Home exercises for legs are easier to do then you realize.
You may think to yourself that you need to use the TRX or kettlebells to get great shaped legs but that isn’t true.
The only thing you will need is just your own body weight and perhaps some old tea towels that you may have lying around the house.
You will be able to work your quads, calfs, hamstrings, glutes and inner thighs with these 25 home exercises for legs.
By working your leg muscles, you will be able to change the shape of your entire body. This is because your leg muscles are the biggest in your body and burn the most calories.
As I mentioned before these exercises will give your legs great shape, but they will also give your legs great strength.
Lets not foget that you need strong legs for every day life so that you can climb stairs, walk around pick things up of the floor.
The leg exercises I will be showing you will not be complicated and you wont require a gym membership if you don’t want one.
Another good thing about using body weight exercises is that it allows you to learn correct form before you add weight to the exercise.
For example, an exercise like squats require you to use a large portion of your body. When you start to add weight to the exercise you burn even more calories.
However, once you add weight to the exercise it becomes more of an advanced exercise, and can be dangerous if done wrong.
You will be able to learn the correct technique for this exercise so that you can progress it some stage.
Ab exercises are great. If your body fat is already low then ab exercises can give that finishing touch to your six pack and make you look fantastic.
There are a plethora of different exercises available to work your lower abdominals, obliques and upper abdominals. However, which ones are the best?
In fact, which ones are safe for you to do? There can be situations when a abdominal exercise can be counterproductive.
For example, if you have lower back pain there are definitely some exercises that you try to stay away from, because they can make lower back worse.
There are also some abdominal exercises that can be bad for posture…..
Going back to what I said at the start of the article, if your body fat is low ab exercises can make a difference…….
However, before I reveal the worst 5 abdominal exercises and why they are bad, lets discuss some facts about abdominal exercises.
Ab exercises don’t burn fat!
Yes, you heard me right. Ab exercises do not burn belly fat. You could do 1000 sit ups every day and the muscle will become rock hard under a layer of soft belly fat.
The reason why you wont burn your belly fat is because the abdominal muscles are too small a muscle group to get the necessary calorie burn to burn body fat.
Compound vs isolated exercises
Think of it like this. If you do an exercise like a bicep curl it may burn 50 calories if you do 12 repetitions in 50-60 seconds.
A bicep curl works mainly the bicep because it is an isolated exercise.
A compound exercise is an exercise that works multiple muscle groups at the same time. So if you can do an exercise that works 5 muscle groups then you’re going to burn close to 5 times the calories compared to an exercise that works one muscle.
This means that if you are doing a compound exercise and are doing 12 reps in 50-60 seconds you are using your time more efficiently for fat burning.
Ab exercises are not functional
As I mentioned before they won’t improve the way your abdominals look unless your body fat is low, but at the same time these abdominal exercises won’t help you with day to day life.
Let me explain this in more detail. Lets think about what the main movement patterns are that we perform for carrying things and picking things up.
There are six primal patterns that are natural to our bodies. They are:
Lunge
Squatting
Carrying
Hinging (like your taking a bow)
Pushing
Pulling
If your exercise program contains these types of movements in the form of a:
You will see some improvements in your day to day life. For example, you may need to squat down to pick up your shopping, you may need to carry shopping to the car, you may need to hinge forward to put your shopping down.
You can make a strong argument that because many abdominal exercises are done on the floor that ab exercises will not improve human function.
Ab exercises can cause back pain
The pelvis has numerous muscles that connect into it. One of those muscles are your hip flexors. This muscle can be over used during excessive abdominal exercises.
Due to the fact that the hip flexor connects into your L4 and L5 vertebrae when this muscle is activated it causes a large pulling force on your lumbar spine (lower back).
The activation of the hip flexor muscles cause your hips to be pulled closer to your torso, which in turn can compress you’re the discs of your spine to close together.
Over time this repeated movement can cause changes in your posture and even lead to lower back injuries like a herniation.
