5 Best Lower Body Exercises for Toned and Strong Legs

Lower body exercises are an essential part of any workout routine, and rightly so, as the lower body (read legs) does a lot of the heavy lifting every day. Think about it: you need strong legs to be able to perform basic functions like walking, sitting, squatting, running and climbing. Strong legs are extremely important to live a healthy and fulfilling life.

Leg strength can help you avoid injury, chronic pain, even walk or run for long distances without pain. Remember how tired you felt the day you went shopping at that huge mall? You can avoid that, if you perform lower body exercises that strengthen your legs and allow you to walk longer distances without pain.

The finest lower body exercises for strength work out the legs from all angles. Imagine that your leg muscles are divided into two halves by a plane. The front part of your legs from hips to ankle is called the anterior chain, and the back part is called the posterior chain.

The front part of the legs is made of muscles like the quadriceps, adductors, hip stabilizers, and the front of the calves. The back part is made up of hamstrings, glutes, the back of the calves, and abductors. All these muscles work together to perform the fluid motion of walking, jumping, running, or climbing.

Naturally, all these muscles should be worked out by the combination of lower body exercises you have chosen to perform. An added advantage is that leg workouts also engage other muscles in the body, and sometimes provide a good cardio workout as well.

Lower Body Exercises for Legs

Check out the following five lower body exercises that can help you work out the major leg muscles:

1) Squat

Squats come in many sizes and shapes (read variations), but if you're a beginner, you should start with bodyweight squats. This versatile exercise strengthens the quads, hamstrings, glutes, and core.

Instructions:

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, with your hands loosely by your sides.
Press your hips back while bending your knees. Clasp your hands together in front of your chest.
Go down till your thighs are parallel to the floor. Make sure your back is not arched, and your chest should be up. Hold for five seconds.
Press firmly through your heels to return to the starting position to complete one rep.

2) Lunge

Lunges are a great lower body exercise that target most muscles in the lower body, such as abdominals, back muscles, gluteal muscles, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. That will help tone up and strengthen the legs.

Instructions:

Start off by standing up straight, with your feet placed hip-width apart.
To place one leg in front of your torso and the other behind, take a step forward that's longer than a walking stride.
When you place your foot on the ground, it should be flat. Your back heel will protrude from the surface.
As you lower yourself to the ground, bend your knees to around 90 degrees, but don't touch the ground.
To go back to the starting position, vigorously push off with your front leg.

3) Step-up

Step-ups are a fun and versatile lower body exercise that can help increase your strength and endurance. Besides working the quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves, this lower body workout also enhances stability and balance.

Instructions:

Start by putting your right foot completely down on the stair, chair, box, or bench.
Step onto the bench while pressing through your right heel, bringing your left foot to meet your left so that you're standing on the bench.
Step down carefully with the right foot, followed by the left, to return to the starting position.
Step up with your left foot for 15 steps; follow that up with another 15 steps with your right foot. Do three sets of 15 each.

4) Bird Dog

This lower body exercise is a straightforward core workout that enhances stability, targets the gluteal muscles, leg muscles, lower back, and abdominal muscles by using the entire body.

Instructions:

Start by getting into the tabletop position, on all fours.
Put your hands under your shoulders and knees under your hips.
Engage your abdominal muscles to keep your spine straight.
Raise your right arm and left leg; keep your shoulders and hips parallel to the floor.
Hold this position for a few seconds, and go back to where you started.
Raise your left arm and right leg simultaneously, and hold this position for a few seconds.
Go back to where you started to complete one rep.

5) Wall Squat

This lower body exercise serves to strengthen your legs. Although it's similar to the squat, a wall sit can work the legs much harder than a traditional bodyweight squat - provided you know how to make it work.

Instructions:

Start with your back against a wall and feet about two feet away from the wall, shoulder-width apart.
Engage your abs, and slide your back down the wall till your thighs are parallel to the ground.
Adjust your feet so that your knees and ankles are in line (rather than over your toes).
Keep your back flat against the wall.
Hold the position for anywhere from 20-60 seconds.
After a 30-second break, repeat the workout three more times.

Takeaway

If you want to develop lower body strength, add the aforementioned lower body exercises to your workout routine; choose three of them, and do them in a circuit. Do ten reps of each exercise, and repeat the circuit three times for three rounds.

Don't do these exercises every day. The legs and glutes are the largest muscles in the body, so it's important to give them 24 hours to rest and heal.