Skip to main content

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

The 5 best leg workouts for men to get a sculpted lower body

Add these exercises to your next leg day

A man wearing a black shirt as he does a deadlift in the gym.
Martin-dm / Getty Images

Fitness experts will be the first to tell you that you should never skip leg day. Leg exercises create a strong foundation for the rest of your rigorous fitness workouts, improve your balance, and reduce the risk of injury. Having strong legs improves your athletic ability in sports like basketball, tennis, running, and soccer and can even eliminate the lower back pain many men experience from sitting at a desk all day.

While chest workouts and arm workouts can help give you a wide and toned upper body, you can’t ignore your legs if you want to have a balanced physique and improve your overall athletic performance and metabolic rate. To help get a better understanding of the best leg exercises to try, we spoke to Hannah Eden, founder and owner of PumpFit Club in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and former

NordicTrack

spokesperson.

Man with yellow kettlebell squatting
Ketut Subiyanto / Pexels

Roundup of the best leg workouts

The best leg workout for men is the one that you incorporate into your weekly workout routine at least one to two times. Below, we’ve rounded up a few of the best leg exercises that will give you a strong lower body if practiced regularly. So no matter how much it hurts, remember: Never skip leg day.

A man with a focused expression as he does banded goblet squats with a kettlebell.
Yuri Arcurs / Alamy

Banded goblet squats

You don’t need to lift heavy weights to get an effective lower body workout. There are plenty of at-home leg exercises for men that build quads by focusing on form and stabilization using at-home workout equipment.

Recommended Videos

“I love to incorporate resistance bands into my training because they force us to activate the target muscle groups. We often just move from point A to point B, rather than connecting mind to muscle and reaping the maximum benefits of the exercise,” Eden said.

“Find a heavy mini-band and place it around your legs just above the knees. Place your feet hip- to shoulder-width apart. Hold a kettlebell with two hands in front of your chest. Pull your shoulder blades back and together, keep your core tight, activate your glutes and hips by keeping tension on the band throughout your entire range. Keeping your weight on your heels, send your hips back and down till your hip crease passes parallel. Inhale on the way down, exhale on the effort and you extend your hips to standing.”

Good form is crucial for this exercise. Try to imagine there’s a bench behind you that’s just out of reach, and you’re trying to sit your butt down on the very edge of it.

Man doing kettlebell swings.
Taco Fleur / Unsplash

Kettlebell swing

Not only is this exercise fun, but it’s also one that gets your heart rate up and fires up your core. Kettlebell swings are one of the best home leg workouts for men. Controlling this hunk of metal activates a ton of different muscle groups and will leave you seriously breathless. If you just have time for one leg workout, this one kills a couple of birds with one stone. This exercise is a balance of control and explosion, and like all workouts, proper form is crucial if you want to avoid injury.

To start, take a stance with your legs slightly wider than your hips. Put the kettlebell about a foot and a half in front of you, hike it back, and use the momentum from swinging it between your legs to drive it until it’s level with your shoulders, engaging your core throughout this move. At the same time, stand up hard, straighten your legs, form a straight line with your body, and squeeze your glutes as if your life depends on it. Do four sets of 10-12 reps for a maximum bum burn.

Young man exercising in the gym
Getty Images

Heavy dumbbell deadlifts

Your hamstrings and glutes are part of a group of muscles called the posterior chain, and activating these muscles during your leg workout can contribute to keeping your back strong and limber. If you experience chronic back pain, this is especially important. Leg workouts for men with a pair of dumbbells are key for building a rock-solid posterior chair that will literally make you stand up taller. Here’s Eden’s recommendation.

“Grab two moderate to heavy dumbbells and place your feet under your hips. It is important to understand the difference between a hinging motion and a squat. We ‘hinge’ during a deadlift to engage the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back,” Eden explained.

Here are some cues to help improve your form and engagement: “With your feet under your hips, stand proud, and engage your core. Soften your knees and bend at the hip; send your hips back as if they are trying to reach a target, as your hips hinge back your chest will naturally come forward as your core is engaged and attached to the top of your hinge. Drive through your heels and squeeze your behind as you return to standing.”

Lunge split squat
Pressmaster / Adobe Stock

Iso-lateral leg work

Lunges are a classic and relatively easy leg exercise that you can do without any weights or additional equipment. Also called the isolateral squat or split squat, lunges can easily be modified to be more challenging by adding dumbbells to each hand.

Start in a standing position with your legs about hip-distance apart. Take a decent step forward with your right leg and drop your left knee to the ground. Your kneeling position should show a right angle at your front knee and your back knee. Push up, driving through the right leg. Upon the return, be sure the left knee makes it all the way back to the ground (in a controlled manner).

For best form, resist the urge to lean forward to make the exercise feel easier. Stay upright on top of your lower body and chase after the difficulty. Shoulders should be held back so they are directly above your hips. Do 15 reps, switch sides, and repeat. Once you feel solid and comfortable with the movement, try holding a pair of 10- or 15-pound dumbbells to make the exercise even more difficult.

hip opener pigeon pose
Kanawa Studio / Getty Images

Hip openers

If you’re a regular weightlifter, you probably don’t put much stock in flexibility, but let me try to convince you. Olympic weightlifters and elite cross-fit athletes know the importance of flexibility if they want to have mobile joints in order to maximize their power. Building healthy hip mobility will be the best thing for building the form (and function) of that posterior chain we mentioned earlier. Simply put, flexibility and strength go hand-in-hand.

