Doing Dumbbell Leg Exercises Because Strong, Shapely Legs are Sexy
After going through our dumbbell chest exercises in the previous article it’s time for us to talk about dumbbell leg exercises and what these exercises can do for the lower part of your body.
Do you remember the Hollywood action star Jean Claude Van Damme? You know, the “Muscles from Brussels” who used to be a ballet dancer too? (Yes, strange things happen in this universe). Van Damme’s a great proponent of working out and obviously, to get the kind of leg power that he has which propelled him to fame and fortune, he must be.
The dumbbell leg exercises we recommend for you are not meant to turn you into another Van Damme, of course (although if and when it happens, it happens).
What it will do is to target your upper, lower and inner thigh muscles, as well as your calves or calf muscles.
Leg exercises are important because the sad fact is that bodybuilders tend to focus mostly on their upper body, forgetting the lower part of their body, and this has the effect of making them look like Johnny Bravo. So, unless Johnny Bravo is your ideal, better start working on those leg muscles pronto!
Dumbbell Leg Exercises – Challenging But Fun
Leg workouts at home can be quite challenging. You’ll hear everywhere that using barbells for squats and other leg exercises are difficult to do at home, or even next to impossible. Well, we’re here to tell you that it is NOT impossible. On the contrary, you might even find it quite easy, and have fun doing it at the same time.
Before doing dumbbell exercises, remember to stretch your targeted muscles to avoid cramps. Directly after working out, do the same routine to lessen the sore and tightness, to loosen up that heavy feeling.
You must remember that doing leg exercises using dumbbells needs a lot of concentration and energy. Always maintain good posture; straighten your back, and brace your core.
Give your legs a rest for about 4-5 days before using them again for another workout routine. Quality is better than quantity. Don’t train to failure, do your best to maintain your posture, if it starts deteriorating, meaning if you feel like you’re turning into a camel with several people on top of you, stop, get some rest, and resume only when you’re feeling much better.
Only add weight to each of you dumbbell leg exercises when you feel that you are able to perform more. Forcing yourself might risk injury, thereby affecting your overall dumbbell workout.
Doing the Dumbbell Leg Exercises
Here are our recommended dumbbell leg exercises, and a brief on why these are great to do for your muscle mass building program:
- Dumbbell deadlift – the dumbbell deadlift has been, for years, the most feared exercise for casual and expert bodybuilders (depending of course on how heavy the weight being lifted is). Curiously, it has also been praised for being efficient in developing your strength and in excellently building mass. To do this exercise, all you would need are a pair of dumbbells and clear space. The dumbbell deadlift targets the hamstrings. Other muscles called into action with this leg exercise are the inner thigh, the glutes or the rear of the hips (less glamorously aka as the butt), the upper and middle back, the upper shoulder, the waist or abs, the obliques or the sides of the waist.
- Dumbbell split squats – dumbbell split squats are a cross between the squats and the lunges, meaning, you have one foot forward of the other to do split squats instead of having both feet parallel while doing squats. The exercise specifically targets your quadriceps and evenly activates about every other muscle in your lower body like the hamstring on the front and the back of the thighs, and of course, the gluteus maximus (yes, it’s still your butt).
- Dumbbell squats – dumbbell squats may look like a beginner’s exercise, this is true, but its efficiency has proven itself otherwise, particularly in developing the quadriceps muscles of the thigh, the calves, the lower back, the hamstrings of the back of your legs, and again, the gluteus maximus. Since the weights are held on both sides of your body instead of up on the shoulders, it’s a easier to maintain your composure, meaning you’ll be able to finish your reps and sets with less of a chance of getting injured.
- Dumbbell lunges – dumbbell lunges are intermediate exercises that work several muscle groups at the same time. Using dumbbells for lunges greatly increases the benefits of getting a total lower-body workout, while requiring only a pair of dumbbells and a small area to work in. It’s very effective, and a great alternative to the standard leg machines, possibly even better. Dumbbell lunges target the transverse abdominus, medius and minimus, quadriceps, obliques, and the now famous gluteus maximus.
Working Towards Your Goal With Dumbbell Leg Exercises
Whether you’re a man or a woman, the goal is for your body to look good and be in great shape. You have a freehand in which exercise you want to do, but if you’re going to focus on your leg muscles you should limit yourself to only one or two days a week.
Mix up your dumbbell workouts and combine all the exercises above. You can even add in any of the 52 dumbbell exercises on video that you’ll receive when you subscribe to the My Fitness Nut Newsletter. See the top of MyFitnessNut.com for information.
Just remember not to do the said exercises to the point of failure, meaning don’t overexert yourself. Finish one exercise after another, rest, and then move on to the next one. As time goes on you’ll be able to master each exercise in terms of how to do it and maintain the proper posture to avoid risk of injury.
Dumbbell exercises for your legs do not only affect the lower part of your body. As you have read and will experience for yourself once you watch our exercise videos. They have a secondary effect on other muscle groups belonging to the upper part of your body.
Sheer Efficiency
The exercises above might seem hard to do, or to simple to do; depending on who’s going to do them, but in reality they’re really easy for everyone provided that the person exercising is focused on the goal.
These exercise that we recommend are excellent in terms of sheer efficiency. It could take a bit of time before you see results, but as soon as you’re noticing changes, expect yourself to become more active and interested in your muscle mass building routine.
A lot of professionals don’t really have the time to work out because of their busy schedules. But with a couple of dumbbells, whether these are adjustable, fixed-weight, or selectorized, you’ll be able to finish your workout in just 30 minutes at a time.
You won’t feel like you’re doing a dumbbell exercise once you start feeling that sweet burn in your thighs. Give it some time and you’ll see yourself smiling. Better yet, go for the whole dumbbell workout program, and get yourself in peak form, from head to foot!
