Home fitness leg training

The core logic of leg training at home has never been about how much fitness equipment to imitate and how many difficult movements to imitate. As long as you find the right feeling of exertion and choose the right combination of movements to suit the home scene, novices can practice twice a week for 30 minutes each time to develop tight and powerful leg lines and avoid 90% of knee injuries.

The first time I got into trouble was when I was working from home in 2020. I followed a popular leg training video on a website. I did 100 Bulgarian split squats as soon as I started. I also carried a backpack full of books and added weights. The next day, not to mention going downstairs to pick up express delivery, I had to hold the wall while squatting on the toilet. My knees hurt for a full half a month. Later, I asked a fitness instructor, and I tried different styles of exercises for almost half a year before I finally figured out how to do leg training at home.

Nowadays, there are two factions that are most arguing about leg training at home. One is "no weight-bearing, no muscle gain". They say that without barbells and dumbbells in the gym, leg training at home is just playing house, and training for a year will be useless.； The other school is "self-weight is omnipotent", saying that you can train your legs to shake by relying on movement variations, without adding extra weight at all. I have tried both methods myself. To be honest, both sides are right, but they are only half right - if you have already practiced leg training for more than a year and can do 30 bodyweight squats without blushing or out of breath, then you really need to add some weight to make progress. You can hold a 5-liter mineral water or carry a backpack with heavy items. There is no need to buy kettlebells and dumbbells to occupy space. ； But if you are a complete novice and can't even do 15 standard bodyweight squats, then doing the movements correctly is the first priority. Adding more weight is simply asking for trouble for yourself, and it is easy to hurt your knees.

I took my cousin to practice last year. She is 130 pounds. She usually takes the elevator to and from work. She gets tired after taking two steps. At the beginning, it was difficult to even squat until her thighs were parallel to the ground. So I asked her to practice facing the corner, with her toes turned 30 degrees outward. When squatting, her knees should be opened in the direction of her toes. Don't buckle in. Sit with your butt back as if you were sitting on an invisible chair behind you. Squat down until your thighs are parallel each time and stop. After practicing for 3 weeks, I can hold my 10-pound cat and add weight. After two months, my leg circumference has dropped by 3 centimeters. The knight boots that I couldn't wear before can now be stuffed into cotton pants.

If you want to slim down your legs, don't do squats. Do more single-leg movements, such as single-leg deadlifts. You can do it while holding on to the dining table. Don't slump when you lift your back legs, and feel the tension on the back of your buttocks and legs. Doing 3 sets of 12 reps is much more efficient in burning fat than doing 50 non-standard squats, and puts less pressure on your knees. If you want to practice peach butt by the way, practice more single-leg glute bridges. Put a pillow under your feet to increase the feeling of instability. When you push your hips upwards, pause for 1 second at the top and focus entirely on your buttocks. I did 4 sets last time. The next day, my buttocks were so sore that I couldn't sit on a hard bench, but my legs didn't feel sore at all. This means that I have exerted all my strength in the correct position.

Oh, by the way, there are still many people who are afraid that "training legs will make the legs thicker". This is really a misunderstanding. If your legs look thick in the first day or two after training, it is due to muscle congestion and edema. After training, spend 5 minutes rolling off the foam roller and stretching the front, back and inner thighs. It will disappear the next day. I have been practicing for almost 3 years, and my leg circumference has dropped from 54 at the beginning to 51 now. Instead, I look thinner and straighter than before. Some people say that leg training at home is useless. It is better to go to the gym to squat heavy weights. This depends on your goals. If you want to compete in bodybuilding competitions or strive for powerlifting results, you really have to go to the gym to train heavy weights. But if you just want to have better-looking legs, climb stairs without breathing, and walk with strength, home training is really enough. My colleague does 20 minutes of leg training at home after get off work every day. Last time he ran a building climbing competition at the company, he ran third on the 32nd floor. He was much faster than many people who go to the gym every day.

Speaking of which, there is another magic tool for home leg training that is ignored by many people. It is the stairs in your home. Don’t take the elevator. Climb up and down the stairs five or six floors every day. Take two steps at a time and feel the strength in the front of your thighs and butt. It is much more effective than doing useless exercises for half an hour. Just remember not to run when you go downstairs. It will put a lot of pressure on your knees. Just take the elevator down. Also, don’t be greedy and practice every day. Muscles only grow when you are resting. Training 1-2 times a week is the most. I used to practice 3 times a week when my brain was hot. As a result, my knees hurt for almost a week and I couldn’t practice anything. On the contrary, my progress was delayed.

In fact, when it comes down to it, leg training at home is really not that fancy. Don’t collect dozens of leg training videos as soon as you start. Saving them is equivalent to practicing. Just pick two or three movements that you can do comfortably and have a strong sense of strength. Practice them two nights a week for two months. If you touch your legs, you can feel the tightness, and you can feel the looseness when wearing pants. Really, you will know after trying it.