Body Weight Exercises for Legs

Body Weight Exercises for Legs: Significance

Let’s move on to your lower body, specifically, to exercises for legs. We will cover body weight exercises for the hips, buttocks and core separately. Alternate upper– and lower-body moves to minimize rest periods, keep your heart rate elevated throughout your workout and save time. Engaging in resistance training and doing body weight exercises for legs regularly makes performing activities of daily living easier. General recommendations call for choosing effective exercises in a meaningful sequence (work largest muscles first). Working toward developing balanced strength amongst major leg muscles (quads and hamstrings, for example) may protect you from common injuries, such as pulled muscles.

There are dozens of effective body weight exercises for legs, for maximum efficiency, choose compound moves or those that work multiple muscle groups simultaneously. Best results come from working out smarter, not necessarily longer.

Body Weight Exercises for Legs: Specifics

You don’t need exercise equipment to get an effective, tough workout, even if you are already in great shape. According to the American Council on Exercise (ACE), squats, step-ups/downs, split squats/lunges and hamstring curls (standing or on all fours) are among the most effective body weight exercises for legs, in fact, for your whole lower body. First…squats. Start with a basic squat and build from there. Deep squats, self-assisted squats, one-legged squats, walking lunges and squats – the variations are virtually endless.

Always challenge yourself and vary your exercise choices. Advanced exercisers may progress to plyometrics, power exercises that involve explosive but controlled jumping movements. Golden rule for standing leg work: Never extend your knees beyond your toes, keep your weight mainly over your heels.

Don’t neglect your calves when performing exercises for legs. Best choice: calf raises (2-legged or 1-legged, balancing or assisted). Remember, if you are relying on body weight alone (for resistance), you must concentrate on really contracting the target muscle, imagining you are trying to move against resistance, such as water.

Exercises for Legs: Last Words…

Warnings: avoid over-training and using inconsistent, poor form. Always stop if you are experiencing unusual or sharp pain. Do not rely on exercise ‘lists.’ Watch them performed by a professional on exrx.net or YouTube to read descriptions and view proper form through the full range of motion (video). Do step-ups on a box of an appropriate and realistic height. Step-up from behind a box/bench or from the side. Always push through the heel of your working leg to lift your body upwards while contracting your butt. Last word: don’t forget to do a warm-up and post-workout stretch!

Fitness Trends for 2013: Topping the list…

Every year, major organizations, such as the American College of Sports Medicine, conduct worldwide surveys of fitness trends to predict the upcoming year’s most significant fitness elements, not only ‘FYI’ but to aid consumers, industry professionals and retailers (of sports and exercise equipment). Just because a category of exercise or a fitness trend is considered to be ‘out of vogue’ for this year doesn’t mean you shouldn’t continue to do it. The best indicators of whether you will be successful and adhere to a particular exercise program are how quickly you see results (and how impressive they are) and whether or not you enjoy the activity. So regardless of this year’s fitness trends, always stick with what works for you.

Top Fitness Trends: Back to Basics and Group Personal Training

What fitness trends are ‘out’ and what are ‘in’ for 2013? One of the biggest fitness trends for this year is ‘going back to the basics.’ Pilates and ‘Zumba’ classes, while once all the rage, are no longer considered to be ‘hot trends’ (do not appear on the ‘top 10  fitness trends list for 2013).

So, what are the ‘basics?’ Good, common sense high-intensity aerobic exercise combined with basic resistance training moves is effective, takes less time and is cheaper, particularly if you perform body-weight training exercises (making the fitness trends list for the first time at #3).

Fitness trends for 2013 that also made the top 10 list include small group personal training and programs that combine exercise with calorie-restricted diets. Small group training offers several benefits that make it worth considering. By training four individuals (if similar fitness levels) simultaneously, each participant pays 25 percent of what one person would pay, making it more appealing cost-wise. The trainer makes money without sacrificing on quality, and the participants obtain similar or even better results.

Other Fitness Trends: Out with the new and in with the old?

Once a staple of any strength training routine, classic body weight training exercises have made a huge comeback, forcing newer sensations, such as Zumba, to take a back seat. Why? Because they are effective and do not require expensive equipment, accessories or a significant learning curve. Exercises such as push-ups, squats, lunges and even plyometric jumps benefit exercisers of all levels without busting the budget (think boot camp-style workouts).

While some old classics are making a comeback, newer fitness trends, such as TRX suspension training, are only getting hotter.

Flexibility Training

Dedicated athletes looking for an edge in their field of competition need an exercise regimen based on four critical areas of training. These four areas increase speed, size, and power in any athlete. They include (1) flexibility (2) core strength (3) explosive movements, and (4) the strengthening of the posterior kinetic chain.  When combined with an upper body strength routine one can almost guarantee improvement on the court, the field or the ice. In this piece, we’ll focus on the flexibility component of athletic training and conditioning.

Importance of Flexibility

Increasing an athlete’s flexibility (as well as warming up prior to workouts) helps to decrease risk of injury. If an athlete lacks flexibility he/she is unable to enjoy a full range of muscular motion. Think about a new rubber band. It stretches only to a point before snapping. By ‘working’ it, repetitively, it stretches further and further without snapping. Much like your muscles. Not being able to perform an exercise completely, through a full range of motion, makes the exercise or movement incomplete or stilted. That lack of flexibility, in combination with other factors such as inadequate recovery periods, unbalanced training and/or using poor form all inhibit muscular development.

More often than not, flexibility in athletics is incorrectly incorporated into an exercise routine. It’s dangerous to stretch cold muscles. Performing a ‘dynamic’ warm up before a workout, event or game instead of static stretching is the best option. A dynamic warm-up may include movements such as walking lunges, knee raises, butt kicks, arm circles and squats. You don’t need equipment – use your own body-weight only.

Active Vs Passive Stretching for enhancing Flexibility

Passive stretching involves using an external force to push a joint beyond its active range of motion. Performing a standing calf stretch against a wall or using a partner to push you into a deeper stretch are examples of passive stretching. Instead of passive stretches, engage in ‘active’ stretching exercises. Active stretching uses your own muscular strength and effort to hold a position. Active (isolated) stretching is safe and effective as you eliminate external forces. You use your own muscle strength to achieve the desired range of motion. As the one muscle contracts the target muscle (opposite the contracting muscle – the one you want to stretch) relaxes and lengthens.

An example of an ‘active’ stretch for the chest is extending your arms out to the sides and retracting your shoulder blades. To actively stretch the hamstrings, extend your leg straight in front of you and relax it by contracting the quadriceps. When you contract your quadriceps, your brain sends a signal to your hamstrings to ‘relax.’ This allows you to achieve a deeper stretch without force.

Now that we’ve covered flexibility, we’ll move on to the second major component in athletic training and conditioning: core strength.