What effective home exercises to strengthen your legs?

Want to sport toned and muscular legs? You don’t need to be a gym member, regular workout at home can be just as effective for getting strong legs.

Anatomy of the leg: strong muscles

If in everyday language, the leg designates the lower limb; in anatomy, it refers to the part that articulates at the knee and ankle. Above, we talk about the thigh. The thighs and legs include several large muscles:

  • In the thighs are: the quadriceps (right femoral, vastus internal, external, and crural), hamstrings (femoral biceps, semi-tendinous, semi-membranous) and adductors (adductor magnus, adductor brevis, adductor longus, gracile and pectineal) and the tensor fascia-lata (TLF).
  • In the legs are: anterior (tibialis anterior, extensor hallucis longus, extensor digitorum longus, third fibular), the lateral compartment (short and long fibular), the posterior compartment commonly called the calves (composed of 6 muscles including soleus and gastrocnemius).

Strengthening your legs, many advantages not to be missed

Besides the aesthetic aspect, having muscular legs has many interests in everyday life as in sports. This contributes to:

  • better balance, stable support when moving, accelerating and changing direction (useful for running after your bus for example!)
  • better load distribution when carrying heavy loads (bags, shopping, boxes). This reduces the strain on the lower back and reduces the risk of back pain.
  • have a stride when running, a pedal stroke on a bike or even a more efficient and powerful kick when swimming. Strengthened thighs and buttocks are also a good way to relieve back pain when practicing sports.
  • have a higher basal metabolic rate and therefore burn more calories on a daily basis because the lower limbs are made up of large muscle groups that need energy to function on a daily basis.
  • a balanced body and a better distribution of forces between the upper and lower body in everyday life as in sport.

Very often, when we practice running, trail running, hiking, mountain biking – sports activities that require the lower limbs – we tend to skimp on muscle building in the latter thinking that only sport will be enough to muscle the lower limbs. In fact, strengthening the legs (and at the same time the deep muscles of the pelvis) allows you to withstand the constraints of training. This avoids the harmful compensations induced by fatigue or a muscle deficit.

What are the most effective exercises for training at home?

Polyarticular exercises are exercises that activate several joints and engage several muscle groups. In a squat, the body flexes and then extends the hip. Thus, in addition to engaging the muscles of your thighs, you work on your calves, your glutes which stabilize your pelvis, the deep muscles of your back and your abdominals which stabilize the bust during movement.

Top 5 best exercises to build muscle and slim your legs at home

The squat
Easy to achieve, it is a must have for fitness rooms, weight training sessions and home training. If it is a classic, it is nonetheless essential since we use this movement every day in different amplitudes, to sit or squat.

Starting position: Stand with your feet apart to a width slightly greater than that of the pelvis. Find the position that is comfortable for you. The back is straight, the elbows are bent and close to the bust.
Movement : Inhale, flex your hips and knees. The glutes tilt backwards. Keep your back straight. Exhale, engage the abs and squeeze in the feet to come up. Return to the starting position and repeat.
Coach advice: No need to contract the glutes on the ascent and retroversion of the pelvis (when the pelvis tilts back and the pubic bone is pushed forward), you lose the alignment of your spine with that of your pelvis. Especially since the most intense work phase is halfway through and not at the end of the movement.
More difficult option: add a dumbbell in each hand and place the arms at your sides.
Focus on the quadriceps: Take a single dumbbell and place it against your collarbones to perform a front squat.
In either case, use an additional load suited to your capabilities. Make sure you keep your chest straight and your arms close to it.

Deadlift
A classic in the bodybuilding range, the deadlift is also a polyarticular movement that requires the engagement of almost all the major muscles in the body. It is used daily to move weights, lift a box or shopping.
Starting position: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. A dumbbell in each hand. Bend your hips and knees so that the dumbbells are halfway up the shin, arms straight. At the same time, tilt the bust forward. The back is straight and the head in line with the spine.
Movement : Inhale, fix your shoulder blades and lengthen the spine. Exhale, engage the abdominals and press the feet into the ground to straighten the legs and raise the chest. Return to a standing position with your arms at your sides. Inhale, flex your hips and knees with control, and tilt your torso forward. Exhale, return to a standing position.
Coach advice:
For a hamstring focus, perform the Romanian deadlift. To do this, inhale and tilt the chest forward, keeping the legs straight but the knees slightly unlocked. Exhale, return to the initial position.

Raised hip extension on bench (hip trust)
Hip thrust is the exercise that is back in the spotlight with the approval of numerous scientific studies showing that it is one of the most effective for building the buttocks.
Hip thrust is similar to the hip lift exercise with the difference that the back rests on a bench, increasing the range of motion. It strengthens the extensor muscles of the hip, in particular the glutes (glutes) and hamstrings.

Starting position: Place your upper back on a bench or flat surface with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Place the head in line with the column.
Movement : Inhale, flex your hips, glutes come closer to the floor. Exhale, engage the abs and squeeze in the feet to raise the pelvis to knee height. Hold the position in the up position for one to two seconds. Inhale, lower the hips back down with control.
More difficult option: Add a load or resistance (barbell, dumbbells, elastic) to increase the intensity of the exercise.
Coach’s advice: The hips line up with the knees. The glutes are engaged and the ribs lowered (so as not to arch the back and keep the spine in alignment). To start, adopt the exercise of the half-bridge (bridge).

The back slit
Starting position: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Place the hands on the hips or keep the arms close to the bust. Take a step with the right leg back.
Movement : Inhale, bend the knees, the left knee is above the ankle and the right knee points towards the floor. The bust remains straight. Exhale, engage the abs and return to the starting position. Repeat before changing legs.
Coach advice: The lunge challenges your balance. Try to grow taller and fix a point in front of you to maintain balance (if necessary, support yourself on a chair). If you are comfortable with the movement, add a dumbbell in each hand. For a ++ version, perform the Bulgarian squat (a lunge with a raised foot on a bench), performed first at bodyweight to control instability.

Circuit training to strengthen your legs at home and without equipment

In my last book Rituels, vos routines bien-être published by Amphora editions, I offer you sports and feel-good routines to increase your well-being and adopt an active and serene life. Here are two.

Legs and buttocks of steel

Session 1 – 3 to 4 sets
1 minute 30 second cool down between sets.
Climbing steps – 12 reps on each side
Squat slap on the ground – 15 repetitions
One-sided deadlift with straight leg – 12 reps on each side
Bear plank – 30 to 45 seconds

Circuit training to strengthen your legs at home with dumbbells

Full of energy

Session 2 – 3 to 4 sets
1 minute 30 second cool down between sets.
Bulgarian squat with dumbbells – 12 reps on each side
Pull-up board with dumbbells – 12 repetitions
Surrender squat – 15 repetitions
Superwoman board – 12 repetitions

Rituals, your well-being routines, Elodie Sillaro, Amphora editions, € 19.90.

Elodie Sillaro

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