Effective Leg Exercises

The legs are important parts of our body. We need to have strong and well-defined muscles in the legs. Having these will greatly improve one’s confidence and balance, as the legs carry all our weight when moving about. Can you think of any good leg exercise? Actually, I do. I have tried and tested these exercises, and they actually work.

These exercises are:

1. Squat

2. Lunges

3. Calf Raises

The Squat

The squat exercise is initially designed to be done with a barbell on your shoulders, but even without the bar bell it still is quite effective in firming up the thighs. This is how you do it:

First, stand with your legs a shoulder’s width apart. Inhale, then as you exhale, slowly lower yourself as if there’s an imaginary chair behind you. Don’t forget proper posture, and keep your back straight. When you’ve gone as low as you could go, hold it for a second then slowly raise yourself up. Maintain posture all the while. Do three sets of 12-16 repetitions, or as long as you could endure.

Lunges

The lunge exercise is designed to firm up the whole leg, as well as the butt. It is fairly easy to do. Stand with your legs at shoulder’s width distance, then step forward with one leg. Remember to put all your weight on the lead leg and, to avoid injury, line up the knee with the tip of your toes. Keep your back straight. Pull back to your starting position, and do the same with the other leg. Repeat 12-16 times, and do 3 sets as well.

Calf Raises

This exercise is quite strenuous on the toes, but after a while doing calf raises, you’ll find you can stand on tiptoe a bit longer than you used to. To do calf raises, you simply raise yourself on your toes, hold it for a second, then lower yourself. Do three sets of 12-16 repetitions.

So what are you waiting for? Start building and firming up those legs now!

Dog Walking: A Good Workout

Most of us take dog walking for granted, but does anyone of you know dog walking is actually a good whole body workout? This is, of course, provided that your dog is one of those big and powerful ones.

First off, dog walking strengthens the arms. This because when your dog is strong enough to pull you, you are exerting force to pull and keep the dog from dragging you away. To be exact, dog walking as an exercise results in firm and strong forearms.

The legs, obviously, are also worked out in dog walking. You are using your legs to walk, and at the same time, you are working to get a good root so that you maintain your balance in coordination with your arms to control the dog. When the dog pulls, you try to plant your feet firmly into the ground while pulling with your arms meaning tension is exerted by your legs. This strengthens the thighs and the calves of your legs.

In line with the dynamics of balance, you work to keep your weight on your waist when controlling your dog. When you do so, you are tensing your abs, slightly working them out although not to the scale of crunches or a bicycle exercise. Finally, dog walking helps you to regulate your breathing and build lung capacity as dogs are energetic animals. It’s not at all times that you have to control your dog, you have to run with them sometimes.

The next time you think that dog walking is a boring chore, think instead that you are working yourself out. Dog walking is not just for dogs, but is also beneficial to the people who walk the dog around. You are keeping yourself healthy and fit, as well as your dogs. Dogs are man’s best friends indeed.