Maximize your hip mobility with the crouch-hold pigeon stretch. If you practice yoga, you already know how good this one feels. Basically, you get down on all fours and drop your arms so you’re resting on your elbows. Cross your right foot under your left side, so your right foot is resting beneath your hips, and stretch your left leg out behind you. Where you feel is what’s most important; under the glutes of that leg bent under you is where the stretch should be. (Does that look like a pigeon? Yeah, we didn’t think so either, but the stretching does wonders.) Switch leg positions and try it again.

Build these leg blasters into your regular routine and we’ll have you ready for those short shorts by the time spring rolls around again. And don’t forget your arms.

A shirtless man doing split squats using a dumbbell.
DjordjeM / Shutterstock

FAQs

Do leg workouts help you lose weight?

A leg workout can help you lose weight. Increased leg strength does burn calories, which can aid in fat loss if that’s what you’re looking to get out of your workouts, but the right exercises can also build strong, powerful tree-trunk-like legs that increase your overall athletic performance inside and outside the gym. Lifting heavy weights can help you build muscle mass (known as hypertrophy training).

Whether you’re skiing, biking, or doing the horizontal mambo, the additional power and stamina you’ll develop from a solid leg routine provide better control and protection against injury. The more work you do now will also help your legs retain muscle volume later in life.

What are the benefits of leg exercises?

Let’s delve into why incorporating leg workouts, such as those above, into your routine is key to unlocking a healthier and stronger you. These are just a few of the benefits of leg exercises, as there are so many.

Boost metabolism and burn calories

Engaging large muscle groups like those in your legs burns more calories, even at rest. This helps you maintain a healthy weight and torch fat more effectively, especially during HIIT workouts.

Improve athletic performance

Strong legs are the foundation for all athletic endeavors. Whether you’re running, jumping, kicking, or changing direction, powerful legs enhance your agility, speed, and explosiveness, taking your performance to the next level.

Protect your joints

Strong leg muscles support and protect your knees, ankles, and hips from injury. This is especially important for activities like running, jumping, and sports that put stress on your lower body.

Shape your lower body

Want toned legs and a sculpted booty? Leg exercises are your best friends! By targeting specific muscle groups, you can achieve the definition and shape you desire, boosting your confidence and body image.

Topics
Amber Sayer
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Amber Sayer is a fitness, nutrition, and wellness writer and editor, and was previously a Fitness Editor at Byrdie. She…
Can you burn body fat just by walking and wearing a weighted vest? New research
It might be time to put on that weighted vest and start walking in the great outdoors.
man taking break from running working out walking wearing weighted vest outdoors in city near train track

Rucking has continued to pick up steam in recent years as people search for more interesting and effective ways to get moving and burn calories. Rucking involves walking in the great outdoors wearing a weighted rucksack on your back. Research shows the benefits of rucking, from improving muscular power and oxygen intake to burning more calories and lifting your mood. Recently, researchers wanted to understand whether walking in a weighted vest could burn body fat. Let’s take a look at the study.
The study

In a recent study published in The Lancet, researchers examined how additional weights impacted fat loss and the leptin hormone. Your leptin levels are directly related to your body fat percentage. Your body releases leptin to help regulate your hunger and give you a full feeling to prevent overeating. Leptin was only discovered in 1994. Leptin resistance leads to feelings of hunger that urge you to eat more even though your body has sufficient fat stores.

Read more
What exercise burns the most calories? Here’s your guide to calorie-torching workouts
Which type of workout torches the most calories per hour?
-man shirtless muscles flexing abs arms

We all prefer different types and intensities of exercise, from swimming and cycling to high-intensity interval training and yoga. Maybe running through a wooded trail or the concrete city streets is your thing, or maybe you prefer pumping serious iron at your local gym or home gym. You might be a yogi who enjoys a range of practices or an avid swimmer gliding through laps. If you’re trying to lose weight or achieve a particular fitness goal, trying certain types of exercise helps you ramp up the calorie burning. Let’s look at how calorie-burning contributes to weight loss and what exercise burns the most calories. 
How does calorie burning contribute to weight loss?

Calories are units of energy you take in from your food and drink. You can track your calories, how many you’re taking in, and how many you’re burning with the help of certain apps and wearables. Counting calories is a popular method based on the CICO or ‘calories in, calories out’ model.

Read more
8 best activewear brands for men: Performance and comfort combined
Nike, Under Armour, and more
Group of people running

Activewear brands specialize in designing clothes or accessories tailored towards physical activities. These brands offer many products, including footwear, socks, shorts, and shirts. Recently, they have prioritized comfort and performance in their innovative designs. 

However, if you are looking to upgrade your wardrobe with the best workout clothes, there are countless brands you can shop from. To help narrow your list, we have put together the eight best activewear brands for men that are great for performance and comfort.
Nike

Read more