7 Advanced Bodyweight Leg Exercises
Our legs contain some of the largest muscle groups in our bodies--and some of the most important. Needless to say, having strong legs can take you to far places with your movement standards.
We did our research and put together 7 advanced bodyweight leg exercises that you can do almost anywhere. Just because there are no weights involved doesn’t mean these workouts are easy. As a matter of fact, some of them involve complex movements that require engage your core, hips, glutes, and legs all at once.
Some of these leg movements are great to ascertain your baseline movement standard. Like the pistol squat, for example, which involves an orchestrated effort of mobility from the ankle, through calf, through knee, through quad and hip. Then combine that with the unilateral strength required and balance necessary to perform the movement in its entirety, you have a great overall test of mobility in your lower hemisphere. This is all without a single weight added.
Where better to start than with the pistol squat...
Pistol Squat
It’s no surprise the squatting on one leg is much harder than squatting on two. Not only that, it’s even harder when you’re squatting rock bottom on one leg until your hamstring rests on your calf and your other leg is straight out in front of you.
Compared to a normal single leg squat, a pistol squat is more taxing on your leg muscles, nervous system, and core. Doing a pistol squat requires flexibility, mobility, and strength balance in that order.
The most important component of this exercise is flexibility. Sure, mobility, strength, and balance are important as well but all these come secondary to flexibility.
In order to perform a proper pistol squat, you need a full ankle dorsiflexion (< 90 degrees), knee flexion, and hip flexion. Your ankle needs to be flexible enough to allow your knee to go over your toes without straining your calves and hamstrings.
How To Do It:
Stand with your arms extended out in front. Balance on one leg while the opposite leg is extended straight forward as high as possible. This is where hip flexibility comes in.
Squat down as low as possible. Like we mentioned earlier, your hamstrings should touch your calf as your other leg is extended out in front of you. Keep your back straight and your supporting knee aligned with your supporting foot. Hold this position.
Raise your body back up to it’s original position until the knee on your supporting leg is fully extended. Your strength balance will help you get into this position.
Repeat and continue with the opposite leg.
The pistol squat is not for beginners and will require a high degree of leg strength and flexibility to execute the movements. Although like most skills, it can be trained for. Here is an article on how to progress and train for pistol squats.
Single-leg deadlift hop
In this exercise, we are taking one of the world’s most popular powerlifting exercise and turning into a 1-legged calisthenics workout. Like the the traditional deadlift, you will need to bend your knee like you are picking something up directly underneath you, except that you will be doing it one leg at a time. Don’t forget the explosive hop at the end.
How To Do It:
Stand on one leg, keeping your same side knee slightly bent.
With your knee slightly bent, hinge at the hips, extending your free leg behind you for balance. If you are flexible enough you may reach for your toes. Straighten your back and free leg so that you are parallel to the ground.
Extend your legs and explode upwards from your hips as your free will drive up to your chest. You will be airborne for sometime before landing on your feet.
Landing is a bit tricky because it will require you to land on the same foot you hopped with. This requires a lot of balance. If you aren’t comfortable with landing on one leg, you may land with two. Land with knees bent to absorb force impact.
Return to the starting position.
Repeat or switch legs.
Because single-leg deadlift hops are explosive by nature, they can be considered an anaerobic exercise. That means that a couple of reps will require maximal effort over a short period of time. Doing this exercise enables you to develop your fast twitch muscles in your hamstrings, quads, back, and calves. Fast twitch muscles are explosive muscles that are used and developed in anaerobic activities.
If you’re looking to increase your vertical jump or build explosive strength for things like sprinting, this is a great movement for you.
Side lunge to leg lifts
Lunging on your side isn’t as simple as it sounds. If you lack leg strength and ankle flexibility, you will have a hard time. The supporting knee on your active leg has to pass the toes, so that means you should have flexible ankle dorsiflexion. To work your glutes and abductors, we modified the workout and added a leg lift at the end.
How To Do It:
Stand upright. This will serve as your starting position before both the lunge and leg lift. You may keep you hands on your waist.
Take a large step to the right with your right foot and lunge toward the floor. Your right foot should be fully flexed with your knees past the toes. Your stationary leg should remain extended and your back should stay straight.
Push off with your right foot while extending your right knee so that you may return to the starting position.
Don’t let your right foot plant when you return to the starting position. Instead, leave it in the air and abduct your right leg to the side fully extended as high as you can.
Put your leg down, return to the starting position, and plant your foot.
Repeat and switch legs.
The side lunge to leg lift is an effective quad, hamstring, glute, and abductor workout. This is a popular exercise because squatting on your side targets your vastus medialis (inner thigh). Once you’ve mastered the exercise you may add weight to make it a little more challenging.
Box jump
The box jump is a true test of your leg power. If you are trying to increase your vertical jump or decrease the time it takes for you to recover between jumps, this is a functional and effective movement for that. Like the single leg deadlift to knee drive, you will be developing your fast twitch muscles in your quads, calves, hips, and glutes. It’s really easy to do but the gains you can get from this are remarkable. All you need is a bench or a plyo box to jump onto.
