The Best Exercises for Strong Legs

Your legs are the power base of your body. The stronger they are, the more power you’ll be able to generate. For most people, however, the legs are an underdeveloped part of the body, both in terms of muscle size and strength. If you’re in that category, it’s time to do something about it. In this article, we lay out the six best exercises for strong legs.

Squats

Squats are compound exercises that directly work your quadriceps, glutes, and hamstrings. This is an exercise that allows you to use a lot of weight and that you can get stronger on very quickly. As a result, you should build your leg strengthening program around the barbell squat.

You should squat at least two times per week with reps in the 6-15 range.

Glute Machine Kickbacks

The gluteus maximus (butt) muscle is the largest and potentially the most powerful muscle in your body. The best way to develop it is to do exercises that isolate it and move it through its full range of motion. There is no better way to achieve those two objectives than by doing the glute machine kickback.

This exercise is best done on a glute machine that allows you to place your foot on a track and then push it back to full extension under resistance - you can use a cable machine with an ankle attachment or a resistance band to get a similar effect.

Leg Extension

Although often dismissed as an ‘isolation’ exercise, the leg press is the single best move that exists to isolate the quadriceps muscles. As a result, it is an essential exercise for anyone who wants to build stronger legs.

Perform your leg extensions with as much of a backward torso lead as possible to more fully activate the quads, Do the exercise slowly and deliberately, welcoming the intense contraction in the quads that you’ll feel on every rep. Your rep range should range from a high of 30 all the way down to a low of 6.

Reverse Lunges

The reverse lunge is a great exercise to work the hamstrings. You can use either a barbell across the shoulders or a pair of dumbbells in your hands. Be sure to take a large step back and lower your rear knee until it almost touches the ground.

Seated Calf Raises

The seated calf raise is an excellent exercise to isolate and strengthen the calf muscles. The calves are a stubborn muscle to develop as they are used to carrying around your bodyweight all day long. To get them to respond, you should use high reps in the 20-30 range. Focus on getting a full range of motion, all the way up and all the way down. You can do single leg calf raises with no resistance or the Donkey Calf Raise.

Putting It All Together

Combine these best leg strengthening workouts into the following workout …

• Barbell Squat - 5 x 15/10/8/6/6

• Glute Machine Kickbacks - 5 x 20/15/10/8/6

• Leg Extension - 4 x 30/20/15/10

• Reverse Lunge - 4 x 15/12/10/8

• Seated Calf Raise - 4 x 30/25/ 20/20