Best Leg Workout with the 9 Best Leg Exercises
There’s a reason we’re famous for our leg days at DiSalvo Performance Training (we really are, ask any current or former client).
Leg workouts, leg days, or lower body days. Whatever you call them, they are something loved by many, and hated by many more. Not because they don’t yield results (they do), but because they’re hard and something you can’t cheat. The best leg workouts are ones that people simultaneously fear and are excited to do— because they know they work.
The best leg workouts are done by choosing the right leg exercises for the right client. The more advanced you are, the less exercises you’ll typically do, as the effort you can put into a few movements will be plenty for that day to induce growth, strength gains, fat burning, or whatever it is that you’re after.
Why I Chose The Leg Workout I Did
Economy, aka, Most Muscles Used
Leg workouts are always difficult. Wouldn’t you prefer to put that effort to the most productive use? The best way to do that is to pick exercises that have the most economy and efficiency— like the ones we selected below.
Effort Required
The best strength gains come from exercises that require a high level of effort, using many joints, muscles and ranges of motion. Think Squats and Deadlifts for instance.
This is largely attributed to the extra load that you’re able to bear when you combine many different muscle groups and joints. That allows you to push deeper into fatigue, and that fatigue (when recovered from properly), leads to strength gains and muscle growth.
YOU SHOULD KNOW: That does not mean you should never isolate muscles into single joint movements. If you aren’t able to adequately perform a larger exercise, then you’ll need to regress it, but more importantly, work on the individual muscle groups that make a successful big lift possible.A Bias to the Posterior Chain
The core concentration at DiSalvo Performance Training is performance. This focus on performance, whether athletic, being generally mobile and able bodied, or just wanting to feel good— always comes back to the muscles you can’t see. Your “posterior chain of muscles” refers to the muscles on the back of your body and their hypothetical and actual linking.
A developed back, glutes, and hamstrings are one of the best hedges you can make against back pain or age-related muscle loss.
Experience
DiSalvo Performance Training has been helping clients every day since 2015. We have clients who have sworn by our methods and training for years at a time. World champions, world travelers, young parents, retirees, and everyone in between have benefited from these leg exercises to live happy, strong, and healthier lives.
Best Leg Workout With The 9 Best Leg Exercises
Exercise 1: Squat
Dubbed the “King of Exercises” by Dr. Fred Hatfield, the name is well deserved. The best leg workouts are centered around the Squat, and for good reason— you can make this exercise bias the entire lower body depending on how you orient it, making this one of, if not the best leg exercise you could do.
Variation Notes
A High Bar Squat is an Olympic Lifting derivative, and features a higher emphasis on the quadriceps muscle group (ie: the front of your thigh). You perform this by placing the bar near the top of your shoulders, bracing through the core, and breaking at the knees first, as you descend. A well-elevated heel or squat shoe is essential for some people to complete this exercise.
A Low Bar Squat is a version of the back squat that is popular in powerlifting and more generally in the gym world, as it enables the user to sit back into the hips, utilize more of the posterior chain, and ultimately lift more weight. Some research and experience also shows that it is possibly less likely to lead to knee injury. For many, it’s easier on the lower back, as the distance between the bar/weight and your hips is less. This is not always the case, however.
A Front Squat is another Olympic Weightlifting derivative that places the barbell on the front of the torso at shoulder level, resting on the clavicle. It’s great for general use, as it typically forces the user to stay more upright during the squat movement itself.
A Belt Squat (pictured above) is a machine that most closely mimics the feel of a barbell back squat (High or Low Bar), but without loading the spine from above. It does indeed load the spine, but underneath the body, creating a traction effect in some cases. This machine is great for de-loading an athlete, teaching beginners, or for anyone who wishes to keep pushing their leg strength, but removing most of the stress from the back.
Exercise 2: Sumo Deadlift
We edge out the conventional deadlift here and give a nod to the Sumo Deadlift because we’re talking about the best leg exercises specifically. The Sumo Deadlift is largely about your lower body: your hip adductors, abductors, glutes, hamstrings, and more are required to coordinate under maximum load to get the bar off the ground.
