{"id":77,"date":"2021-09-19T06:21:35","date_gmt":"2021-09-19T06:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/?p=77"},"modified":"2021-10-24T08:00:22","modified_gmt":"2021-10-24T08:00:22","slug":"exercises-to-strengthen-legs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/working-out\/exercises-to-strengthen-legs","title":{"rendered":"Top Exercises to Strengthen Your Legs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The muscles of the leg are some of the most important in your body. They make it possible for you to stand up, walk around, and even run. In this post, we&#8217;re going to cover a few exercises that will help strengthen your legs and give them a little more support. <!--more-->We&#8217;ll get into how each exercise works and offer some tips on how to stay safe while doing them &#8211; because nobody wants sore knees or an injury from working out! So come with us as we look at these four moves: squats, lunges, calf raises, and planks. Let&#8217;s dive in!<\/p>\n<h2>Strengthen my legs at home<\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s no secret that strong legs are essential for runners and dancers. Unfortunately, it can feel like an endless uphill battle to get the strength you need. But, if you&#8217;re willing to put in some work, it will be worth it! I&#8217;m sure you know how important it is to have strong legs. But do you know the best exercises to strengthen your thighs, hips, and butt? Here are five exercises to help strengthen your legs and improve your performance.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-9\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/exercises-to-strengthen-your-legs-1.jpg\" alt=\"strong legs\" width=\"562\" height=\"278\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/exercises-to-strengthen-your-legs-1.jpg 918w, http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/exercises-to-strengthen-your-legs-1-300x148.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/exercises-to-strengthen-your-legs-1-768x380.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 562px) 100vw, 562px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Weighted lunges: This is an excellent exercise for building leg muscle mass and improving balance. You&#8217;ll want to start with 5 pounds first, then gradually increase weight as you become stronger. Do three sets of 10 reps per day on non-consecutive days, or try doing one set after each run!<\/li>\n<li>Toe Touching: Stand with feet together and squat down, keeping knees over toes. Slowly return up to standing position while touching toes.<\/li>\n<li>Calf Raises: Standing on a step or stair with hands placed firmly against the wall for balance, slowly raise one leg off the ground so that only the ball of foot remains on top of the surface. Hold this position for 10 seconds before lowering it back down and repeating with the other leg.<\/li>\n<li>Squats: This exercise works wonders for building up those thighs and butt that everyone wants. To perform squats, stand with feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing forward or slightly outwards (whatever feels most comfortable), hands-on-hips if desired. Bend knees until they make a 90-degree angle with the floor and then push back up again to standing position; repeat ten times or as many reps as you can handle before feeling tired.<\/li>\n<li>Run: This is one of the most popular and effective ways to strengthen your quads and hamstrings while improving cardiovascular health. Find a comfortable pace (or sprint if you&#8217;re feeling brave!) and go for 30 minutes straight without stopping. It may be tough at first, but this consistency will make a difference in how quickly you see results.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-10\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/exercises-to-strengthen-your-legs-2.jpg\" alt=\"exercises for leg muscles\" width=\"555\" height=\"279\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/exercises-to-strengthen-your-legs-2.jpg 890w, http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/exercises-to-strengthen-your-legs-2-300x151.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/exercises-to-strengthen-your-legs-2-768x387.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 555px) 100vw, 555px\" \/><\/h2>\n<h2>Best exercises for leg muscles<\/h2>\n<p>I&#8217;m going, to be honest with you, I&#8217;m not a very active person. So for me, it seems like the only time I get up and walk around is when my dog needs to go out or if I&#8217;m trying to find something in my house.<\/p>\n<p>But even though I don&#8217;t do much physical activity on a day-to-day basis, strengthening your legs is just as important for people who lead a sedentary lifestyle. Strong leg muscles can help prevent knee pain and lower back pain.<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that there are exercises that you can do at home or in the office that will give your legs some love!<\/p>\n<p>Do you want to get rid of your cellulite? Do you want to improve the tone and strength of your legs? If so, then this blog post is for you. I will discuss why it&#8217;s important to strengthen your legs, provide some exercises that will help make them toned and strong, and give you tips on doing all these exercises with minimal equipment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The muscles of the leg are some of the most important in your body. They make it possible for you to stand up, walk around, and even run. In this post, we&#8217;re going to cover a few exercises that will help strengthen your legs and give them a little more support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-working-out"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Top Exercises to Strengthen Your Legs &gt; Maura Garcia Dance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The muscles of the leg are some of the most important in your body. They make it possible for you to stand up, walk around, and even run.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/working-out\/exercises-to-strengthen-legs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top Exercises to Strengthen Your Legs &gt; Maura Garcia Dance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The muscles of the leg are some of the most important in your body. They make it possible for you to stand up, walk around, and even run.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/working-out\/exercises-to-strengthen-legs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Maura Garcia Dance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-19T06:21:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-24T08:00:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/exercises-to-strengthen-your-legs-3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"865\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"513\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Maura Garcia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/\",\"name\":\"Maura Garcia Dance\",\"description\":\"A dance blog for the thinking woman\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/working-out\/exercises-to-strengthen-legs#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/exercises-to-strengthen-your-legs-3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/exercises-to-strengthen-your-legs-3.jpg\",\"width\":865,\"height\":513},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/working-out\/exercises-to-strengthen-legs#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/working-out\/exercises-to-strengthen-legs\",\"name\":\"Top Exercises to Strengthen Your Legs &gt; Maura Garcia Dance\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/working-out\/exercises-to-strengthen-legs#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-19T06:21:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-24T08:00:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.mauragarciadance.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f377257b36b51cc13a05929b7d57bb4f\"},\"description\":\"The muscles of the leg are some of the most important in your body. 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