It’s no doubt that ab exercises are winning when it comes to workout priorities, but what about leg exercises? Leg day just doesn’t seem to come around as often as other workout routines, however, skipping leg day might actually hold you back with your overall fitness.
While it is common to want to show off your upper body more, who doesn’t want a good looking set of strong glutes and calves? Your legs make up some of the biggest muscles in the lower body and help you improve your balance and maximize your overall fitness performance.
Reasons Not to Skip Leg Day
If you’re not convinced about leg day just yet, take a look at the following reasons for why you should head to the gym and work on your legs ASAP:
1. You Become a Better Athlete
Strengthening your legs boosts your ability to run faster. Exercises such as squats and lunges strengthen and develop your hips and improve endurance in the long run.
Working on your lower body also enables quicker reactions during sports such as basketball and soccer, enhancing your abilities as an athlete.
2. You Burn More Fat
Working out the lower half of the body requires you to use a lot more energy, leading you to burn more calories in the process. Exercises such as squats work to tone your entire body and keep you burning calories even after your workout.
When you focus on building muscles in your legs, you inevitably increase your resting metabolic rate (amount of calories burned at rest) and burn more fat in the long run.
3. Your Metabolism Will Increase
Strength training not only builds muscle but also targets your metabolism. The more muscle your body has, the faster your body will break down food and burn stubborn calories and fat.
If you’re looking to give your metabolism a little boost, look no further than leg day.
4. You Reduce the Risk of Injury
The last thing you want is to be injured and have to stay out of the gym for a long period of time for recovery. The advice here is to avoid getting injured in the first place and focus on protecting yourself during your workouts.
Squats and lunges work to enhance the stability of the knees and will help keep you safe from ACL tears and other injuries.
5. You Improve Your Balance
Side lunges and deadlifts enhance stability and improve the control of your physical body. It is important to focus on building strength in your glutes and hamstrings in order to promote overall strength and keep you fit as you perform other activities.
6. You Enhance Your Flexibility
Performing different movements using your lower body will improve your flexibility and also fight to protect your body from getting injured in the future.
Maintaining good flexibility is extremely important, especially as we age. With increased flexibility, we will be able to prevent slips and falls that could severely hurt us when we are older.
Tips to Keep in Mind
Now that you’re about to head out to perform your leg workouts, the following tips will help you efficiently and effectively carry out your exercises:
- Make it a habit to incorporate strength training.
- Squats, deadlifts, and lunges keep your core engaged, and work out your entire body.
- Be careful when trying out new machines and always ask for help if you are unsure of what to do.
- Listen to your body and avoid rushing through exercises.
- Be careful when you are adding more weight in strength training; you don’t want to hurt yourself if you are not ready.
While exercise works to keep us fit in the present, the workouts we do today are also building a stronger mind and body for the future.
Quick FAQs
1. How often should you engage in leg day?
Leg workouts are recommended to perform at least three times a week.
The content of this Website is for is for informational purposes only, is general in nature and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, and does not constitute professional advice. The information on this Website should not be considered as complete and does not cover all diseases, ailments, physical conditions, or their treatment. You should consult with your physician before beginning any exercise, weight loss, or health care program and/or any of the beauty treatments.
References:
Orlov, A. (2016, July 14). 9 Reasons Not to Skip Leg Day. Retrieved from https://dailyburn.com/life/fitness/never-skip-leg-day/
Haley, A. (2016, July 01). 6 Reasons Why You Should Never Skip Leg Day Again. Retrieved from http://www.stack.com/a/6-reasons-why-you-should-never-skip-leg-day-again
