Many people don’t like working out their legs. I have known people that work their upper body on a regular basis but don’t work their legs because they don’t like leg workouts. Strong legs are not as visually sexy as big upper body muscles, but having strong leg muscles are a big part of having a strong muscular upper body as well.
There are a great many reasons to have strong legs. Strong legs will make you better at any sport that you participate in, they will make you be able to do almost any physical activity you do with less effort and more stamina. Your gluteus maximus and your quad muscles are big muscles that aid in most of your body movement below your waist and also indirectly above your waist.
If losing weight is a concern for you, having more muscle on your legs will help you lose weight faster by helping you burn more calories and burn more fat faster. Adding muscle to your legs is faster and easier to do than other muscles because the larger muscles will gain mass faster when worked.
Stronger leg muscles also play a big part in avoiding and lessening knee pain. Having stronger muscles around the knee will keep it in line better and take stress off of the knee and can eliminate or greatly lessen your knee pain.
Your leg workout doesn’t have to be a negative or bad thing, and building strong legs is not difficult. If you are not a competitive body builder, you don’t need to have massive leg muscles, strength and power is much more beneficial to most things you want to do.
The best way to build strength and power in your leg muscles is to do squats, lunges and calf raises. You can start these exercises with body weight only, then work your way up with dumbbells, as you get stronger. When squatting go down until your thigh muscles are parallel to the floor, then back up. For lunges alternate with both legs and also go to the thigh muscle is parallel to the floor. Do 3 sets of 10 reps for each exercise and increase the weight as needed.
One other exercise that you should do for strong, powerful legs is cycling outdoors. Living in Minnesota you can do this for about 8 months per year and it is well worth it, cycle indoor with resistance in the winter months to keep your muscles strong. Pick an area to ride that has a mix of flat and hills so you get a good leg workout on your bike and you will add lots of power and strength, and also get a good cardio workout at the same time.
You may not like working your legs, many people don’t, but if you integrate one leg exercise into each of your other body part workouts, you will barely notice it. Add cycling to your cardio workout as well and in no time you will improve all your sporting and physical activities by having strong powerful legs.
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