Leg training is a mandatory part of creating a home workout plan for men. The muscles of the legs require constant training, since this large muscle group gives the body visual proportionality, making the appearance more powerful and aesthetic.
We offer you two options for strength training for legs for men with dumbbells + one option for interval training for legs for men without additional equipment.
Strength training of legs with dumbbells (option No. 1)
Strength training for men's legs always begins with a high-quality warm-up of the muscles, which should be done carefully and slowly. Pay special attention to the ligaments of the knee joints, feet and hips. This will eliminate the risk of injury, as well as prepare the cardiovascular system for stress. See our ready-made warm-up and cool-down for leg training.
The leg workout (option No. 1) included the following exercises:
- Squats with dumbbells on shoulders: 10-12 reps in 4-5 sets.
- Lunges in place with dumbbells: 10-12 repetitions in 3-4 sets on each leg.
- Romanian deadlift with dumbbells: 10-12 reps in 4-5 sets.
- Lateral lunges with dumbbells: 10-12 repetitions on each leg in 3-4 sets.
See also: Strength split training for men: exercises + plan for 3 days.
Squats with dumbbells on shoulders
How to do it: Place the apparatus on your shoulders so that the bars are parallel to each other. Hold the dumbbells tightly with your hands so that they do not tilt or roll down during the movement. Next, start performing squats until the angle at your knees forms 90 degrees. In the lower phase, you can take a short break, then come back.
Features of execution: Regardless of the weight of the equipment, lift it onto your shoulders without sudden movements. While sitting down, try to keep your back straight, without bending like a wheel. Having reached the bottom phase, make sure that your heels do not lift off the floor surface. This is important for the accentuated load on the leg muscles. Squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
How much to perform: 10-12 repetitions in 4-5 approaches.
Lunges in place with dumbbells
How to do it : Place a weight in each hand and hold it along your torso with a parallel grip. Next, take a wide step forward so that your back leg rests on your toes. Your task is to perform a squat until the leg in front bends to a right angle. The knee of the hind limb should not touch the floor.
Features of execution : The element of strength training on the legs for men should begin with light dumbbells. Keep your toes straight, avoiding turning to the sides. Otherwise, you risk damaging your knees, or doing useless work without concentrated load on the leg muscles. When doing lunges in place, take your time and maintain an average pace.
How much to perform: 10-12 repetitions in 3-4 sets on each leg.
Romanian deadlift with dumbbells
How to do it : Place dumbbells in front of you in a longitudinal position. Imagine that there is a bar in front of you and take the shells, holding them in front of you on your belt. Squat down slightly to bend your knees slightly without allowing the joint lock to fully engage. Now lower your body forward until it is parallel to the floor, maintaining a natural arch in your back and lower back. After a short delay, bend back.
Features of execution : Since the element of leg training for men at home is aimed at working out the hip flexor muscles, it is very important to maintain a stationary position of the legs. Extension from the bottom point is carried out precisely at the expense of the back of the thighs, so focus your attention directly on the work of this area.
How much to perform: 10-12 repetitions in 4-5 approaches.
Side lunges with dumbbells
How to do it : Spread your legs wide to your sides, then pick up the weights from the floor and hold them down in front of you. Instead of dumbbells, 2 loaded bags with comfortable handles are suitable. Turn your toes out slightly to give the position extra stability. Now begin to shift the weight of your torso first to one leg and then to the other. The leg is bent until the knee is level with the toe.
Features of execution : Under no circumstances try to bend over as far as possible. First of all, this is not a stretching exercise. Secondly, you don't need extra stress on your knees. The sports element is entirely aimed at slowly working out the quadriceps and inner thighs.
How much to perform: 10-12 repetitions on each leg in 3-4 sets.
What exercises to do for the front of the thigh
Here are the quadriceps, the large muscles of four heads. The quadriceps extends the lower leg, and its central head, the rectus femoris, also flexes the thigh.
Back Squats
The exercise uses the muscles of the legs and core, and puts a good load on the front of the thigh.
Take the barbell from the racks, squeeze your shoulder blades together, straighten your chest, straighten your back. Place your feet shoulder-width apart and turn your toes slightly to the sides. Move your pelvis back and squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor. During this process, do not lift your heels off the floor and do not lie with your stomach on your knees.
As you come out of the squat, don't bring your knees together. Look straight ahead and concentrate on working your muscles.
