These days there are plenty of creative ways to build muscle at home, and you can find a unique home workout guide for any muscle group in less than 30 seconds through a simple search on Google or YouTube. However, there’s a common misconception that the only way to build muscle in your legs is to go to a gym, but thankfully this is not the case! There are a number of different ways to build leg muscle at home, with or without exercise equipment. We’re going to go over several options so that you can learn exactly how to craft a beautiful set of legs right from the comfort of your own home.
Do You Have Access To Equipment?
With the fitness industry growing bigger and bigger each year, there are a whole sea of options when it comes to home workout equipment – and some of these options are specifically made to help you build leg muscle. The most ideal option would be to find a home gym that includes leg exercises, as these machines are built to mimic the leg exercise machines that you’d find in the gym, such as leg press, leg extensions, or leg curls. These types of exercises are typically considered the most effective when it comes to building leg muscle. With that said, these aren’t your only options.
No Equipment? No Problem!
Luckily you don’t need to have access to equipment to build a nice set of legs from home. There are several great exercises you can perform that will help strengthen and shape your legs exactly how you want, and we’ve highlighted a few of them below. These can be performed without any weight at all, or you can also choose to add some type of weight to increase the challenge.
Squats
Squats are considered to be “the king of all exercises.” While this is primarily an exercise for your legs, squats are a compound movement that provides benefits all across your body. Getting your form right on this exercise can be a little tricky, so here’s exactly how to nail the perfect squat:
• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart
• Holding your hands straight out in front of you for balance, push your butt back and lower yourself down (like you were going to sit on a low chair)
• Stop lowering yourself when the bend in your knees reaches about 90 degrees
• Push yourself back up until you are standing straight up (like how you started)
• Repeat 15-20 times and then rest for 90 seconds
Lunges
Lunges are another incredible exercise for strengthening your legs, and they also help immensely with improving your balance. Here’s how to perform lunges properly:
• Stand with your feet together
• Take a big step forward with one leg (it doesn’t matter which leg you start with)
• Placing your body weight primarily on your front leg, lower yourself until your back knee almost touches the floor (your front knee should be bent around 90 degrees at this point)
• Push yourself back up and simultaneously bring your back leg forward so that it is back together with your font leg by the time you are standing completely straight up
• Alternate legs and repeat the movement 15-20 times per leg
Calf Raises
While squats and lunges primarily focus on building your bigger leg muscles (your quads, glutes, and hamstrings), calf raises will focus on…you guessed it…your calves! Calves are a defining part of your legs, and back in the 1700’s the size of your calf muscles were even considered a symbol of power so men were judged on how big their calves were. Calf raises are pretty simple to perform, just follow these easy steps:
• Find a platform that’s slightly elevated, like a stair or a porch step
• Stand on the edge so that the front half of your foot is on the platform, and the back half of your foot is hanging off the edge
• Slowly lower your heels down using only your ankles and calf muscles, your knees and upper legs should not be moving whatsoever
• Once you’ve reached the limit of your flexibility, push your weight up using your calves until you are standing in your tippy toes
• Continue moving your heels up and down 15-20 times
Conclusion
Whether you have access to workout equipment of not, there are plenty of exercises to build your leg muscles that you can perform right at home. While we discussed the three most important exercises above, there are still a number of other creative and unique exercises that can also help shape your legs. Visit our site or even browse around workout videos online until you develop a routine that works for you. Be patient, workout often, and you should begin to see results in just a short few months.
Cole Matthews Bio:
Cole Matthews is a 24 year old personal trainer from Southern California who’s a major health and fitness geek with a huge passion for writing. He’s been featured by a few major fitness companies such as Muscle & Strength and Bowflex, and he’s currently working on building his brand HomeGymr. Check out his blog to find out more.
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