The 6 Move Leg Workout To Build More Muscle

A good leg workout can be a tough thing to create, especially to maximise muscle growth. Your legs have some of the biggest muscles in your body after all, and they’re capable of much more than they get credit for. To help make sure you’re making the most of your own, we have one of the best all-round muscle building leg workouts there are. It’s short, sweet, and extremely efficient no matter what weight you use. It will hit every muscle group in your legs so that you can make the progress that you need and reach the goals that you want, without wasting time.

You’re likely thinking though that 6 moves may not seem like enough. It makes sense since there are so many muscles in your legs after all. The beauty with workouts like this, however, is that if you train smart and with compound exercises like these, it’s still more than doable. If you give them your all and you keep up the commitment to doing them once or twice a week, you’ll see the benefits of all your hard work. There are variations on each exercise that you can use to make the workout your own too. This selection, however, is more than enough if you’re happy with it.

Squats 5×5

Starting with the biggest exercise, which here is squats, this workout uses compound movements as well as some isolation exercises to make sure you’re making the most of everything.

The squat is one of the best exercises that you can do for your lower body because of how many different muscles it works at the same time, and how they all need to work together. It increases your functional strength too as it is a movement that you will use elsewhere in life, so it’s a good idea to keep it a strong point of your training.  Make sure you know how to do it correctly too for the best results.

Deadlifts 5×5

If you’re looking at a leg workout, then you’ll pretty much always be expecting to see a deadlift in some form. The beauty of workouts like this is that you can make them own. You can try Romanian deadlifts, deficit deadlifts, sumo deadlifts… It’s completely down to you, but don’t fear even the tried and tested classic. Deadlifts are incredibly effective at hitting your posterior chain and are again one of the best compound exercises available to you if you master them.

The true strength of deadlifts isn’t just in their impressive increase in mass building or strength increases either. Deadlifts are one of the finest examples that exercise has to offer of functional strength too.  You’ll reap the rewards of these in and out of the gym as they make everyday life easier with a huge increase of strength.

Glute Bridges 4×10

Moving further into our muscle building leg workout, we need to make sure that we include the glutes here too, even on their own. Your glutes are the largest muscle in your body, and they need to be exercised like it. They are huge, and they’re capable of huge strength feats if you get them in good shape.

Glute bridges with the use of a barbell are one of, if not the single, best glute exercises that there are. It’s a relatively safe and simple movement, and your glutes will feel the benefit in no time if you work hard enough. Really concentrate on the mind-muscle connection here, and put all of the emphasis on pushing with your glutes here. Keep it controlled and slow.

Box Jump 4×10

Taking things to another different level, we also have plyometric exercises in our leg workout to maximise results. Box jumps are a perfect example of this as an incredibly powerful movement. They use a lot of the same mechanics as a squat, but with the added explosive burst you need for a whole new world of power.

Plyometrics, in general, are incredible at turbocharging your strength, and box jumps are the perfect example of it for a leg workout. Jumping makes an explosive, rapid muscle contraction using different muscle fibres to slingshot your strength and muscle. Doing it repeatedly with the added bounce of jumping up and down, you take things even further. Pick a box with a size that is reasonable while still pushing yourself and keep up the hard work and you’ll know about it. Fast.

Side lunges 4×10

Lunges are a staple of any good muscle building leg workout too, and we won’t forget about them here. This time, however, you’re going to need to mix things up a little and use a side lunge instead. This makes you change the game a little and instead of just vertical or forward movements, you’re adding a whole new motion range by moving sideways.

Your adductors and abductor muscles will really feel the benefit from it and keep your entire legs in good shape. Use the weight equipment of your choice and proper form, and you’re good to go! Make sure you don’t overstretch and you keep things fluid too.

Calf Raises 4×10

Finally, to round the leg workout off, we can’t forget about the calf muscles. They are so often forgotten about because of the limited exercises that are out there for them, but you need to train every muscle equally if you want to avoid any weak spots and make sure that you can give every possible exercise your best shot without one muscle group letting you down.

Calf raises are relatively simple and just need you to go onto the balls of your feet, hold, and return back down for a set. Use more weight as you need to and you can even sit down if it helps. Just put in the work, and you’ll get progress.

The routine

As we said, you need to be doing the workout once or twice a week to make good solid progress and get the most out of the workout, but it does everything it needs to. Variation is always a good call, so change things up where you need to best suit you.

If you don’t stray too far from this, you’ll really improve your leg strength. If you’re struggling to find the time to be doing it as often as you should be, why not try our 7 bodyweight lower body exercises that you can do at home too.

Before beginning any exercise or nutrition program, consult your physician, doctor or other professional. This is especially important for individuals over the age of 35 or persons with pre-existing health problems. Exercise.co.uk assumes no responsibility for personal injury or property damage sustained using our advice.

If you experience dizziness, nausea, chest pain, or any other abnormal symptoms, stop the workout at once and consult a physician or doctor immediately.