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If you're looking to build powerful, muscular and athletic legs, barbell leg exercises should be a staple in your workout routine.
The major benefit of using barbells over dumbbells or cables is its potential for infinite progressive overload. It's common to see beginners start squatting with an empty bar and progress up to 315 lbs or more within just a year.
Top Barbell Leg Exercises For Building Powerful, Muscular Legs
Due to the larger loads involved in barbell leg exercises, they also require a great deal of core strength and stability. In this article, we will discuss six essential moves to add to your leg day:
1) Barbell Back Squat
When one thinks of barbell leg exercises, the barbell back squat is the first exercise that always comes to mind.
This classic compound movement can help you build amazing hamstrings, glutes, quads, and calves. Guess what, they have even been shown to elicit bicep growth.
Instructions:
- Stand upright with a barbell placed firmly on your traps.
- Based on your overall mobility, choose either the high bar or low bar position.
- While bracing the core, bend at the knees, and descend into a squat.
- Keep your back flat throughout the movement, and avoid rounding of the upper back. Take care not to kneel too forward, as it can shift tension from the legs onto your back.
- Squat as deep as your mobility allows.
- Rise back up to the starting position. Repeat.
2) Romanian Deadlift
The Romanian deadlift is a hamstring-focused version of the regular deadlift. It's essentially a 'pull' generating from the hips that stops at shin height. If you want strong, beefy hamstrings, RDLs are a must add to your arsenal of barbell leg exercises.
Instructions:
- Start with the barbell resting on the pins of a power rack.
- Walk up to the barbell, and grip it just outside your thighs.
- Take a big breath, and brace your core.
- Lift the barbell from the rack, and walk the weight back using 2-3 short steps.
- Keep your feet shoulder-width apart. Bend your knees, and hinge at the hips to bring the barbell to the knee. You should feel a great stretch in the glutes and hamstrings.
- As the barbell reaches just below the knee, squeeze your glutes to drive the hips up and forward. Repeat.
3) Front Squat
Front squats are among the most preferred barbell leg exercises by athletes and weightlifters due to their greater core and upper back involvement. It's also a better option than back squats to build huge quads.
Instructions:
- Stand upright with the barbell resting on your upper chest or collarbone area.
- You can use a front rack grip or a bodybuilder grip (with both arms crossed over the bar in a 'X' shape).
- Place your feet a little farther apart than shoulder-width, and turn them out slightly.
- Brace your core. Bend your knees to lower yourself into a squat while pushing the knees slightly out to the sides.
- Explode back up, and repeat.
4) Sumo Deadlift
The sumo deadlift puts greater emphasis on the glutes, quads, and adductors when compared to the conventional version.
Instructions:
- Set up a loaded barbell in front of you.
- Stretch your legs out like a sumo wrestler with your toes pointing outward. The arms should be outstreched as you grab the bar between your knees.
- Brace you core, and grab the bar with a overhand grip. Retract your shoulder blades, and keep your back flat.
- Drive your legs into the ground, and pull the bar upwards till you achieve full lockout.
- Lower the weight, and repeat.
5) Barbell Split Squat
Few barbell leg exercises challenge core and lower body flexibility than split squats. Note that these are different from Bulgarian split squats. In fact, they're a friendlier exercise for those with knee or lower pain.
Instructions:
- Place the barbell on your upper back just as you would for a high bar back squat.
- Place one foot firmly in front of you. Drop your rear foot slightly behind you, and allow that knee to bend towards the floor.
- The feet should be about hip-width apart.
- Descend into the squat while allowing the front knee to go over the toes.
- Keep your torso upright, and keep your back flat.
- At the deepest postion of this exercise, the front knee should be in line with the front toes.
- Using the quads and glutes of the front leg, push back up to come to the starting position. Repeat on both sides.
6) Standing Barbell Calf Raise
Skinny calves are a source of shame for many lifters. Add this movement to your list of barbell leg exercises for some incredible calf gains.
Instructions:
- Place a barbell on your back while standing upright.
- Stand on a raised platform with the back of the heel having enough space to maneuver downwards. You can also use a weight plate to stand on.
- Lift your toes upwards while squeezing the calf muscles.
- Hold the top contraction for a second.
- Lower down slowly, and allow your calf muscles to stretch as much as possible. Hold the stretch for a second, and explode back up.
- Repeat.
Takeaway
The aforementioned barbell leg exercises should be the focus point in your lower body workout. Not only will these movements help you build powerful and muscular legs, they will also aid in improving mobility and explosive strength.