My top 5 worst ab exercises:
Hanging lifts
Incline sit ups
Side bends
Ab roller ab curl
Twisting ab machine
Hanging lift
This exercise mainly works your hip flexor muscles while your abdominals stabilize. The fact that you are hanging also builds grip strength.
Unless you have a particular reason for wanting strong hands you should probably stay away from this exercise.
Lifting your legs against gravity to raise your legs up in the air causes a massive pull from your hips against your lumbar spine.
I am not saying that you will definitely injure yourself, but why take a chance?
Incline sit ups
This exercise is one of the biggest culprits in causing hip flexor domination in your body. Your abdominal muscles will get activated during the exercise, but not as much as your hip flexors.
When you increase the incline during this exercise you increase the pull of the hip flexor on the lower back, which can lead to greater pain.
Please avoid this exercise as there better ones out there that will work your abdominals in a safer and more functional way.
Side bends
Your abdominals help to cause rotation and bend your body to the side, and this exercise works the oblique muscles that cause you to bend in this particular plane of motion.
The problem with this exercise is that it causes your vertebrae to squash together every time you do this exercise, which could lead to back problems.
Ab roller ab curl
I always hated this exercise. What happens for most people the first time they do a normal ab curl is that they may experience neck pain.
Based on the fact that some people get neck pain doing this exercise, someone had the idea to produce an ab roller to take away any neck pain…..
Sounds like a good idea right?……
Wrong!
First of all, the flexors in your neck don’t get any stronger……
Secondly, you end up using your arms and hip flexors more than your stomach.
This exercise is not dangerous……….. It’s just a waste of time!
Twisting ab machine
The first time I saw this machine I thought that it was the greatest bit of equipment ever made. I used it in every workout without fail.
Then I realised that this machine causes your lumbar spine to rotate in a greater range than it supposed to.
Your lumbar spine (lower spine) only has three degrees of movement. Once they are forced to rotate any more than that, the discs start to wear down and will cause chronic back problems in later years.
There are alternatives!
Remember that abs are made in the kitchen and not in the gym. To help you get a flatter and toned stomach I have devised a 12 week program that helps with nutrition, habits and workouts to get you a six pack.
You can try seven days for free by clicking below. Also, if you enjoyed this article and you know anyone that would benefit from by tips feel free to share it with them.
DO YOU WANT TO GET AMAZING ABS?
Discover the secrets to burning stomach fat with this 7 day online personal training trial
Losing weight is one of the hardest things that you can do. First of all you need to find the motivation. Then there is the diet plan, and finally your exercise plan. I
n this article I will give you a 12-week weight loss plan, as well as 13 of the best weight loss exercises.
The type of exercises you do will make all the difference to the type of results you will get.
For instance, if you choose an exercise that works one muscle group you will burn less calories compared to an exercise that work five or six muscle groups.
The more muscle mass you work the more calories you burn.
Also, if you perform an exercise that is very explosive in nature like jumping for instance, it will elevate your heart rate quicker and burn more calories in a short period of time.
Based on these two factors I have chosen 13 exercises that are great for weight loss. I have also put these exercises into a 12-week weigh loss program.
The swiss ball is as versatile as kettle bells, TRX and many other fitness tools you can think of. It goes by many different names such as the fit ball, swiss ball and balance ball to name but a few.
What makes swiss ball exercises so effective is that any exercise performed on the swiss ball becomes more intense due to the instability.
21 Best TRX Exercises For Your Suspension Training Workout
I am a huge fan of the TRX suspension trainer. It’s a piece of equipment I use in my own training and with my clients.
TRX stands for Total body Resistance eXercise, and it is one of the most versatile pieces of fitness equipment available today.
It allows you to use your body weight to perform exercises to build your core strength, muscular strength, balance and anaerobic capacity in your home, outdoor or in the gym.
We all can remember the days when we were young and a lot slimmer. You probably look at some of your old pictures and think, “What happened to me?”
So what did happen then? One word, WORK! Trying to find the time to look after yourself and your family and spend time with your friends is almost impossible.
However, if you have decided to make the commitment to your health, then getting a six-pack is a great start.
