Body Weight Leg Exercises

Great leg exercises you can do using your body weight

Good leg exercises using your body weight.

Shoulder Elevated Hip Thrust

1. Facing upward, place your upper back on top of a couch, sturdy chair, or weight bench with your feet flat on the ground.

2. Place the hands on the ears and extend the hips by squeezing the glutes. Push through the heels and keep the lower back in a neutral position.

3. Rise as high as possible through the hips and then lower your hips to starting position.

Primary: gluteus maximus

Secondary: Hamstring (biceps femoris, semitendinousus, semimembranosus) Erector spinae (spinalis, longissimus, iliocostalis), adductor magnus, adductor longus adductor brevis, gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, quadriceps (rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, vastus intermedius)

Glutes Bridge

Body Weight Leg Exercises

1. Lie on your back with the knees bent at 90 degrees and the palms flat on the ground.

2. Pushing through the heels, raise the hips as high as possible using the gluteal muscles. Move solely around the hip joint and keep the lower back in a neutral position.

3. Hold the bridge in the top position for a moment, then lower the hips to starting position.

Primary: gluteus maximus

Reverse Hyper

Body Weight Leg Exercises

1. Lie with your torso across a sturdy table. Draping your legs over the edge and grasping the edge of the table, knees straight.

2. Keeping the torso locked into place, raise the legs, making sure to squeeze the glutes up top and prevent overextension of the low back.

3. Lower the legs to starting postion, keeping the spine stable and making sure to prevent rounding the low back.

Primary: Gluteus maximus, hamstring (biceps femoris, semitendinousus, semimembranosus)

Secondary: Erector spinae (spinalis, longissimus, iliocostalis)

Sliding Leg Curl

Body Weight Leg Exercises

1. Lie on your back with palms down, placing your heels on two paper plates. You also may use commercially-available sliding exercise discs or, on a slick floor, two small hand towels.

2. Bridge upward in the hips while simultaneously bringing the heels toward the buttocks.

3. Keep the hips high throughout the movement. Lower the body back to starting position.

Single Leg Romanian Deadlifts

Body Weight Leg Exercises

1. Stand on one foot. Squeeze the glute of the nongrounded leg to loc it into position as it travels back.

2. Making sure the rear leg stays in line with the torso, bend over at the waist while shifting the weight back and looking down to prevent cervical hyperextension. Keep the chest up.

3. Keeping a strong low-back arch, descend until your hamstring range of motion runs out. Reverse the motion back to starting position. Perform all the repetitions on the weaker leg first and then switch and repeat with the stronger leg.

Primary: Hamstring (biceps femoris, semitendinosus, semimembranosus)

Secondary: Erictor spinae (spinalis, longissimus, iliocostalis), gluteus maximus