Top 10 Free Weight & Dumbbell Leg Exercises

Squats are a great exercise to start with if you’re a beginner because they can easily be customized based on your fitness level. You can do a bodyweight squat, a goblet squat with dumbbells, or a barbell squat with a weight of your choice. You’ll need to use progressions (harder versions of the exercise) and repetition to achieve progressive overload when you’re working your legs with bodyweight exercises.

High Knees

If you would feel more comfortable with the close supervision of an expert, seek out a Personal Trainer. Make sure to let your Personal Trainer know your fitness goals and the free weight leg exercises you are interested in so that they can teach you the right form for each movement. If you feel a little uncertain about trying lower body and leg exercises with weights, start with beginner exercises and light weights. When deciding on your routine, be sure to use a mix of free weight leg workouts.

Side-Step to Squat

A variation of the traditional squats, the pistol squat focuses on the strengthening of one leg at a time. It’s one of the best exercises for glutes and hamstrings out there. Pistol squats require a bit more balance and flexibility, so you might have to work up to it slowly over time.

Best Lower-Body Exercises

An additional benefit of single-leg lower-body workouts is that they help you identify strength imbalances—many of us have one side that’s stronger than the other. If you notice a significantly stronger or weaker side during this workout, there are two things you can do to work to build balanced strength, says Fagan. Curtsy lunges strengthen your gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, as well as the adductors in your inner thighs and your hip rotators. Like regular lunges, they also support your gluteus maximus, quads, hamstrings, and calves. Don’t be deterred if you think this looks a little too easy to serve as more than just a quick way to boost your heart rate—you will get something more out of this workout.

Bodyweight lunges

• To tone your legs quickly, focus on compound exercises that target multiple muscle groups at once.
• If you liked this workout, download the free 2-Week Bodyweight Training Plan here.
• And while many people make it a priority for a peachier backside or toned calves, strong legs are essential for reasons beyond aesthetics.
• For that reason, many of the bodyweight leg exercises below will also build your glutes.
• If you are doing this workout at home, you can use a coffee table, chair, or step to elevate your back foot.
• This exercise primarily works the glutes (including the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus), hamstrings, and lower back.

Like just about every bodyweight routine, you can easily introduce a load to ratchet up the difficulty. “If you’re doing this from home or at the gym and want to add more all you have to do is add some extra resistance. Throw a weight vest on or grab some dumbbells,” says Atkins. Yes, simple calf movements are one of the most effective ways to lower post-meal glucose. This makes calf raises a vital “movement snack” for maintaining stable energy levels throughout the day. Dumbbells strengthen and challenge your stabilizing leg muscles, too.

Just as the name sounds, “body weight exercises” are strength training exercises that use your body’s weight to provide enough resistance to build muscle. This means that you do these movements without the use of a resistance band, weights, or other gym equipment. Some of the largest muscles in the body are found in the lower body, which is why strengthening the legs is so important in order to have a strong foundation. Leg exercises work muscles like the hamstrings, quads, adductors, abductors and calves. Since the glutes are recruited for any hip or thigh movement, it’s impossible to not also address them when working the legs. Commonly known as pistol squats, single-leg squats are a great advanced bodyweight leg exercise.

READY FOR A FREE WEIGHT LEG WORKOUT?

She also ghostwrites for a number of Physiotherapists and Osteopaths. Only by putting in the work, both in and out of the gym, can you enjoy the fruits of your labor. For a personalized plan, consider working with a personal trainer. Brett Williams, NASM-CPT, PES, a senior editor at Men’s Health, is a certified trainer and former pro football player and tech reporter. You can find his work elsewhere at Mashable, Thrillist, and other outlets.

Because legs contain your largest muscle groups, they require more energy (glucose) to function. Moving them pulls glucose from the bloodstream, effectively lowering levels after a meal. Here’s a customizable workout to make sure you’re giving your legs all the love they need.

Dumbbell Swing

Compared to the previous exercise, this isometric movement will create more of a challenge by loading all of your body weight onto one leg. Here, Noelle and Bradford share their top three bodyweight leg workouts that you can do right at home. To build your legs with bodyweight exercises, you need to utilize a muscle-building principle called progressive overload. In order to build bigger muscles, you need to continuously challenge those muscles so that they are forced to get stronger. Start in a staggered stance with right leg forward and left leg behind. Bend both knees to lower left knee to the floor and drop into a lunge position.

WEIGHTED CALF RAISE WITH DUMBBELLS

Dumbbells are categorized as free weights, meaning they’re not fixed to a track the way a leg press machine or Smith machine is. Because of that, your body has to work harder to keep the weight stable in space by engaging more small stability muscles. Glute bridges are also great for strengthening your lower body. Start slowly with a few repetitions, and gradually increase or switch to single-leg bridges as you build strength. Focus on controlled movements and good form to prevent injury and ensure steady progress. We can help you develop the strength for advanced lower body movements.

How do you tone up legs fast?

This is helpful whether you prefer to exercise at home or if you travel a lot. Some of the movements are performed while standing, others while mad muscles app review laying down. As long as you have enough room to place your body, you can do these leg exercises.

This frequency provides sufficient stimulus for muscle growth while allowing 48–72 hours for recovery. For metabolic health, spreading these sessions helps maintain steady glucose utilization throughout the week. You can also use household items like a backpack filled with books to add resistance. Consistency and good form are key to seeing gains in strength without needing to rely on gym equipment. Incorporate explosive movements like jump lunges or squat jump tucks to really challenge yourself.

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From here, sink down toward the ground, bending both knees, until your front leg is at a 90-degree angle. Push through the heel of the front foot to come back up to standing. Perform 10 reps and then switch sides so that your opposite foot is on the bench and repeat.