Apr-28

Fitness Tip | Leg Day

POSTED BY: Alex Isaly in BLOG

Q. It's leg day! What is your favorite leg workout? What leg workout do you get most results from? And can you walk us through the proper form for an air squat?

A. Ahhhh... the workout day that you either love or hate. Leg day can truly be a LOVE HATE relationship. But it is the one workout of the week that you don't want to skip. It can give you the biggest return on your investment in your workout program especially if you are looking to lose weight. Why? The muscles in your legs are the largest muscles in your body. You burn more energy (calories) when training and recovering from a great leg workout than you do any other muscle. On the flip side, if done right, they can also be the biggest pain (literally) when recovering.

With that said, here are some great leg exercises that you can do help build strength, muscle definition and burn serious calories:

1. Squat - In my opinion, it is the most effective and efficient leg exercise to perform. The squat engages all of your lower body muscles (quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves). You can also do several variations of the squat. For example, the frontal squat where the bar is placed across the front of your shoulders. This exercise forces you to keep your chest lifted during move thus putting more load in the quads. The back squat...the one most people are familiar with where the bar is placed just behind the neck across the shoulders. You can also do squats holding dumbbells at your side or shoulder height.

Check out my video on Radius You tube Channel or see the video below (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=477G_OHZBSU), where I demonstrate the proper the form for doing a squat.

2. Lunge - Lunges are also a great way to build leg strength and muscle definition. Like the squat, there are so many variations of this exercise. Lunges also help with functional movement (moves your body performs during the day as part of your daily activities) as well as performance training. It's a very sport-specific exercise.

3. Calf raises - I am always asked how to get bigger calves. Answer - train them 4-5 days a week. It's one muscle on the body that recovers quickly. You can actually lift calves on back to back days. Do a bunch of different variations of calf raises and presses.

Like lifting any other muscle group get creative with your workouts. Mix up your exercises on training days. There are so many leg exercises that you can do targeting the muscles I mentioned above.

There is no wrong way to train legs. Just don't lift hamstrings and quads on back to back days. Personally I will train legs the day before my rest day. I like to hit them hard. Mentally knowing that I have a day off the following day allows me to train harder.

A nutrition tip for leg day - this is a great day to carb load. The extra carbs are going to help with your workout and recovery.