The boxes we use at the guru are from Titan Fitness which you can find here.
How To Do It:
Stand in front of your plyo box or bench. Have a nice hip wide stance.
Jump onto the box using a two-foot take off
Both feet should land on the box simultaneously. Land with your knees slightly bent to reduce the impact on your joints.
Fully extend both your knees and hips. You will be standing straight on the box at this point
Jump down or step down to the floor.
Repeat.
This is just the basic box jump. There are many advanced variations that can be modified to meet your specific goals. You may add multiple boxes of different heights or you may lessen the time your feet makes contact with ground.
Overtime, the number of jumps you do in a given amount of time should not only increase but also become more explosive. Add this exercise to your leg day routine and push yourself to do more reps or higher jumps. We won’t be surprised if you make quick gains out of this exercise.
Nordic hamstring curl
This is one of my favourites. Compared to all these exercises, this one sticks out like a sore thumb! This is the only exercise here that may require assistance from a friend or a gym partner. This exercise will isolate the hamstrings and glutes.
The way we use our hamstring is through eccentric contractions, meaning that we use the muscle most as it lengthens--unlike a pull up, where the bicep shortens as we pull (i.e. a concentric contraction).
Back to the workout. The reason you’ll need assistance for this exercise is because you need someone to hold your ankles in place as you resist the gravity pulling your body down.
How To Do It:
Kneel on the floor or on a mat, whichever is more comfortable for you. Have someone or something keep your ankles in place. You will need a lot of weight pushing down on your ankles preferably as much as your own body weight. Your knees should be bent at 90 degrees at a comfortable distance away from each other. This will serve as your starting position.
While keeping your back straight, extend your knees slightly until you feel yourself starting to fall. Resist the pull of gravity. Your hamstring should be burning at this point. If you do fall abruptly, extend your arms out in front of you and catch yourself.
Bend your hips and push the floor with your arms to get yourself back into the starting to position. We want to limit concentric contractions and focus mainly on the eccentric contractions.
Once you are back in starting position, repeat.
Most leg workouts put a lot of emphasis on the quads and very little on the hamstrings. Both must be exercised equally so that opposing muscles are balanced. An imbalance in muscles can lead to injuries. Perform this workout to make sure both sides of your legs stay balanced.
Single Leg Box Step Up
Single leg box step-ups are a great movement for increasing hip mobility, unilateral leg strength, and explosiveness. We highly recommend this exercise because of its functionality.
To do this exercise, you will not only need a plyo box to step on, but also flexible ankles and mobile hips. If you are quite mobile and strong through the legs, consider adding weight to this movement.
How To Do It:
Stand in front of your plyo box with your arms to your side or behind your head. Place one foot comfortable completely on the box. Your heel should not be hanging off the edge of the box and your knees should be flexed at 90 degrees. This will serve as you starting position
The force needs to be applied through your foot that's on the box, with emphasis on the heel. This is an attempt to prevent quad dominance which can put unnecessary stress on your knees. Squeeze your glutes and drive yourself upwards. If your knee starts to move laterally, lower the box height.
Land your foot back into starting position. Don’t land with a straight leg. Land with your knees slightly bent to absorb the impacts from the ground and to lessen the chances of injuring your knee.
Repeat then switch legs.
Proper form ensures proper muscle activation and builds knee strength. Improper form will just get you injured. Remember, unilateral movements like this are an absolute must to strengthen supporting musculature throughout your knees and ankles.
Sissy Squat
If you are looking to kill your legs, sissy squats are an old school way to really burn your quads. Sissy squats have been around in the 60’s and can make a good warm-up or finisher. There are different variations of the sissy squat that require many types of equipment, but we like to keep things simple and hassle free. All you’ll need here is a door to hold onto.
How To Do It:
Stand shoulder width apart. With one (or both) hands, grab the pole or door frame slightly higher than hip level. This will serve as your starting position.
Keeping your torso and hips aligned and straight, bend only your knees, pushing them down and forward as your body falls backward on the descent. Your heels will come up off the floor as your knees come down, but the front of your feet will remain on the ground.
Continue lowering your knees until they are completely flexed nearly touching the floor. Your lower legs will be almost parallel to the floor at this point.
Pause for no longer than 1 second and then return to the starting position in a controlled manner. Push through the floor as your legs straighten and your heels return to the floor.
Repeat.
The biomechanics of this exercise helps isolate and work your quads. Although, if you have bad knees, we suggest staying away from this exercise until you sort that out. Sissy squats can place a lot of pressure on your knees and if you aren’t careful, you can get injured really badly--which is why you should always know your limits!
Approach all these exercises with precision and form first. Work your way up slowly and comfortably and make sure you don’t hurt yourself. Ready to get started? Do these exercises now and build legs that can take you anywhere.
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