Building strong, muscular legs is essential not just for aesthetics but also for overall strength, athletic performance, and injury prevention. Many men tend to focus on upper body workouts, often neglecting leg training, which can lead to muscular imbalances. Strong legs support everyday movements like walking, running, jumping, and lifting, and they form the foundation for most compound exercises.
Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced lifter, incorporating a variety of leg exercises ensures balanced muscle development and better performance. The following list includes the 7 best exercises that target different areas of the legs—quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. From bodyweight basics to heavy barbell lifts, these exercises will help you build bigger, stronger legs effectively.
1. Squats with your own body weight
Bodyweight squats are a basic leg workout that works your muscles against your own body weight. As a warm-up, this workout is great for both new and expert lifters. It works the quadriceps, legs, hips, and calves the most, but it also makes you more mobile, improves your balance, and strengthens your core.
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your toes slightly turned out. This is how you should do a standing squat. As if you were sitting in a chair, bend your knees and push your hips back to lower your body. As you go down, keep your back straight and shoulders up.
Your legs should be level with the floor. Take a short break, and then go back to where you started. You can also build stamina by doing this move more than once. Making it harder can be done by adding changes like jump squats or pausing at the bottom. Before moving on to weighted squats, bodyweight squats are also a great way to fix your form.
2. Push-ups
With step-ups, you can successfully build size and strength in your legs, especially your quads, glutes, and hamstrings. You can do this move on a bench or a strong platform, and it should feel like you’re climbing stairs. Stand in front of the platform with your back straight and dumbbells or your own body weight in each hand.
Drive through the heel of one foot as you stand up until your foot is flat on the ground and your body is straight. Put the other foot on the bench and lift it up. Then, use the same leg to step back down. Do this a few times, and then switch legs.
Step-ups not only make your muscles more stable and even, but they also make your balance and agility better. It is great for fixing muscle imbalances and better athletic ability because this exercise is unilateral (works only one side at a time).
3. Back squats with a barbell
As a whole, barbell back squats are one of the best ways to make your legs stronger and bigger. The quads, hamstrings, glutes, and lower back are the key muscles that this exercise works. Depending on whether you like high-bar or low-bar squats, put the barbell on your upper traps or rear delts to do a barbell back squat.
Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart and your core tight. Bend your knees and hips at the same time to lower your body. Keep your chest up and your back straight. Lower yourself until your thighs are at least straight on the ground. Then, push through your heels to get back up.
You can use big weights with this lift, which helps your muscles grow and get stronger. Because it is so complicated and heavy, using the right form is very important to keep you from getting hurt. Back squats with a barbell are an important part of any serious strength training or bodybuilding practice that focuses on growing legs.
4. Front squats with a barbell
Barbell front squats are a good option to back squats because they move the weight to the front of the body, which has its own benefits. This version works the core and upper back muscles as well as the quads more. To do front squats, put the barbell on your front deltoids and hold on to it with a clean grip (elbows up, hands up) or a cross-arm grip.
Stand up straight and space your feet shoulder-width apart. To keep the bar from moving forward, bend your knees and hips and lower your body. Keep your chest up and your arms high. Drop until your legs are flat on the ground, and then push through your feet to go back up.
Front squats are a little harder than back squats because they require more core control and movement. They are, however, great for improving physical power, balance, and knee tracking. They are very helpful for sports success and general health.
5. Do a leg press.
The leg press is a famous machine workout that lets you lift heavy weights with less risk of injury than free-weight squats. It works the quads, hamstrings, and hips, and it has great promise for growth. Sit on the machine with your feet on the platform, shoulder-width apart.
This is how you do the leg press. Take the sled off its rack and bend your knees to slowly lower it toward your chest. If you can, bend over as far as you can without letting your lower back lift off the seat. Stretch your knees out, but don’t fully lock them out, to push the base back up.
The leg press is better than squats because it works the legs more separately, which makes the lower back and core stronger. This makes it perfect for people who are hurt or who want to safely put too much stress on their leg muscles. By moving your feet around, you can work on different parts of your legs.
6. Hack Squats
The quads are worked out the most with hack squats, which are done on a machine. The hips and hamstrings are also worked out. When you do this exercise on a hack squat machine, your back is supported and you are slightly leaned back. This helps separate the legs and keeps the pressure off of the spine.
Put your back against the pad and your feet shoulder-width apart on the platform. This will help you do hack squats. Take your hands off the safety bars and bend your knees so that your legs are flat on the ground. To get the sled back to where it started, press through your heels.
Hack squats work the front of the legs very well and are often done as a second move after barbell squats to make the quads even more tired. This is a great lower-body exercise because you can change where your feet are on the platform to focus on your hips or legs.
7. Leg push-ups
Leg extensions are a type of solo exercise that work the quads in particular. This movement on a machine is great for shaping the front of the thighs and is often used as the last move in leg workouts. Sit on the machine with your knees bent 90 degrees and your legs under the cushion bar.
This will help you do leg extensions. Set the backrest so that your knees are in line with the pivot point of the machine. Lift the padded bar until your legs are straight. To do this, tighten your quads and extend your legs. Take a short break at the top, and then slowly lower the weight back down.
For targeted quad growth, leg extensions are a great way to work out because the movement is controlled and focused. They shouldn’t be used instead of complex moves, but athletes and anyone else who wants to strengthen or heal their knees through isolated motion should add them to their routine.
