Ultimate Bodyweight Leg Workout Guide: Why it is the Best?

We all know that leg workouts are one of the most essential parts of bodybuilding or strength training in general. And we need not emphasize how many times we’ve heard ”Don’t Skip the Leg Day Dude!” from our gym-mates, friends, trainer, and who not. But still, we don’t seem to make any progress or worse end up skipping the leg day altogether.

So before getting started let’s see Why are legs so tough to workout? or Why do you Hate the leg Day? –

Why are legs so tough to workout?

#1-They are undertrained

Just like upper body muscles(chest, biceps, triceps, back, shoulders) the lower body muscles(legs) also grow in response to stimulation, i.e in simple words the more you train and provide the right amount of nutrients the more they grow. But try to remember when was the last time you made your legs undergo strength training or when was the last time you did some squats!

Barely any memory right. This is because we restrict our legs only for running, jogging, skipping, or some sort of warm-up during our workout routine. None of these are considered to be a part of strength training or bodyweight training.

Hence when you start to train them you might feel some difficulty because you aren’t habituated to do so. Even in our day-to-day life we only use our core muscles and arms to lift or move things here and there. Thus you gotta start training them gradually. This takes us to the next reasons for hating leg workouts.

#2-Improper Progression

Now 70% of you might have started training your legs or might have incorporated them into your regular workout plan/routine. But when it comes to execution or maintaining consistency you end up skipping it. Most people get over-excited at the beginning of their workout routine. They try to do everything in one go. Few even try to push their body limits from the beginning itself. However, this can turn out very bad as it can lead to injuries and demotivate you.

Firstly we need to accept the fact that the lower body is harder to train and takes more time to show some good results. Hence consistency is the key here.

#3-Muscle Cramps

This is another one of the main reasons that many people give up their fitness routine. It’s true that post-workout cramps can be painful and major de-motivators for our fitness routine. But as they say ‘no pain no gain’.If it were easy everyone would do it, and what’s fun in that!

#4-Compund Exercises

Another one of the main reasons for leg workouts being exhaustive is because they are compound in nature. That means multiple muscles are used at the same time while working out the legs/lower body. Thus as a result more calories are burned leaving you more tired and exhausted. Hence if fat loss is your main goal then skipping leg days is not your option.

So these are the main reasons why people cannot keep up with leg/lower body training.

This is when bodyweight leg workouts come to the rescue, let’s see how?-

Why You Should start with Bodyweight Leg Workout

Okay for those who don’t know, a bodyweight leg workout is nothing but a set of exercises that uses the weight of your body as resistance. Hence in Bodyweight Leg Workout, you have to use your body as resistance (weights) in order to perform some exercises, thereby replacing external weights like dumbbells, barbells, etc.

Bodyweight Leg Workouts are great for beginners as they solve almost all the problems associated with leg training. Let’s see how-

#1-Body weight leg workout is the Best For Begginers

As earlier discussed our lower body or legs are undertrained. They aren’t exposed to any sort of strength training. Hence bodyweight leg workouts can be a great start. You might be thinking why not start with weight training like deadlifts, weighted squats, etc.

Here’s the reason why- Bodyweight training or calisthenics is the most natural way of doing exercises. Thus it helps you in learning the correct form of doing exercises, making your body familiar with resistance. So when you move onto advanced calisthenics movements or weight training in the gym you would be more comfortable as your lower body will be ready for what’s coming.

#2- Body weight leg workout can help in Progressive overload

Apart from consistency, proper progression will decide your success in achieving a fit body. In simple words, your body won’t become strong until and unless there is a gradual increase in the weight, frequency, or a number of repetitions in your strength training routine. This is what we call ‘progressive overload’. Most people fail to achieve progressive overload because they add extra weights or resistance too soon or too late.

But with bodyweight leg workouts you can naturally increase the capacity of your legs and move to difficult levels once you have mastered the easy ones! We will be discussing different levels of bodyweight leg workouts as we move forward.

