Legs and Glutes have become the most important muscle groups of most trainees in the gym.
Both men and woman spend a large amount of time training their legs and for good reason. A great set of legs can be very impressive.
They are one of the most impressive areas on the human body. Unfortunately Training legs requires some effort with the right exercises.
If you do these exercises you will be more than happy with the results.
Squats
Squats are the best exercise for legs and Glutes period. The technique is critical and I will explain that in a video. Unless you have extensive injuries stopping you squatting, you should squat.
I have had clients that have had back injuries and knee injuries and they have been able to squat successfully with great results.
If you have tightness in your hips and hamstrings this will need to be addressed while learning how to Squat as this will aid being able to squat deeper and that will allow you to use your Glutes more effectively.
Lunges
Lunges really work the legs and Glutes hard and should always be included in your leg Day program.
If you don’t have strong legs and find weighted squats difficult I suggest increasing your squat strength first before adding lunges to your program.
The reason that lunges are so good is that with the alternate foot position you can isolate each front leg while using the rear leg as your balance work.
Lunges also help to create good knee alignment because when done correctly strengthen the gluteus medius which externally rotates the hips and helps to align the knees correctly.
Bodyweight lunges should be used when learning how to lunge correctly.
Stiff leg deadlifts
In order to teach how to use the rear postural chain muscles in unison this exercise is one of the best.
When we talk about the rear postural chain muscles we are talking about the hamstrings and Glutes mainly which help to maintain a good upright posture with proper extension of the hips.
This exercise is a great stretch for the hamstrings and will also strengthen the hamstrings and Glutes and help to give the Glutes some shape.
The important exercises
For me the above three exercises are probably the 3 most important exercises.
All other exercises such as leg extension, leg press, leg curls, hip thrusts are all good exercises but all are designed to isolate each muscle group of the legs.
But they should not replace the squat, lunge or stiff leg deadlift. All good leg programs are built around these 3 exercises.
The bottom 2 pictures are clients of mine who built some fantastic leg and both were great at squat, lunges and Stiff leg deadlifts.
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