctly, get in contact with us today.
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