5 Best Leg Day Exercises for Men Who Are Beginners

There are a few leg day exercises every beginner should focus on. As legs are made up of three major muscle groups, you cannot ignore any of them. In fact, you have to work on all three muscle groups with the same intensity to ensure there isn't any muscle imbalance.

If required, you should train one leg at a time to fix any strength or muscle imbalance. However, under no circumstances should you completely ignore any part of your leg.

The legs comprise the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. Most leg day exercises work on the quadriceps, while variations help with the hamstrings. It's best to train the calves twice a week even if you train the legs once a week. That's because the calves are smaller muscles and require more work to grow bigger.

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Best Leg Day Exercises for Beginners

If you’re just beginning your fitness journey, here are five best leg day exercises that can help lay the foundation and enable the muscles to become stronger.

1) Hack Squat

While dumbbell squats and barbell squats are great for squats, if you want to push your muscle fibers to failure, the hack squat machine is great. It works on the quadriceps, but adjusting foot placement can transfer the tension to the hamstrings as well.

As you have back support in this exercise, the chances of the weights disbalancing you are less. Moreover, the machine itself acts as a resistance without any additional weight plates.

You can find the guide to doing hack squats here.

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2) Lunge

If you’re searching for unilateral leg day exercises, lunges are what you should aim for. Usually, lunges can be done while standing at one spot or while walking. You can choose to do standing lunges before moving to the advanced variation.

The exercise requires you to have immense balance throughout, and for that, you should keep your core engaged. You can find the guide to doing dumbbell lunges here.

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3) Leg Extension

Machine exercises are one of the best leg day exercises for beginners. Almost every fitness establishment has a leg extension machine that's used to work on the quadriceps.

You must ensure that your back is against the backrest, and your hips are driven inwards. The weights used shouldn’t overpower your muscles. If that happens, your hips will leave the seat, which must be avoided at all costs.

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4) Leg Curl

Another top pick among the machines for best leg day exercises for beginners are leg curls. This machine helps you work on the hamstrings, which are a major muscle group.

You can do seared curls or lying curls, but you must ensure that the pressure falls on the hamstrings, and the quadriceps aren’t taking over. Like extensions, the hips should be driven into the seat, and the resistance shouldn’t overpower your muscle ability.

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5) Standing Calf Raise

When you’re training your legs, usually the calves come last. That need not be the case. There is no hard and fast rule that you must train calves last. You can train your legs in any way you want.

Calves are focused on at the end, as it’s better to preserve your energy for the heavier compound movements. When training the calves, it’s important to add variations. Standing calves should help with laying the foundation.

You can find calf variations here once you’ve mastered doing standing calves.

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Bottom Line

If anyone believes that only a handful of leg day exercises are enough, they're incorrect. There are various exercises and variations of these exercises that can help you develop and tone your leg muscles.

However, it’s important to do the basic movements first to allow your muscles to understand how and when to engage. Additionally, foundational exercises help with developing a muscle-mind connection, which is important for all exercises.