Leg Exercises

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• QHow should I stretch my calf muscles?

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  A Jonathan Penney , Fitness, answered on behalf of National Academy of Sports Medicine

  A great way to complete this will be to do the following:

  • Get your body arms length away from a wall. Take one foot and step slightly in front of the other, example – left foot in front of the right. Next lean forward into the wall keeping your right heel on the ground. As your forearms make it to the wall, you will feel a stretch in your calf and Achilles. Be sure to stretch both sides!

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• QHow should I do lunges?

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  A Dr. Eva B. Cwynar, MD , Internal Medicine, answered

  Lunges work most of the muscles in your legs including your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. Start with both feet flat on the floor shoulder-width apart, your back straight, and your core engaged. Take a giant step forward with your right leg, keeping the front knee and back knee at 90-degree angles. Your toes and knees should be pointing straight to the front. The back leg will bend, almost reaching the floor. Hold the position for a few seconds.
  
  Make sure not to extend your front knee past your toes because that puts a lot of stress on the joint. To keep your balance, you will have to push your weight into the heels and not the toes. Push your body back up to the starting position through your front heel. Repeat with your left leg forward. Start with ten lunges on each leg, rest for 20 seconds, and repeat.

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• QHow should I do shin raises?

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  A Jonathan Penney , Fitness, answered on behalf of National Academy of Sports Medicine

  Shin raises can be completed most anywhere but your best area will be somewhere that allows you to be elevated at least 2 inches off the ground:

  • Find a surface that is elevated
  • Stand on that surface with your heels on and the balls of your feet hanging in the air
  • Slowly lift your toes, flexing your feet towards your body
  • Following, lower you feet back to starting position
  • Allow your feet to go lower than starting position for full range of motion

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• QHow should I do toe and heel walk warm-up exercises?

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  A Dr. David M. Slovik, MD , Endocrinology Diabetes & Metabolism, answered

  To do a heel-to-toe walk, position your heel right in front of the toes of the opposite foot each time you take a step. Heel and toes should actually touch as you walk forward for eight to 12 steps. If necessary, steady yourself by putting one hand on a counter as you walk. Then work toward doing the exercise without support. Repeat two to four times.

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• QHow should I do straight leg raises?

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  A Int'l Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) answered

  Straight leg raises are intense abdominal exercises. To do straight leg raises, hold onto a pullup bar that’s high enough that you can’t touch the ground. Keeping your legs straight, begin to bend at the hips, bringing your legs up until your shins are near your face, feeling a contraction in your core. Lower your legs, controlling the descent with your abs. Try not to swing your legs. Repeat 10 times.

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• QWhat exercises can I do to strengthen my lower body?

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  A Dr. F. Michael Gloth, III , Geriatric Medicine, answered

  Simple walking is an excellent exercise for your legs. Other worthwhile exercises include stair climbing, running, walking in a pool, and simply sitting in a chair and straightening the legs individually and alternately. Additional workouts can include using weights, either free weights or one of the many varieties of resistance exercise equipment available.
  
  Partial squats, are also useful. Full squats (when your thighs actually touch your calves) can be particularly hard on the knees, and they are not recommended. Squatting no further than 90 degrees should be more than adequate for building up your leg muscles and improving balance. Back leg kicks, can also be helpful, particularly for toning up the buttocks muscles.

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• QHow should I do squats and lunges?

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  A National Academy of Sports Medicine answered

  To perform squats begin by standing straight with feet shoulder width apart. While squatting keep the knees in line with the hips and feet and do not allow them to cave in or move outward. Squat to chair depth level. Return to the starting position. To add resistance perform the exercise with dumbbells in the hands or a barbell behind the back and on the shoulders.

  To perform lunges, begin by standing with dumbbells in hands and feet shoulder width apart. Step forward with the left leg and go in to a lunge. Push off the left leg and return to the start position. Then step forward with the right leg and go in to a lunge position. Push off with the right foot and return to the start position. To add a degree of difficulty, after the lunge position push-off and come up in to a balanced position.

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• QHow should I do short arc squats?

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  A Jonathan Penney , Fitness, answered on behalf of National Academy of Sports Medicine

  A great way to do short arc squats will be to go up to the end of your kitchen table or to a surface that is higher than a chair. Stand in front of the surface with your heels towards.  Slow bend at your hips and knees lowering you to the surface of choice.  Be sure to keep your weight in your heels and to keep yourself as balanced and as controlled as possible. Return to the starting position.

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• QWhat is the most effective way to open up tight calf muscles?

  8 Answers

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  A Jonathan Penney , Fitness, answered on behalf of National Academy of Sports Medicine

  Stretch, stretch, stretch! Yes, I am sure you knew that was the answer and are looking for a way to stretch them :-)  Try this stretch:

  • Get arms length away from a wall. Place one foot, i.e. your right foot a step in front of your left. Focus on keeping your left heel on the ground. With those hands extended, slow lean into the wall. Lean until your forearms are against the wall. Now slightly press into your left leg and feel a stretch in the back of your leg. This will open up your calves. Be sure to complete on both sides.

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• QWhat exercise will help build strength in my legs without using a machine?

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  A Chris Embry , NASM Elite Trainer , Fitness, answered

  Peforming bodyweight exercises such as Squats, Lunges, and Romanian Deadlifts are a great way to initially build your leg strength.  However, there will come a point where you need to start adding additional resistance to increase your strength.
  
  There are a variety of ways you can do this without requiring machines or joining a gym.  A set of dumbbells that allow you to quickly change the weight can be a great investment and provide a total body workout.  You can also wear a weighted vest to increase the resistance when peforming squats and lunges.  Even something as simple as holding one gallon milk containers filled with water or sand can provide additional resistance.
  
  It is important to keep progression in mind when working through your program whether its adding additonal repititions or increasing the weight.  There will come a point when performing endless bodyweight repititions will not only become time consuming, but less effective as well.  At that point you will want to find creative wayts to add resistance to keep progessing.

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