Fitness Tips: Leg Day

Fitness Tips

FOR ANYONE SKIPPING LEG DAY…

By Dylan Roche

If you’re sticking with a workout routine and regularly hitting your biceps, triceps, chest, shoulders, and core… well, you’re still working only half your body. Neglecting to train your lower half—or, as the saying goes among fitness enthusiasts, “skipping leg day”—poses a much bigger problem than just an unevenly top-heavy physique. Your overall athletic performance will suffer because practically every sport requires use of your legs in some way, whether you’re sprinting, crouching, jumping, or kicking.

A weak lower body also means you’re more susceptible to injury. Your legs serve as your body’s base, and without the stability that comes from strong calves, quads, hamstrings, and glutes, you won’t have the same mobility and range of motion.

Building lower-body strength is also important for anyone who is trying to maintain a healthy weight. This is because your leg muscles are some of the largest in your body—giving them a good workout require a lot of effort on your part! Plus, once you’ve built up strong leg muscles, they’ll require a substantial amount of energy, so you’ll burn more calories and ultimately increase your metabolism.

“Okay, so maybe I shouldn’t be skipping leg day,” you’re finally thinking. “But where do I even start?” You don’t need a lot of equipment to get a great lower-body workout.

Here are four moves using only a few dumbbells, a box, and your bodyweight to give you a killer leg-day routine:

SQUAT—to work your quads and glutes 1. Start with your feet shoulder width apart and a dumbbell gripped vertically between both of your hands in front of you. Keep the dumbbell close to your body, only about an inch away from your chest. 2. Bend your knees and lower your body downward, moving your hips back while keeping your torso straight. Dip yourself down as low as you can. Hold for three seconds. 3. Raise yourself back up to the starting position. Repeat 10–20 times or until fatigued.

DEADLIFT—to work your glutes, hamstrings, and calves 1. Use a dumbbell in each hand or a single barbell. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, back straight, and face forward, and hands holding the weight in front of you with your arms straight. 2. Bend forward at the hips and lower the weight, bending your knees slightly so you feel the stretch in your hamstrings as your move the weight down the line of your legs to the ground. 3. Pause momentarily with the weight just above the ground. 4. Thrust yourself back up to your starting position. You should be using the strength of your glutes to move yourself upward. 5. Repeat 10–20 times or until fatigued.

LUNGE—to work your quads, hamstrings, and glutes 1. Begin with your feet close together and your arms by your side. To make the exercise more challenging, you could hold a lightweight dumbbell in each hand. 2. Step forward with your right leg, bending your left leg to touch your knee to the ground. Keep your chest open and your gaze fixed straight ahead of you. When your left knee touches the ground, your right thigh should be parallel to the floor with your right knee at a 90-degree angle. 3. Raise yourself back up, drawing your right foot back to be even with your left foot. Repeat the move by lunging with your left foot forward and your right knee going down to touch the floor. 4. Repeat this exercise 10–20 times with each leg or until fatigued.

BOX JUMP—to work your calves and glutes 1. Select a box that’s an appropriate height. If you’re 5’5” or shorter, choose a box that’s 14 to 16 inches high. If you’re taller than that, choose a box that’s 16 to 20 inches high. 2. Stand with your toes facing the box, approximately 1 foot away. Lower yourself slightly by bending your knees and lowering your hips. You should be about halfway into a squat. Push your arms behind you. 3. Use your glutes to push yourself upward and forward, jumping onto the box. Use your arms for momentum by swinging them in front of you. You should land on the box with both feet about shoulder width apart. Allow your knees to bend slightly when you land. 4. Jump backward to land on the ground in your starting position. 5. Repeat this move 10–20 times or until fatigue.