Leg strength is essential for many everyday tasks. As you age, your leg strength and muscle mass will decrease by an average of 8-10% per year unless you take action to stop it.
This muscle loss makes it harder to do things like walk up and down stairs, run, and get out of a chair. Fortunately, it’s never too late to build leg strength and slow or reverse your loss of leg strength.
The quads and glutes are the most commonly used muscles in everyday life. Here are 3 exercises you can do to challenge these muscles and build leg strength.
Squats
Squats are a great way to build strength in the muscles and bones of your hips, thighs, and spine. Proper technique is important.
- Start by pushing your butt back as you lower down. If you can’t go this low, do it in front of a chair and try to graze the seat of the chair with your butt at the bottom.
- Keep your weight over the center of your foot and your butt behind your feet. If your butt drifts over your feet, you won’t get the work at your hips and it will put more stress on your knees. Your knees should not collapse in either.
- As you can see in the video, your knees should stay lined up with the center of your foot.
- You should feel this working mainly in your butt and thighs.
- Start with 2 sets of 10 reps and hold for 5 seconds at the bottom. Do these 3 days a week. Try to work up to 3 sets of 10 reps.
Deadlift
Deadlifts are especially good at developing strength in the bones and muscles of your spine and hips. A couple key points:
- It’s really important to keep a slight arch in your low back throughout the movement. You should not bend forward at your back at all. You’ll see in the video the bend is happening at the hips and knees
- Start with the weight on a chair or gym bench instead of the floor. Even starting with no weight and just practicing the movement can be helpful.
- Don’t worry about lowering the weight all the way to the floor. Start just trying to get your hands to knee level. This will help you maintain good form
- Start with 3 sets of 10 to get used to performing the movement correctly. Don’t worry about trying to make the weight heavy when you first start.
Bulgarian Split Squats
Rear foot elevated split squats (often referred to as Bulgarian split squats) not only help in strengthening the quads but also the hamstrings and glutes, ensuring overall stability for the knee joint.
This exercise build strength but also has a bigger balance component than regular squats do. Doing this exercise will result in strength improvements when you are doing single leg or reciprocal activities like running and walking. It will also help improve your balance. It may not result in the same level of increase in muscle strength and size as 2-leg squats.
How to do it:
- Stand a couple of feet away from a bench or raised platform.
- Extend one leg back and place the top of your foot on the bench.
- Keep your chest up and core engaged.
- Lower your body by bending your front knee until the thigh is almost parallel to the ground.
- Push through the heel of the front foot to rise back up.
- Perform 10 repetitions on one leg, then switch to the other.
- Aim for 3 sets on each side.
Pro-tip: Maintain a slow and controlled motion. Make sure your front knee moves forward over your foot, but not past your toes. Keep your weight evenly distribute
Intensity Matters
Gains in strength and muscle size really occur as you increase the intensity. Use this table to guide you based on how difficult each set feels:
The number of repetitions remaining means that’s how many more repetitions you could have done at given level of difficulty. If you haven’t exercised in a long time, start at a 5-6 rating. You should just be focusing on maintaining good technique and getting comfortable with the exercises.
After you can do 3 sets of an exercise each session, you can start to increase the difficulty to an 8. You can do this by adding weight, or increasing the range of motion of the exercises.
If this seems really overwhelming or you’ve tried it and something doesn’t feel right, we can help you! At Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine, we’re experts at helping people build leg strength and can help you too.
Call us at 703-299-3111, or click here to request an appointment.
A member of our team will schedule you an appointment with one of our expert physical therapists.
What happens if you don’t improve your leg strength?
- You’re more likely to get hurt when running or playing sports
- You have a tough time doing things like getting out of a chair
- You end up with knee or hip pain with everyday tasks because your legs aren’t strong enough.
Starting a program to increase your leg strength can:
- Make running or playing sports easier and safer
- help you prevent falling
- increase your strength and ability to live the active life you want
The exercises above are a great way to get started. They can help you get moving and living stronger.
But if you want an expert to listen to you and guide you to success, a Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine physical therapist in Alexandria, Springfield, or Arlington, VA will create a plan specifically for you.
You’ll feel confident that you have the knowledge and capacity to do all the things you want.
Call us at 703-299-3111, or click here to schedule your appointment and get started.
Working to keep you living your best life,
The Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Team
