Want Defined Legs? Here's the Leg Exercises You Aren't Doing

Sure, it may be easy to work up the motivation to get into the gym for chest or arms day but what about legs? Do you have a day dedicated to a comprehensive leg workout? If you’re skipping on legs, you are cheating yourself out of a balanced physique. More importantly, you may be putting yourself at risk for injury due to over compensation of other muscle groups. If you want to up your leg day game and you have your sights set on serious definition, then you need to be doing these exercises.

  1. Narrow Stance Leg Press

First up, we have the leg press. Most people jump on the leg press and immediately take a wide foot stance. That’s perfectly okay but if you want to change things up while targeting the outside of the quadriceps, then you need to bring your foot stance closer.

  • Position yourself in a Leg Press machine with your back flush against the padding
  • Bring your legs and feet up
  • Position your feet at shoulder width with toes pointing up
  • If you can manage to do so, bring your feet in a little closer than shoulder width
  • Push the weight forward and unlock the safety bar
  • Slowly bring the weight towards your body
  • Stop once your knees comes near your chest WITHOUT your hips lifting up
  • Pause to feel the contraction and return to the starting position

Click here to watch a video tutorial on the Narrow Stance Leg Press

  1. Kettlebell Walking Lunges

Lunges are easily one of the best go-to leg exercises in the industry and with good reason: they really work. Instead of the usual barbell or dumbbell, we are going to change things up by having you hold a pair of kettlebells. You’ll immediately notice a huge difference in that the handle is much thicker than your average dumbbell. What’s more, the weight is dispersed in a way that you may not be used to. Both will help to improve your grip and balance as you perform the workout.

  • Stand tall with your chest up and your core braced
  • Holding the weights at your side, step forward with your right leg, keeping the left foot on the ground.
  • Bend at the left knee but do not let it touch the ground.
  • Now step up into a standing position again
  • Move forward with your left leg
  • Make sure your right foot stays on the ground as you bend the right knee down
  • Step back up into a standing position
  • Continue this walking pattern for the exercise

Click here to watch a video tutorial of the Kettlebell Walking Lunges

  1. Jefferson Squat

This old school bodybuilding movement has made a huge comeback, thanks in part to Kai Greene demonstrating it as a part of his own workouts and as a tutorial. The Jefferson Squat is also called the Jefferson Deadlift as the barbell is lifted from the ground and not from a squat rack. This movement may seem awkward at first so it’s recommend that you use very light weight.

  • Begin by taking a wide stance over a barbell
  • Bend at the knees and kick your hips back to squat down
  • Grab and hold the barbell with a mixed grip in between your legs
  • Keep your chest up and your core tight
  • Push yourself back up to standing, focusing the tension in the legs, butt, and hip flexors
  • Slowly lower yourself back to the starting position

Click here to watch a video tutorial of the Jefferson Squat

Tell Us What You Think!

What exercises do you do for defined legs?

Let us know in the comments below!

1 comment

  • Any exercises to help with neuropathy? My feet are a hot mess.any sugestions?

    Richard

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