Building powerful leg muscles is about more than looking good in a pair of shorts. Strong legs help carry you effortlessly throughout busy days, increase your athletic performance and support a healthy posture.
With so many leg exercises to choose from it can get frustrating trying to decide which are best when trying to learn how to build leg muscle. When making your choices, consider using movements that also involve your upper body, instead of sitting on a machine and only using your legs. Grab a pair of weight lifting gloves, and get ready to learn how to build leg muscle with four quick and easy moves.
How to Build Leg Muscle: 4 Quick and Easy Exercises
- Deadlifts: Enhance your hamstrings and glutes with this powerful exercise. Load an Olympic bar and rest it on the floor. Stand with your legs close to the bar and your feet underneath it. Fold forward from your waist, while keeping your legs mostly straight. Grasp the bar with your palms facing you, or with one facing you and one facing away. Exhale, stand tall by contracting your glutes as you raise the bar toward your hips. Keep the bar as close to your legs as possible. At the top of the movement, press your hips forward. Inhale and slowly return to a forward-folded position.
- Squats: Squats help build your lower body, but you can also enhance your core by performing this exercise with a barbell. Adjust a support rack to position a barbell slightly lower than shoulder height. Stand under the bar with your feet at hips-distance apart. Point your toes forward. Position the bar across the top of your back and your shoulders. Grasp the bar with both hands. Straighten your legs to unrack the bar as you step forward or backward slightly to clear the rack. Bend both knees, sink your hips behind you and lower into a squat. Exhale, straighten your legs and stand tall.
- Lunges: Use the same rack to begin the lunge. Rest the barbell across the back of your shoulders. Step approximately two feet forward with your right leg. Bend both knees and lower into a lunge position. Push off the floor with your right foot and return to start. Alternate legs or complete all repetitions on your right leg before you finish your left.
- Calf Raises: To enhance your lower legs, give calf raises a try. Hold a dumbbell in each hand and stand on the edge of a step or bench with your heels hanging off the edge. Exhale, raise your heels, then inhale and lower.