3 Tips To Get The Best Abs
Abs are made in the kitchen
80% of losing body fat is down to your diet, so even if you are doing these great exercises it still may not be enough for everyone. If your body fat is really low already, skip this section, but if it’s not, then you must give up processed foods.
Processed foods are anything that has been modified in some way, and includes foods like sausages, crisps, ready meals, canned foods and junk food. This is not an exhaustive list of processed foods as there are 100’s, but hopefully, this helps make it easy to identify processed foods.
Train your legs
When you train your legs you get the largest release of growth hormone and testosterone, which are key hormones for reducing body fat.
Drink 5 litres of water every day
Water retention can stop your abs from looking ripped. Water retention happens when you don’t drink enough water a day and as a result your body stores extra water around your stomach and in your cells in general.
By drinking 5 litres of water a day, your body flushes out toxins but also causes your body to stop retaining water as it now knows that there is an abundance of water available.
My Top 30 Exercises For The Abdominal Muscles
1) The Belly Buster
This is one of the hardest exercises for the abdominals. You feel it both in your lower abdominal muscles and your upper abdominals. This exercise should be done slowly for best effect.
Cross your leg over one of your knees and bring your extended leg as close to your chest as possible by pulling from your hip. Make sure you bend your trunk as though you are doing an ab curl to maximise the burn.
2) Ab Curl
This is one of the oldest and most well known abdominal exercises ever. However, it’s an exercise you must have in your ab routine.
There are 3 levels of difficulty with this exercise, based upon where you put your hands. You can either have your hands on your knees, arms crossed or on your forehead.
Start with your hands in one of the three positions, and have your shoulders off the floor, with your feet hip width apart, curl your body towards your knees, with your lower back off the floor.
3) Oblique Twist Bent
The obliques are the muscles on the side of your trunk next to where your six-pack is. This exercise will help get rid of those love handles.
Start with knees and hips at a 90-degree angle. Have your right arm out to the right and your left arm to the left. Lower your legs to the floor by rotating your hips and trunk, while your shoulders remain on the floor. Make sure you maintain the 90-degree angle at your knees and hips at all times.
Repeat by rotating your feet to the other side.
4) Legs Apart Ab Curl
Because of the position of your legs, you feel this exercise in your abdominal, your lower abdominal will be engaged because of your leg position.
Start with your shoulders off the floor and legs apart, as shown in the picture below. Curl until your hands can go through your legs. Return to the start position and then repeat.
5) Knee Tucks
This exercise is very dynamic and one of the best for working both the lower and upper abdominals. This exercise requires good abdominal strength and will greatly increase the definition of your stomach.
Start with your shoulders two inches off the floor, and your legs six inches off the floor and fully extended. Curl your upper body as high as you can whilst bringing your knees as close to your chest as you can.
Return to the start position by lowering your body and legs at the same time, without letting your shoulders or legs rest on the floor. Keep repeating this movement.
6) Bicycle Abs
This exercise is for the lower and upper abdominal muscles as well as the obliques. When this exercise is done well you will really feel the burn.
Start with your shoulders and arms in the same position as knee tucks. Have your hands on your temple, bring one of your knees as close to your chest as you can, while rotating your body until your elbow touches your knee.
Rotate your upper body in the opposite direction while returning your leg to full extension, as your leg returns to full extension bring your other knee to your chest. Repeat for the desired amount of repetitions.
7) Ankle Touches
This exercise works the muscles down the side of your body. Also because your shoulders are raised off the floor, it works your upper abdominals.
Start with your shoulders three inches off the floor. Have your feet six to eight inches further than your arm’s length, side bend until your hands touch your ankles. Slowly return to your start position while keeping your shoulders off the floor. Repeat this exercise on the other side.
8) Commandos
Not only does this exercise improve your core stability, but it also will strengthen your triceps muscles as well. Because your body is constantly moving up and down, your core will work harder than if you just do the plank.
Feet are hip width apart, have only your toes and elbows on the floor. Extend one arm by placing your palm on the floor and straightening your arm, then extend the other arm in the same way until you are in the position shown in the picture below.