#3- Body weight leg workout Improves Flexibility

Another notable benefit that calisthenics or the bodyweight leg workout is ‘flexibility. Flexibility is one of the key aspects of physical fitness that is often overlooked. Weight training generally puts excessive strain on your body and especially on your joints. Whereas calisthenics, on the other hand, involves movements of your body through space which can make your body more flexible and strengthen your muscles at the same time. Thereby making you less prone to injury and helping you tackle muscle cramps.

#4- Body weight Workout Consists Compound exercises

One of the major reasons for leg workouts being very exhaustive and energy-consuming is because they are compound in nature. Most of the weight training that you do in the gym is based on isolation i.e it focuses on a single muscle group. Whereas calisthenics or bodyweight exercises are compound in nature. Hence once you start doing bodyweight leg workouts you become more familiar and adaptable with compound exercises thereby making it easier.

Apart from doing bodyweight leg training, you should also take care of your diet in order to avoid skipping leg days.

#Take care of your Diet

As we discussed earlier, leg workouts consume more energy compared to your regular/upper body workout. Hence your normal diet won’t be sufficient while training your legs. This is one of the main reasons you don’t feel like doing leg workouts as you run out of energy too soon. Hence you need to focus more on your diet while doing leg workouts. Make sure you have enough carbs before you go for a leg workout. Carbs can be a great source of energy while training your legs and will help you last longer.

Now since you’ve got enough motivation to start ‘Bodyweight Leg Workout’ or include it in your regular fitness routine, let’s see how you can do it most effectively and efficiently-

#How to Get Started with Bodyweight Leg Workout-

#1-Start from basics

Know the anatomy-first train all of them together from different levels after that train them individually for better results.

We know that bodyweight workouts are difficult and adding leg workout to it can be even more daunting. But if done right it could really be fun. As body weight leg workouts make you stand out in a crowd. However many rush to advanced/cool moves , skipping the basics therby loosing proper progression. And without proper progression you fail at calisthenics. Hence mastering the basics is the first step in your calisthenics journey.

Below is a blog by https://www.mensjournal.com/ about basic body weight leg workouts which I found use full.

Basic moves

#2-Level Up!

After you are done with the basics you must first know a little about the different muscle groups of your legs and train them accordingly. Thus the different leg muscles are

1. Quadriceps
2. Hamstrings
3. Gluteal Muscles
4. Hips
5. Calves

Once you are done with the basics your legs get a hinge of bodyweight workouts. Now it’s time for little isolation exercises wherein you focus on developing different muscle groups of your legs. There are many exercises for each one of these muscle groups which you can try out and master one by one.

Here is a blog by https://thefitnesstribe.com/ covering different bodyweight leg exercises for different muscle groups.

Advanced moves

#3-How to maintain consistency

Now once you’ve practiced advanced moves you are almost on your way to achieving your calisthenics goals and obtaining strong and aesthetic legs. But there is another thing that you need to take care of. This is by far the most important thing in calisthenics or any other fitness routine for that matter. Yes, the answer is ‘consistency’.The consistency of how regularly you practice calisthenic leg movements can make or break your fitness goals. Mastering consistency can be difficult for both pros and beginners alike. And it is often missing when it comes to leg workouts, hence even after years of training, many don’t see a significant change in the aesthetics of their legs. But don’t worry we’ve got you covered for this.

Here is a solid solution that can help you maintain consistency for your leg workouts-

How To Stay Motivated To Workout

#4- Take care of your Diet

As we discussed earlier, leg workouts consume more energy compared to your regular/upper body workout. Hence your normal diet won’t be sufficient while training your legs. This is one of the main reasons you don’t feel like doing leg workouts as you run out of energy too soon. Hence you need to focus more on your diet while doing leg workouts. Make sure you have enough carbs before you go for a leg workout. Carbs can be a great source of energy while training your legs and will help you last longer. As we discussed earlier, leg workouts consume more energy compared to your regular/upper body workout. Hence your normal diet won’t be sufficient while training your legs. This is one of the main reasons you don’t feel like doing leg workouts as you run out of energy too soon. Hence you need to focus more on your diet while doing leg workouts. Make sure you have enough carbs before you go for a leg workout. Carbs can be a great source of energy while training your legs and will help you last longer.

#Tips to Improve leg Day

#1-No leg day -Train them every day