The Best Leg Workouts With Dumbbells You Never Knew You Needed
Where does your mind go when you think about leg workouts with dumbbells?
- A buff bodybuilder at the gym doing leg presses?
- Wondering how dumbbells could be added to a leg workout?
- Is it only beneficial for people who want big leg muscles?
The thought may raise some questions, but the truth is, lower-body exercises are some of the most essential and foundational exercises that you can do. They help improve your:
- Balance
- Stability
- Athleticism
Why Leg Workouts With Dumbbells Are Necessary
Lower-body exercises, as we mentioned above, are essential. Let’s take a look at why they’re so important.
These exercises:
- Identify and correct leg imbalances- if you specifically focus on strengthening your legs, this will allow you to strengthen muscles that might not be as well worked as others. Muscle imbalances can lead to limited mobility and/or pain.
- Help reduce the risk of injuries- lower-body exercises not only strengthen your muscles, they also strengthen your tendons, ligaments and joints, and bones. Strong muscles and tendons can help keep your body in proper alignment, and can help protect your joints and bones.
- Help prevent lower back pain- Lower body exercises create hip stability which will protect the lower back from strain.
- Fights aging- Studies have shown that adults over 50, due to less activity, lose 15% of their leg strength with each decade. Maintaining muscle mass and strength is imperative to healthy aging.
- Maintains function for activities- Strong legs give you more choices in leisure activities. Do you want to hike with your children on vacation? Do you want to tour museums for hours on end? The thought, “I wonder if my body can handle that?” is no longer a part of the decision process when the lower extremity is strong.
One way in which Laurent ups the ante in strength training for legs is by adding dumbbells to some of the workouts.
Dumbbells provide much needed resistance which can increase:
- Muscular endurance
- Muscular strength
- Muscle size
Laurent uses 5lb and 10lb dumbbells, but you can start at any weight you’re comfortable with.
The Best Leg Workouts With Dumbbells
Now that you know why it’s so important to do strength training for your legs, let’s look at how to strength train them. In Legs: The Foundation To Strength Training with Laurent Vitrac, you will learn, or expand upon what you already know, in one of three levels.
Level 1: A class suitable even for beginners, Laurent will go over proper form and techniques so you can safely begin your strength training for legs journey. He will practice variations of squats, split squats and lunges to target the quads and glutes. These exercises improve stability in your knees and ankles which is essential for injury prevention, balance and stability. Dumbbells are used level 1.
Level 2: In this intermediate level class, you will progress to single-leg exercises. Unilateral (or single-leg) exercises work to correct muscular imbalances and help keep you pain-free. They can also help prevent pain and injury by creating an asymmetrical weight shift. Your core gets some extra work in this class because unilateral exercises require stability and balance. These exercises will be incorporated into what you learned in level 1.
Level 3: An advanced class, level 3 is a challenge and should only be done if you’ve completed levels 1 & 2, or if you’ve been strength training your legs all along. Laurent uses “supersets” which focus on the quads, hamstrings and glutes. Supersets are a great technique for time efficiency without compromising the effectiveness of your training. They raise the intensity to a whole new level. Dumbbells are used in level 3.
Where To Find The Best Leg Workouts With Dumbbells
Regardless if you’re brand new to strength training, or you’ve been doing it for years and want to change up your routine, Legs: The Foundation To Strength Training has what you need to give your legs all the care and attention they need. Fitstreams has a free, 14-day trial with which you can access Laurent’s program and any of the courses Fitstreams has to offer. It’s risk free so give it a try!
Not a member yet?
No Risk Free Trial
Join Today!
- From $0.32 cents a day
- Access to premium classes
- $17.99/month after your free trial
- Or $119.00/year
- Cancel online any time