Advice for excercising legs at home?

smiaras

This post has been deleted.

accensi0n

loads of legups

Pherekydes

...and some legovers.

trotter_inc

How bout some lunges? Hold something heavy in your hands to make it harder on yourself.

GreeBo

try a few sets of squats
hold a dumbbell or weight against your chest and dont let your thighs go past horizontal.
(and obviously dont let your knees get outside your toes)

Boru.

One word; Pistols.

Its a single leg squat. It's awesome. 5 in the morning each leg and you are set.

Essentially imagine a squat, but done on 1 leg so you you lower yourself right down (butt less than an inch of the ground), one leg straight out in front, the other bent, foot flat on the floor, knee in line with ankle. One of the hardest body weight exercises available. Nothing hurts like it. As I've said before, feel free to drop in to me in Arnotts if you have the time and I'll go through it with you and show you how to take a basic squat and advance up to the pistol. Or if you'd like I can try and write up more detailed instructions.

Hope this helps.

trotter_inc

Boru. wrote:

Essentially imagine a squat, but done on 1 leg so you you lower yourself right down (butt less than an inch of the ground), one leg straight out in front, the other bent, foot flat on the floor, knee in line with ankle.

Seen a lot of guys doing this alright - I though they were just doing it for balance or something! Must try it out also - thanks Boru!

Musashi

Explosive Squat Jumps
Plyometrics
Weighted vest Training
Sissy Squats
Squats and DeadLifts are the master for legs but if you don't have the weights on hand you need to pre-exhaust the muscles with explosive moves then training body weight moves will be as hard as if you had weights up.
Your muscles don't know what they are lifting,only how hard they are having to work.If you are giving max effort for the desired rep range then you are getting a work out worth doing.

Pherekydes

Boru. wrote:

One word; Pistols.

Its a single leg squat. It's awesome. 5 in the morning each leg and you are set.

Essentially imagine a squat, but done on 1 leg so you you lower yourself right down (butt less than an inch of the ground), one leg straight out in front, the other bent, foot flat on the floor, knee in line with ankle. One of the hardest body weight exercises available. Nothing hurts like it. As I've said before, feel free to drop in to me in Arnotts if you have the time and I'll go through it with you and show you how to take a basic squat and advance up to the pistol. Or if you'd like I can try and write up more detailed instructions.

Hope this helps.

You can do these on a sturdy chair. You can get lower without worrying about the passive leg. Once you get stronger you can progress to the ones above. You can use the system I mentioned in another thread:

Exercise to exhaustion; 60 secs rest
Exercise to exhaustion; 60 secs rest
Exercise to exhaustion

Change legs and repeat!

That'll progress you quite quickly, though I wouldn't recommend doing sets more than twice weekly at the start.

trotter_inc

Musashi wrote:

Sissy Squats

What's a sissy squat Musashi??

Musashi

Might have another name but that's what I was told they were called.
They are a finishing move for legs I used at the ends of my weights sessions.
Basically you grasp an upright of some sort for balance only!
Then, raise up on your tip toes and as you squat down lean your body back and put your knees out over your toes.This stresses the muscle in a different way and stretches it as well.Standing back up you sort of lever yourself up with the thighs.It really burns!
Here's a demo of it.
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/WTSissySquat.html

GreeBo

Musashi wrote:

put your knees out over your toes.

isnt that incredibly bad for your knees.
I dont think many physio's would recommend you do this....One of the guides for a normal squat is "dont let your knees pass your toes"...
I'd avoid these unless you want your knees to go POP.

Musashi

It's not a normal squat, is there such a thing?
Hack squat aint normal, split squat neither!
It's a non weighted body weight exercise. Stop if something tears, as with all lower body work!
Guy wanted stuff he could do at home,I just try to give him options!
Deads and Squats,(I like front squats), are the boss! But lacking Iron he's gotta be more experimental.
If it burns it earns! Here endeth the sermon

GreeBo

Musashi wrote:

Stop if something tears

Yes, wonderful advice....

sound_wave

Musashi wrote:

If it burns it earns!

so true

Musashi

Checked this out with my mate who is a sports Physio.
He says it is "contra-indicated" and your gym instructor will tell you not to do this move. However the Hurdlers Stretch and the "Cobra" stretch,where you lie face down and press your body up to arms length while keeping your hips to the floor, are also "contra-indicated".
Basically any move,exercise,or stretch which might hurt you is now verbotten.
The Gym guy has told you not to lift your foot above waist high when stretching so if you do it and injure yourself the gym is covered.
Not a lot of help if your a gymnast or Martial Artist however!
Try it and if it helps you fine, if you dislike an exercise you'll not want to keep it in your sets anyway.And as always keep good form and control,don't bounce and if you feel sharp darting pain stop.