Additionally, the external rotation of the hips and legs feeds very positively back into just about every other leg exercise you could possibly perform.
While there is a pull involved, like in all deadlifts, the Sumo Deadlift really only emphasizes the upper body on the initial pull, while the Conventional Deadlift uses a strong pull throughout.
Exercise 3: Front Foot Elevated Split Squat
Unilateral (or single leg) exercises are an essential part of any leg workout, and the Front Foot Elevated Split Squat is a great starting point. It works ankle, foot, hip, glute and quadriceps, promoting a great stretch at the bottom of the movement. It can be infinitely altered to suit any person.
Exercise 4: Walking Lunges
While unilateral exercises are an essential part of any great leg workout, the walking lunge is a step-up in difficulty from the Front Foot Elevated Split Squat. It requires a lot more of the hip adductors and is a great exercise to strengthen and prevent against groin injuries in sports where those are common.
Additionally, the Walking Lunge is a great way to work the quadriceps muscles.
Exercise 5: Good Mornings
An oldie, but goodie, this exercise fell out of favor with many for fear that it was too hard on the lower back, but when performed properly and with the right equipment is actually quite safe and one of the best ways to hit your hamstrings.
I would recommend newcomers try a seated version first. A specialty bar like a Cambered Squat Bar keeps the weight lower and closer to your fulcrum, making the strain on your lower back less. If you don’t have a Cambered Squat Bar, you might want to reach out to us to come try it out.
Exercise 6: Kettlebell Swing
Kettlebell Swings are a very dynamic way of working the lower body muscles. The thing that makes this exercise unique compared to every other exercise we’ve listed here is that it’s done quickly and provides power and explosive benefits, whereas every other exercise is primarily done for strength and hypertrophy (aka muscle building).
Exercise 7: Seated Hamstring Curl
There aren’t many isolated or single group lower body exercises featured here, but this one makes the list for good reason— as it creates a full stretch of the hamstrings better than nearly any other exercise you could choose. It also isolates and helps strengthen the often neglected hamstring muscle and does so with very little room for error.
The weight and range of motion can be adjusted to make it work for all ability levels and can be used to strengthen the hamstrings of a new-comer, or bust the plateau of a veteran athlete.
The fact that it’s performed on a machine, as well as this machine being a popular staple in most gyms across the world, makes this one of the best leg exercise choices for just about everyone.
Exercise 8: GHD Back Extension
Much like the hamstring curl, the GHD Back Extension targets the hamstring muscles, but also includes use of the glutes, lower back, erector spinae, and more. The amount of muscles worked simultaneously and use of your bodyweight as the primary resistance makes this a great choice for athletes as well as general gym goers who wish to strengthen their posterior chain.
If you’re seeking more of a hamstring target throughout, you may consider using a 45-degree back extension bench instead of a G.H.D. Since this article is framed around the exercises we find most useful at DiSalvo Performance, we give the nod to the GHD Back Extension.
Exercise 9: Standing Calf Raises
The Standing Calf Raise gets the nod from us as it primarily works the gastrocnemius (the upper/rounder part of your calf muscle). Besides the benefits of size and shape, the gastroc crosses the knee joint and helps with squats and other movements at lock-out position.
The other benefit of a Standing Calf Raise is that you can perform it with or without a machine, and it only requires a step or slightly elevated ledge. It’s a bonus if you have weight.
All of this adds up to the Standing Calf Raise being one of the best leg exercises you can do as part of a bigger leg workout.
WORK WITH A TRAINER WHO UNDERSTANDS YOUR Leg Day GOALS
All of these exercises are ingredients to the best leg workout you’ll experience. With that said, it’s important to remember that combinations, order, sets and reps, and ultimately your current status matter most. If you need help with organizing the best leg day for you, keep reading, we’d love to help.
Hello! I’m Mark DiSalvo, CSCS
I’m the founder and owner of DiSalvo Performance Training. I started my gym in NYC in 2015 with the desire to bring a higher level of instruction and training to Chelsea, NYC.
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