Reverse your movement by placing one elbow on the floor and then the other. Repeat this movement until you have done the desired amount of repetitions. At all times, make sure your shoulders, hips and ankles are all in a straight line, as shown below.
9) Plank
This exercise is great for building core strength as it teaches you to activate your transverse abdominals. This type of exercise is known as a functional exercise.
At all times, make sure you pull your belly button in, and keep it pulled in for the duration of the exercise. This is a static exercise and requires you just to hold this position for a certain period of time.
Make sure your ankles, hips, and shoulders are in perfect alignment with each other, and have only your feet and elbows in contact with the floor, as shown in the picture.
10) Inchworm Plank
This exercise builds from the plank. It is a functional exercise that requires you to activate your transverse abdominal muscles all the way through the movement.
Start in a press up position, with just your feet and hands on the floor and your body elevated. Slowly walk your feet towards your hands, while drawing your belly button in.
When you get your feet as close to your hands as you can, jump your feet back to the start position (plank). Keep repeating the movement for the desired amount of repetitions.
11) Single Leg Pike
A great exercise for your lower stomach. Although the movement is very small, the effect is profound. If this is done correctly, your lower abs will be like steel.
12) Oblique Twist Advanced
The main difference between this oblique twist and the previous one is that the legs remain straight which gives your body a longer lever and increases the difficulty.
Have your legs straight in the air and your right arm out to the right and your left arm to the left. Lower your legs to the floor by rotating your hips and trunk, while your shoulders remain on the floor. Make sure you maintain the 90-degree angle at your knees and hips at all times.
Repeat by rotating your feet to the other side.
13) Pikes
This is one of the hardest abdominal exercises for your lower and upper abs because of the length of your levers (legs and arms straight).
It’s a great exercise for overall conditioning, and for getting a six-pack. Start with your arms extended above the head and your feet fully extended.
Your hands and feet must be off the floor at all times. Start by lifting your legs and your body from the floor until your hands and feet meet above your hips by touching, then return to the start position and repeat the exercise.
The end position will look different for everyone, depending on each person’s flexibility.
14) Plank Scorpions
This is another dynamic plank exercise. Not only does this work your core, it also works your obliques.
Start in the plank position. Bend your right knee and raise your leg 3 inches into the air. Rotate your hips until your right foot touches the floor.
Make sure you do not move your leg, it should just be the rotation from your body that causes your foot to touch the floor. Return your foot back to the floor by reversing the movement then alternate legs.
15) Shoulder Touches
This is another exercise that is great for core stability but also builds your shoulder stability. Start in the plank position. Remove one of your hands from the floor and touch your opposite shoulder.
Hold for 3 seconds before returning your hand back to the floor and repeat with the other arm. When you have just one hand in contact with the floor it increases the work of your core muscles, as you are less stable.
16) Plank Spider-man
This exercise works your obliques and your deeper abdominal muscles. Start in the press up position and bring your knee as close to your rib cage as you can.
Make sure you keep your stomach pulled in at all times, and alternate legs with this exercise.
17) Plank With Hip Dips
Start in the plank position like in exercise 9. Keep your elbows on the floor at all times, while rotating your hips from side to side.
Get your hips as close to the floor as you possibly can. This will vary depending on your flexibility, but whatever your flexibility is you feel your oblique muscles working.
18) Plank Crunches.
Start in the same position as you would for the plank in exercise 9. Raise your hips in the air, and return to the start position.
This is a great core exercise, as it requires you to maintain TVA activation while your trunk is moving. This makes it more functional than the plank.
19) Side Oblique Curl With Double Leg Raises
This exercise is another great exercise to isolate your oblique muscles when done properly. One common mistake that people make is they bend their knees towards their chest.
You want to make sure your knees are travelling vertically rather than horizontally. You can also use the arm on the floor to raise your body upwards to work your obliques through a bigger range of motion.
20) Side Oblique Crunch
During this exercise, you keep your legs anchored to the floor and you let your trunk side bend as high as it can. Keep one hand on your temple and the other arm helps push your upper-body up.