Front Squats
Remove the bar from the racks, bring your elbows forward, arch your back. Place your feet shoulder-width apart and turn your toes slightly to the sides. Squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor or slightly lower and rise back up.
Lunges
If you have trouble keeping your balance in this exercise, try backward lunges: they are easier, but less effective. Comparative Analysis of Lunge Techniques: Forward, Reverse, Walking Lunge.
You can do lunges with different weights: with a barbell on your shoulders, with dumbbells in your hands, with an expander band. To begin with, it is better to try dumbbells: it will be easier to maintain balance.
Stand up straight, take weights in your hands, straighten your shoulders, straighten your back. Lunge forward, do not touch the floor with the knee of your back leg: leave a space of 5-10 centimeters between them. Straighten up and repeat on the other leg.
Some people do lunges while walking around the gym. If your goal is to burn more calories and strengthen your core muscles, they can be helpful. But they pump up the hips worse than Comparative Analysis of Lunge Techniques: Forward, Reverse, Walking Lunge than forward lunges in place.
Leg press in the gym
Same as squats, but with minimal stress on the core muscles and back extensors. Due to this, you can take more weight without risking breaking your back, and better load your hips. In addition, the leg press pumps up the front of the thigh just as effectively Quadriceps EMG/force relationship in knee extension and leg press as the leg extension in the simulator, but does not load the knees as much.
Sit on the exercise chair, press your lower back to the back and do not lift it until the end of the exercise. Place your feet at the bottom of the platform: this position maximally loads the Analysis of Muscle Activation During Different Leg Press Exercises at Submaximum Effort Levels on the front of the thigh. High stance of the legs provides more load on the buttocks.
Under the weight of the platform, bend your legs to a right angle at the knees, and then press it back. At the extreme point, do not straighten your knees completely, leave them slightly bent.
Strength training of legs with dumbbells (option No. 2)
The second option for training legs for men at home is no less effective. Having chosen it, do not forget about the warm-up, which was discussed at the beginning. Pay special attention to the technique of performing Bulgarian lunges from a bench, since the exercise is complex, traumatic and complex.
Advanced athletes can use the presented program as a second stage of training in one day, which will allow them to better load the leg muscles.
The leg workout (option No. 2) included the following exercises:
- Sumo squats with a dumbbell: 10-12 reps in 4-5 sets.
- Forward lunges with dumbbells: 10-12 repetitions in 3-4 sets on each leg.
- Dumbbell swings: 10-12 reps in 4-5 sets.
- Bulgarian lunges with dumbbells: 10-12 repetitions on each leg in 3-4 sets.
For girls we recommend watching:
- How to pump up your buttocks: training plan with dumbbells for 3 days
- Top 50 exercises for the buttocks at home
- Top 30 exercises for slender legs without equipment
Sumo squats with dumbbell
How to do it : To perform sumo squats, you will need one dumbbell. Firmly grasp the bar with both hands and lift it to chest level, holding it in front of you. Place your feet wider than shoulder-width apart, point your toes out for added stability, and straighten your back (until you feel its natural arch). The squat is done to a right angle in the bend of the knees, after which there is a short pause and a return to the starting phase.
Features of the execution : Since an atypically wide stance of the legs is used during the execution, the adductor muscles and buttocks are more actively involved in the work. It is very important to perform squats with different leg positions in order to include the maximum number of muscles in the work and work them from different angles.
How much to perform: 10-12 repetitions in 4-5 approaches.
Forward lunges with dumbbells
How to do it : Take a weight in each hand and hold it along your sides. Tighten the muscles that hold the spine, as well as the muscles of the lower back, to keep the body in a static position. After this, take a wide step forward while lunging to the right angle of your front leg. Reverse the movement and take the starting position and change sides.
Features of execution : By maintaining an angle of 90 degrees, the main load is concentrated on the front of the thigh. The wider you walk, the more tension your gluteal muscle experiences. The second option is more popular among girls, but it is also suitable for men. The basic technique is aimed exclusively at developing impressive quadriceps.
How much to perform: 10-12 repetitions on each leg in 3-4 sets.
Dumbbell swings
How to do it : Grasp the dumbbell bar with both palms and lift the weight off the floor, holding it on your lowered arms. Do a half-squat, keeping your back straight, then stand up with effort and lift the projectile in front of you until it is parallel to the floor. Using the reverse amplitude, return to the initial phase, bending your legs to a half-squat and lowering your arms down.
