Need some leg workouts.

[ChristianWarrior]

Ok. So I'm trying to work out some now (finally) and I've started doing curls, crunches, and push-ups. Mainly because those don't take much (if any) equipment to do, so i can do them from home. I don't have access to any gym, so I HAVE to do them at home. Anyway, I've been working out with those, but I don't want to just build up those areas, and let the rest of my body look unbalanced, so I am looking for some good workouts for my legs, back, etc (anything I'm not getting done already) that I can do from home with minimal extra equipment. i do have a benchpress set that I can have fixed up very quickly if that would help any of the muscle groups. Thanks!
Daniel

 

[kajun]

Hi I run cross country at my high school, so I do all kinds of abwork and back muscle work. The things I dont see you doing are Superman exercises for your back muscles as well as toe touches for your abs. Im guessing you have a weight bar because you have a bench so I'd also recommend squats.

Superman is where you lay down on your stomach, put your hands beneath your chin with your shoulders out, and raise up the front part of your body. Then hold it for a few seconds and come down. After about 20 of these do the back part of your body and lift your legs.

With toe touches you lay on your back then lift up your legs so they are straight up in the air. Then touch your toes.

You probably know what squats are, but if not do this: To understand where you are supposed to put the bar, put your shoulders straight back as far as you can. There should be some muscles that stick out on each side of your backbone. This is where the bar goes. Go down until your legs are parallel, hold it, then come back up.

To work your calves, get the squat bar in position but instead of going down, try to get up on the tip of your toes. Do this ten to 15 times.

Along with these weights, it would be healthy of you to do some running and cardiovascular work to help you maintain balance of your muscles.

I hope this helps, if you have any questions, please leave me a message or reply...

 

[ChristianWarrior]

hmm...thanks kajun. I think I'll try some of those. Thanks for the help.

 

[brokenbananas]

Could you get a few more things? Dumbbells, a bosu ball, and a swiss ball? With a bench press set and these other things, you can get some really, really good workouts. You can take a regular exercise and see if you can do it on a bosu ball (right side up first is easier....dome side up) and as you get better, you can switch totally to a swiss ball.

Using these 2 things will create instability, which will help develop your core muscles. Always start with stable exercises using multi-joints first. Then stable single-joint exercises. Followed by unstable multi-joint. Lastly unstable single joint. This causes the bigger muscles to be exhausted, which will allow joints that don't typically get as strong (knees, elbows, etc.) to actually have to work and be strengthened.

There are so many types of exercises if you have some basic equipment. If you got some cables, that would also increase variation in your exercises.

Oh, a leg exercise after doing regular squats on the ground is to do this same exercise on a bosu ball right side up. If your balance is super good, then turn the bosu ball upside down and do squats on that.

Blessings,
Doris

 

[fitmom]

I think you need to feed your spider?

 

[larryicr]

You could try this -
Put your feet a little wider than shoulder width apart.
Have the toes pointing straight forward (as much as possible).
Squat down pointing your knees outward and keeping your back straight.
Try and squat down to the point that your thighs are parallel to the ground.
Then, just hold this position for 1 minute (you can start with less than that and work your way up).

 

[Tuffguy]

Squat is the king of legs. Anything other then squatting 60-80% of your one rep max is not going to give you very good results. You can mess around with other excercises, but the bottom line is that untill you find a way to get to a squat rack and weights your progress is limited.

 

[fitmom]

Tibialis anterior - the most neglected leg muscles. http://www.rad.washington.edu/atlas2/tibialisanterior.html
Here are some exercises:
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/CalfWt.html
There are many other ways to exercise these muscles, but this is all I could find on Google. Strengthening the Tibialis is important for many reasons, it strengthens your ankles and therefore provides balance and protection for your knees, and prevents shin splints.
http://health.allrefer.com/health/shin-splints-shin-splints.html
Also, you must strengthen these muscles if you are going to begin a serious running program,
Carry on having a great day, God Bless, J