Try and make sure that your body only side bends and doesn’t rotate or bend forward.
21) Russian Twist
This exercise works the lower stomach as well as the obliques. Lean back to about 45 degrees and raise your feet off the floor.
Rotate your body to the side, making sure that the whole of your trunk rotates rather than just your arms moving alone.
As your body rotates, your legs rotate in the opposite direction without ever touching the floor.
22) Side oblique Curl With Single Leg Raise
The oblique muscles become active when you side bend the trunk and becomes activated when you raise your legs while you are lying down.
In this exercise, both the trunk and leg are raised to ensure the obliques get the best level of activation. Make sure that the body only moves in one plane of motion by only side bending.
23) Side Plank Crunches
Lie on your side with one elbow on the floor and your feet. Make sure your shoulder, hip and ankles are in alignment for the start position.
From the start position, raise your hips as high as you can and then lower your hips one inch from the floor. Continue this movement until you have completed the amount of reps for the set.
24) Side Plank Oblique Twist
Start in the side plank position like in exercise 23. However, rather than raising your hips up and down, you should maintain this hip position and ankle position and focus on rotating your trunk towards the floor.
This exercise works the obliques and is extremely effective.
25) Side Plank Star
There are two things that make this exercise harder than a normal plank. One is the fact that you have your top leg raised as high as your flexibility allows, this engages more muscles in the obliques and glutes.
The second thing is that having your arms and leg raised decreases your stability and places more work on your muscles.
26) Side Plank With Abdominal Reach
Similar to the side plank and oblique twist but the major difference is that you allow your hips to rotate with your trunk. This is a great oblique exercise.
27) Side Plank
This is a great exercise for the obliques and is one of the exercises that you need to be able to do before moving on to more advanced exercises.
You should be able to draw a straight line between the ankle, hips and shoulder. Once you have this position you have to hold this position statically. Only your elbow and foot should be in contact with the floor.
28) Straight Leg Ab Curl
This is an exercise that works the main part of your abdominal muscles. Start with your feet in the air with your feet together.
Extend your arms and bend your trunk till your fingers either touch your toes or get as close to your toes as your flexibility allows. You should feel this in your upper abs. Return to the start position and repeat.
29) Side Way Scissors
This is one of the best exercises for the lower abs. If you get lower back pain or have a weak back, either avoid this exercise or place your hands under your back.
Keep your back flat to the floor and keep your lower back flat. Raise your feet 12 to 18 inches from the floor and criss-cross your legs as fast as you can until you complete your set.
30) Vertical Scissors
Similar to the side way scissors, avoid this exercise if you suffer from back pain or if you feel strain on your lower back. Keep your lower back in contact with the floor at all times.
Keep your head back and pull your belly button in. Kick your legs up and down. The closer you get your feet to the floor the harder the exercise will be.
Topic: Best Ab exercises
DO YOU WANT TO GET AMAZING ABS?
Discover the secrets to burning stomach fat with this 7 day online personal training trial
In the green diagram the body’s center of gravity is able to easily pass over the striking leg and because there is no breaking force you maintain the momentum gained from the back swing causing continuous forward movement producing a more efficient stride.
Running is a combination of bio mechanics (movement) and physiology (fitness) The bio-mechanics side looks at footwear & ground reaction force. The physiology side looks at how you can improve your heart and lungs ability to provide oxygen to the working muscles. In order to improve as a runner, you must look at both bio mechanics and physiology.
What is poor posture – exercises to fix bad posture
Figure 1. Ideal postural alignment and muscles of the core.
Improving the core is more than having a good looking six pack, the core muscles are linked to your posture. When muscles are short and tight they pull joints into incorrect positions.
For example, in the figure 2 (please see below) we see in diagram labelled C that the muscles in the back of the legs are overly strong and dominant causing the pelvis to be pulled downwards.
While the muscles of the abdominals are pulling up. This is causing the spine to be too flat. In APT, the muscles are pulling the pelvis in the opposite direction causing the spine to become too rounded.
Figure 2. Four examples of bad posture caused by tight muscles.