Features of execution : This element of strength training on the legs of men demonstrates itself perfectly in matters of fat burning. Since not only the lower, but also the upper extremities are involved in the work, the body’s metabolic processes are accelerated, rapidly relieving the athlete of excess calories. You will feel the load not only in the hips, but also in the front deltoids.
How much to perform: 10-12 repetitions in 4-5 approaches.
Bulgarian lunges with dumbbells
How to do it : Take the apparatus in each hand and hold it along the body with a parallel grip. Next, stand in front of the bench and lift your right leg so as to place your shin on its surface. The left leg is in front at a step distance. Begin to lower yourself gently, reaching a right angle in the bend of your supporting leg. The limb located on the bench should not touch the floor surface.
Features of execution : The specificity of the presented exercise from leg training for men at home lies in the positioning of the legs. The back leg is placed on a horizontal bench, and the supporting leg is firmly fixed on the floor. Due to the high position of the limb, the load on the quadriceps becomes greater, better working out the relief and mass.
How much to perform: 10-12 repetitions in 3-4 sets on each leg.
Leg training program for the gym
Exercises 1, 3, 4 can be alternated in different workouts or you can do the one that suits you best.
At the beginning of your workout, be sure to do a warm-up and dynamic stretching, this will warm up your muscles and increase the range of motion during the exercises.
Squats with a barbell on your shoulders
The exercise includes the hamstrings, quadriceps and glutes. The abdominal and back muscles help stabilize the upper body.
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Front Squats
During front squats, the quadriceps takes on more work than during back squats. You can alternate these two exercises, but beginners will first need to master the Back Squat.
Leg press
The wider the position of the legs and the closer the heels to the edge of the platform, the more the adductors (inner thigh) and gluteal muscles are involved. If your knees cramp during Squats, it means your hip adductors are weak.
Do not lift your lower back from the machine, otherwise it will receive unnecessary stress and you may get injured.
Romanian deadlift
The Romanian deadlift is an excellent exercise for working the hamstrings and glutes. It also “goes” well to the spinal erectors.
Calculate your ideal sports weight!
Difference from the classic deadlift: the legs almost do not bend at the knee and the bar does not fall to the floor, it reaches the middle of the shin.
Hyperextension
Hyperextension instead of Romanian deadlift can be done by those who have little experience and weak (or injured) back muscles. To use your legs and buttocks more than your back, you need to lie on the machine so that your pelvic bones are slightly higher than the pillows. It is also important when returning to the starting position not to overextend your back, but to keep it in line with your legs. The exercise can be performed with either a plate or a barbell.
Lunges with dumbbells
Lunges work well on the hamstrings and glutes. Make sure that the thigh of the front leg drops down to parallel with the floor, and the knee does not go beyond the toe. The knee of the back leg does not touch the floor.
Scissors squat
A good replacement for lunges, since the knees receive less load in this exercise (the difference is in the technique - lunges are done while stepping forward or backward, and “scissors” are done while standing still). Also, “scissors” with dumbbells can be an alternative to squats, since the weight of the burden will be less and held in the hands, the vertical load on the spine is minimized.
Leg extensions in the simulator
An exercise for the quadriceps femoris, which is placed at the end of training the leg muscles, when the main basic exercises have already been done. Allows you to work the quadriceps in isolation, if they are still “alive” after squats and deadlifts.
Leg curls in the simulator
If you need to “finish off” your hamstrings without overloading your back, you can do leg curls in a machine.
The day after training the leg muscles, it is usually quite difficult to walk and sit on hard surfaces. To prevent your legs from hurting so much, you need to stretch your muscles for at least 10-15 minutes at the end of your workout. After training, a hot bath and massage can help you (you can do self-massage using a special roller (foam roller) or even a tennis ball). The most important thing is to distinguish leg muscle pain from joint pain. If your joints hurt, consult a doctor; the cause may be either incorrect technique and injury, or existing diseases.
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Leg workout for tone and weight loss without equipment
It is not at all necessary to have equipment in order to effectively train your legs. There is a list of sports elements that do not require additional equipment. Work is carried out exclusively with your own weight. Thanks to this program, you can more effectively fight excess subcutaneous fat, restore muscle tone, strengthening them and making them more prominent.
This workout can also be performed after a strength program for additional work of the heart muscle, development of endurance and reduction of body fat. In this case, we recommend reducing the number of approaches or making the program interval. For example, perform exercises according to the following scheme: 45 seconds of work, 15 seconds of rest, repeat the exercises in 3-4 circles.
