Today I’m sharing my top 5 leg exercises with you all! I personally love training legs and these exercises are a staple in my leg workouts. I try not to do quad focuses exercises such as leg extensions because my quads develop faster than my hamstrings. I believe in training heavy and I promise that lifting heavy WON’T make you bulky! Try these exercises and let me know how it goes 🙂 You’ll learn to love the sore after leg day!
- Squats: this is one of the best compound lifts, it works all of the leg muscles and is so effective at building defined legs. Squats are one of the most tried and true way to get stronger and work the whole body. I currently squat heavy two times a week and am always aiming to lift heavier.
- Straight Leg Deadlift: this is one of my favorite exercises for my hamstrings, and I always complete it at least once a week. For a deeper stretch you can stand on a plate or box. The key is to keep your back and legs as straight as possible, and shoot your hips back and then squeeze the glutes and hamstrings on the way up. You can also change your foot placement to get a different stretch.
- Hip Thrusts: I have recently been adding these at the end of my workouts, and they’re killer! I’m always so sore afterwards. You can use a plate, dumbbell, or a barbell to complete this. I always use some sort of padding when I use a barbell to protect my hips.
- Reverse lunge: this is another favorite accessory movement of mine that I always feel the next day. When you step back out of the lunge, focus on using your back hamstring to push you back up.
- Deadlift: This is another staple, tried and true exercise. I also do these twice a week. This exercise works the whole body, but targets more of the hamstrings and glutes as opposed to the quads. There are two stances for deadlifts: conventional and sumo. I typically do conventional because that feels more comfortable to me. Sumo has a wider stance and I’ve recently been adding them after my conventional deadlifts.
