25 Best Leg Exercises for At-Home Workouts – Leg Exercises With Dumbbells

Let’s talk legs: They contain some of the most powerful muscles in the body (including those large muscles in your caboose called the glutes) and keeping them strong and limber is crucial for helping you move with ease. Plus, strong leg muscles can help alleviate joint pain, strengthen your bones, and even improve your heart health.

If you’re working out at home with little to no equipment, you’ve probably done your share of squats. But that can get old—and squats alone won’t do enough to keep your legs in great shape. Fortunately, there are many ways to progress your strength work without needing more machines or lifting equipment, says Kym Nolden, C.P.T., the manager of fitness at Einstein Medical College.

Why it’s worth mixing up your leg exercises

Moving slower or faster while doing resistance exercises is a simple way to strengthen your legs, says Nolden. For example, slowing your reps down—or increasing what is called your “time under tension”—causes your muscles to work harder for longer. This can have major benefits in increasing muscle endurance and stability, according to the International Sports Sciences Association.

On the flipside, upping your speed or doing plyometric exercises—high impact moves like jumping or bounding—can help to improve your power, says Nolden. Plyometric training help you out any time you need to quickly respond to a situation, whether you have to rapidly change directions to snatch your kid away from something harmful or you need to hustle to catch the bus. Plyometric exercises can improve the reactivity of your nervous system as well as your overall strength, the National Academy of Sports Medicine.

Challenging your balance is important, too: That helps you work on the smaller stabilizing muscles that help to protect your knees, hips, and ankles from injury. Experts from the ACE Physical Therapy and Sports Institute also say that better balance can improve your body awareness and coordination, further safeguarding you from nasty falls and painful bumps.

How to use this workout guide

There’s a whopping 25 moves on this list. That’s more than anyone should do in one workout! But Nolden has a simple way for you to use these move to create tons of fun routines of your own. First, know that there are four types of exercises here: bilateral (exercises that require your arms or legs to move in unison to boost overall strength); unstable (to challenge balance); jumping/single leg (for correcting muscle imbalances and building power); and on the mat (to better strengthen hamstrings and glutes).

Now, here’s the strategy, according to Nolden:

1. Pick one move of each type for a total of four exercises.
2. Perform each exercise for 45 seconds with a 15 second rest in between movements.
3. Give yourself a 30-second breather before you start your next round.
4. Your goal is to complete 3-5 rounds total.
5. If you’re feeling particularly spicy, rest three minutes and create another circuit. Don’t do more than two circuits in a row, though, says Nolden. There’s no need to overdo it. Two to three leg days per week is plenty to help you reach your strength goals.

Recommended equipment: a dumbbell; a small, hip circle band; and a long loop resistance band