The leg workout (option No. 2) included the following exercises:
- Squat + jump: 10-12 reps in 4-5 sets.
- Squat + forward leg swing: 10-12 reps on each leg in 3-4 sets.
- Back lunges: 10-12 repetitions on each leg in 3-4 sets.
- Wide jump squat: 12-15 reps in 4-5 sets.
- Jumping with arms and legs raised: 20-25 repetitions in 4-5 approaches.
Squat + Jump
How to do it : Bring your arms in front of you and clasp them together. Place your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. After this, do a squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor. After this, stand up, squat down again and forcefully perform a jump from the bottom point, while simultaneously straightening your arms along your body. Reach as high as possible to enhance the effect of the exercise. Squat + jump squat is one rep.
Features of execution : The presented element of leg training for men not only contributes to the development of the volume of the leg muscles, but also their explosive strength. Due to the high intensity of the exercise, it perfectly serves as a fat-burning element that can be used in other weight loss workouts.
How much to perform: 10-12 repetitions in 4-5 approaches.
Squat + forward leg swing
How to perform : The exercise begins with a classic squat. After you rise, you need to swing your leg forward while reaching its toe with your opposite hand. Next, another squat is performed, but this time the other leg (and arm, respectively) works at the peak point. During the lifting process, the leg must be kept straight, avoiding bending at the knee.
Features of execution : This is a technically simple exercise aimed not only at improving the physical strength of the legs, but also at developing the functional characteristics of the athlete, as well as the muscles of the back and back of the thigh. There is no need to rush during the execution process in order to more thoroughly work the muscles of the lower extremities.
How much to perform: 10-12 repetitions on each leg in 3-4 sets.
Reverse lunges
How to do it : Place your palms on your waist and straighten your back, maintaining its natural arch. Keep your neck straight, avoiding any bending. Now your task is to lunge back until your supporting leg bends to a right angle. The wider the step, the more stress it puts on the buttocks, so don't take it too far. The leg pulled back should not touch the knee in the lower phase.
Features of execution : The leg training element for men at home should be performed on each side in turn. Back lunges are great for working on the volume of the thigh muscles, allowing you to give your legs a toned and sculpted shape. Perfectly works the stabilizing muscles of the torso.
How much to perform: 10-12 repetitions on each leg in 3-4 sets.
Wide squat with jump
How to do it : Stand up with your torso completely straight. After this, you need to make a jump, while simultaneously spreading your legs wider than your shoulders. After landing, do a squat until your outstretched arms touch the floor. Maintain a straight back position and look clearly in front of you.
Features of execution : Changing the position of the legs in a jump simultaneously with squats has a complex effect on the leg muscles. Thanks to the element of strength training, not only the adductor muscles are loaded on the legs of men, but also the lateral parts of the thigh. High intensity of execution has a beneficial effect on the fat-burning functions of the exercise, making it useful in the “drying” process.
How much to perform: 12-15 repetitions in 4-5 sets.
Jumping with arms and legs raised
How to do it : First, fix your hands on your belt and straighten your entire torso. Start performing jumps, placing your legs at the level of your deltoids, and then bringing them back. Try to push off using your toes to concentrate the load in the calf muscles. There's no need to rush. Keep your breathing even, catching your pace.
Features of implementation : In addition to actively working out the calves, this cardio element from the leg workout for men intensively accelerates the body's metabolic processes, which makes it one of the best for weight loss. This is also an excellent exercise to complete your training, allowing you to finally work out the muscles of your legs and prepare for the upcoming rest.
How much to perform: 20-25 repetitions in 4-5 approaches.
The best leg exercises for weight loss
As we mentioned above, working your legs is a great way to lose fat, especially when it comes to your belly. The idea is that the larger the muscle, the more calories it burns. It's worth remembering this when you go through another painful walking lunge.
Choose exercises that burn the most calories over X amount of time or repetitions. If you choose compound exercises, it will be back squats, Romanian deadlifts, lunges, rather than isolation exercises such as hamstring curls, calf raises or leg extensions.
As opposed to building strength, to lose fat, keep your reps high—around 10-20.
Back Squats
Stand directly under the barbell with your feet shoulder-width apart. Squat down until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Get up.
Lunges
Stand straight with your feet hip-width apart and your arms at your sides (with or without dumbbells). Step forward with one leg until both knees are bent at 90 degrees. Your front upper thigh should be parallel to the ground and your back knee almost touching the floor. Stand up and repeat on the opposite leg.
