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Regardless of your goals, a stronger set of legs will help you. They are literally our foundation.
In this article, we'll share how to strengthen your legs without squats.
Chances are you’ve heard that ‘squats are king’ when it comes to lower body training.
However, what if you can’t squat? What if you’re suffering from an injury that limits your ability to squat? Or what if you don’t have the range of motion to squat effectively? Or perhaps your biomechanics prevent you from executing a squat correctly? Or perhaps you just don't like them and feel like you get more out of alternatives?
You don't have to squat, despite what the internet wants you to think.
Back squats provide a lot of spinal loading. If you have a sore back the day after leg day, they're probably not a good choice for you. Evenfront squatscan provide similar challenges.
You can still build powerful legs without doing a squat. To show you how, here are a few programming tips and a sample leg day to follow. Let’s get to work!
Stick with Compound Lower Body Lifts
Just because you can’t squat doesn’t mean you can’t perform other compound lifts and reap the benefits.
These are the money-makers – the exercises that deliver the most bang for your buck. Compound exercises are those that require more than one joint and muscle group. The recruitment of multiple muscle groups allows you to lift more weight total, which then translates to superior strength progression. Compound movements are also fundamental to human movement overall. So even if you don't want to squat, you can mimic the squat movement in a variety of ways.
What are some good options to include? Try the leg press, hack squats, sumo squats, as well as any forms of lunges and split squats, like walking lunges.
This provides a similar movement and plenty of variation to strengthen your legs.
Work Through Variable Rep Ranges
Especially if you don't squat, you’ll want to challenge your body by working through a variety of rep ranges.
When most people squat, they’ll do either very low reps using heavy weight to build maximum strength, or they’ll crank the rep range up, lightening the weight and ensuring that they’re maximizing hypertrophy while evoking metabolic effects.
Employ this same strategy with your other compound lifts.
Choose one compound lift to go hard and heavy on and another to focus on higher rep ranges. Even movements like Bulgarian split squats are suitable for lower rep ranges.
This will have you working across all rep and metabolic spectrums, producing excellent results.
Alter Your Foot Position
Another great tip to build powerful legs without squats is to alternate your foot position on your lifts.
Take the leg press for example. You can do this exercise using a wide array of foot positions, which will target the quads at slightly different angles.
Turn the feet out, and you’ll hit the inner thighs to a larger degree. Turn them in, and you’ll feel the burn in your quad sweep. Use a wider stance leg position that’s higher up on the platform, and your glutes will be called into play. Alternatively, move your feet together, and you’ll get great outer quad stimulation as well.
While you shouldn’t do all of these in a single workout, using these options in different training phases or days will ensure comprehensive leg work.
Train Frequently
Finally, since you won’t have the stress of squats being placed on your body during leg day, feel free to up the frequency of your training. Feel free to train your legs 2-3 times a week instead of the classic bodybuilding split, where you only train the legs once.
Not all sessions should be maximum intensity sessions. If you hit legs three times, do one where you focus on heavier lifts for fewer reps, another where you focus primarily on quad-building movements, and a third in which you focus on the glute and hamstring muscles.
Some sessions should include higher reps, or slower movements as other ways to boost the intensity without needing to go heavy.
Ready to see how to put this information into action? Check out this squat-free leg-building workout program.
Exercise
Sets
Reps
1. Leg Press
1 warm-up*
4 Sets
10*
5
2. Leg Press (with close stance)
3 Sets
10
3. Leg Press (with feet high up on platform)
3 Sets
8
4. Walking Lunges
3 Sets
15
Superset
5a. Leg Extensions: 4 sets of 15 reps
5b. Hamstring Curls: 4 sets of 15 reps
4 Sets (Each)
15 (Each)
Squat-Free Leg Exercise Descriptions:
Leg Press
Start:
Position yourself in a leg press machine and place the feet in the center of the footplate, about hip-width apart.
Move:
Keeping the lower back pressed into the pad, press the platform away from the body, pushing through the center of the feet, and release the lock function. Continue pushing until legs are extended, pause, and then lower back to the start. Be careful to not lock the knees out at the top of the movement.
*Note for variations of this exercise, adjust the position of your feet on the platform as desired.
Walking Lunges
Start:
Stand in an upright position with a weighted barbell across your back, or holding dumbbells in your hands.
Move:
Keeping the back upright, step one foot forward about 2-3 feet and then slowly bend both knees as you lower yourself down through the movement. Pause when you’re at the lowest position and then press up. Step the back leg forward and continue on with the next rep, repeating the movements on the other side.
Leg Extension
Start:
Sit in a leg extension machine with the feet hooked under the foot pad, back flat against the back pad.
Move:
While relaxing the rest of the body, contract the quads and extend the leg. Pause at the top of the exercise and squeeze the muscle to really feel the contraction. With control, lower the legs back down to the starting position to complete the rep.
Hamstring Curls
Start:
Sit in a hamstring curl machine and place the legs on top of the pad, with the lower calf resting on the pad.
Move:
Keeping the back against the back pad, contract the hamstrings and curl the feet towards the seat. Pause when your knees are as bent as they can go, and then slowly return to the starting position to complete the rep.
It's The Movement, Not The Exercise, That Matters
There are no exercises you "have to" do
You can build size and strength with a variety of other exercises, focusing on the quads, hamstrings, and glutes, all the major muscle groups of the lower body. The key is to do the same movements and train the same muscles. The exact exercise can vary.
Make use of the tips provided, and give the sample workout a try. You may find a new way to target your quads that works optimally for you.
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