Leg Day with Allo

Forward Lunges

Forward lunges are a great exercise to start your leg day workouts and transition from your stretches and warm up to your main workout. Lunges engage a large portion of your leg muscles as well as your back and core. 

You can start your forward lunges without any weight or resistance at first, or add a light dumbbell to each hand to help with balance and increase the difficulty of the movement. If you really want to take things up a notch, you can add resistance bands. 

If you are working through a lower-body injury or have issues with balance, you can also do your lunges in a more stationary setup using TRX or support straps to hold yourself upright.

Make an easy superset with your lunges and the next exercise: banded crab walks.

1. Find a space where you have a clear path in front of you, like a hallway or along a wall, and stand facing the direction you want to go. 
2. Step forward with your right leg so that you have to elongate your back leg and sink your body towards the ground making a 90-degree angle at the knee of your right leg.
3. Bring your left leg forward to come next to your right leg as you push up through the heel of your front foot to stand up tall once more. 
4. Repeat the motion with your left leg leading this time. 
5. Repeat for 12-15 reps.
6. Repeat for 3 sets.

Banded Crab Walks

Banded crab walks are an excellent way to target the easily neglected abductor and adductor muscles in the hips. This exercise also works many muscles in the upper legs as well as engaging your core and lower back. 

If you’re just starting out with exercising and strength training, you can start this one without the band first until you feel confident in your form. If you’d like to add more of a challenge on top of the resistance band, you can hold a kettlebell or plate weight at chest height. 

1. Place your resistance band around your thighs just above your knees and plant your feet about hip-width apart keeping your knees bent and pointing over your toes as you sink into a somewhat squatted position with your hips pushed slightly back and out and your chest forward and up so that your back is between a 45 and 90-degree angle.
2. Maintain your posture and engage your core as you step your right leg out to the side and plant it down.
3. Bring your left foot in to return to the starting position.
4. Repeat for 12-15 steps.
5. Switch your leading leg and repeat for another 12-15 steps.
6. Repeat for 3 sets.

Calf Raises

While your calves get engaged in many lower body exercises, it’s still important to target them directly to see growth in muscle size, strength, and endurance. Additionally, calf raises are a great way to improve and maintain mobility in your feet and ankles. 

You can start your calf raises from a flat stance on the floor or add more mobility to the motion and engage your ankles more by laying a plate weight on the ground and standing with the balls of your feet on the weight to allow your heels to dip down for a wider range of motion. 

You can increase the difficulty by holding dumbbells in each hand or by using a calf-raise machine.

1. stand with your feet about hip-width apart while holding a dumbbell in each hand down at your sides. 
2. Keep your back straight as you raise your heels off the ground and flex your calf muscles.
3. Hold here for a moment before releasing back down, but don’t let your heels come all the way to the ground.
4. Repeat for 12-15 reps.
5. Repeat for 3 sets.

Romanian Deadlifts

Romanian deadlifts, also called straight leg deadlifts, offer a large shift in muscle focus with just a slight variation on a traditional deadlift. 

The only difference is that you won’t bend your knees anywhere near as much as you would do in a regular deadlift and so you won’t bring the bar all the way to the ground. This small difference shifts the target engagement into your hamstrings to work the back of the legs more intensely than the front. 

Romanian deadlifts are best done with a barbell, but you can improvise with a kettlebell or a set of dumbbells if you need to. Feel free to do this as a superset with the goblet squats in the next section. 

1. Start by holding the barbell in front of you with an overhand grip as you stand tall with your feet about shoulder-width apart, feet firmly planted into the ground.
2. Keep your head and chest up as you hinge from the hips and slowly lower the bar towards your feet, taking only a slight bend in the knees.
3. Pause briefly at the bottom of the motion before lifting back up.
4. Squeeze your glutes as you drive your hips forward and your shoulders back.
5. Repeat for 12 reps. 
6. Repeat for 3 sets.

Goblet Squats

It just wouldn’t be leg day without squats. Goblet squats are a great way to switch up the distribution of weight compared to a traditional shoulder-loaded squat and they are easier to do outside of a gym if you need to work out at home.

You can start off with just bodyweight squats at first if needed and then move up to a small weight, increasing gradually as you build strength. If you want to add an extra level of difficulty you can throw in a pulse at the bottom of the squat.

1. Hold your weight at chest height with both hands and plant your feet shoulder-width apart and pointed slightly outward. 
2. Keep your head and chest up and engage your core as you sink your hips back and down, bend your knees, and inhale. 
3. Exhale as you drive through your heels to push yourself back up to the start position. 
4. Repeat for 12 reps.
5. Repeat for 3 sets.

Hip Adductor Flex

We worked the hip abductors with the crab walks, now it's time to hit the hip adductors on the insides of your thighs. This will help with your full range of motion in your legs and hips.

Hip adductor exercises are difficult to do without the correct equipment so it’s best to use a hip adductor machine at your local gym. 

1. Set the machine to the desired weight and sit in the seat with your back against the pad and your feet placed in the holsters so that your legs are pressed against the action pads.
2. Keep your head up and spine neutral as you exhale and squeeze your thighs together.
3. Hold here for a moment as you flex.
4. Maintain control as you slowly release and bring your legs back out wide. 
5. Repeat for 12-15 reps.
6. Repeat for 3 sets.