My Favorite Exercises For Leg Weakness

1. SLR

2. Hip abd

3. Quadruped bird dog

4. Squat

5. Deadlift

I aim to exercise every day in some form. This could be a 1 mile walk, or my usual 2.25 mile walk, it could be running or it could be my strength training routine that I aim to do 3x/week.

I will admit I don’t like strength exercises, but I do realize how important it is for my body. I didn’t always realize what a huge impact it plays but over the years with the more I’ve learned through my physical therapy courses and my personal training certification. 

When I was running regularly and training for half marathons I didn’t realize how important strength training was for me to be a better runner. Now I lift weights partly because it makes me a better runner, partly because it makes my clothes fit well, partly because it’s good stress release, and partly because the more muscle mass I have the better my metabolism is.

So since I don’t really like strength training I don’t always do my whole routine. I aim to do 20 minutes 3x/week, usually it ends up being a longer workout, but if I do at least 20 minutes each time then I can stop at the 20 minute mark if I’m not feeling it that day. And because of that I have 5 main exercises I make sure I always do for strengthening my lower body and I’m going to share those with you today.

Straight leg raise

This is one of my favorite exercises in general. It does so much for me.

1. It strengthens my quads

2. It strengthens my hip flexors

3. It helps knee pain

4. It stretches my hamstrings

5. It keeps my hips mobile

It’s a well rounded exercise when done properly. The key thing to do with this exercise is to make sure you keep your knee locked out the whole time. When I do this exercise at the end of the rest of my routine I don’t need to add any weights because my legs are already tired so just doing the exercise is tiring enough. And if I’m doing this exercise when my legs aren’t that tired I’ll throw on some ankle weights to add some resistance.

Hip abduction

This exercise I tend to do lying on my side, but it can be done standing, too. I like doing it lying on my side because then I can really control the rest of my body and make sure I’m not compensating in any way while doing this exercise.

This one is one of my favorites because lateral (outside) hip strength is so important for walking and running. We strengthen in the direction we go and we go forward so often and rarely do we go sideways so by incorporating this exercise I can make sure to keep the muscles on the outside of my hips strong.

If you’re someone who waddles when they walk, or walks with a limp this is a good exercise to do.

Quadruped birddog

If you’ve been following my pages and blog posts for any length of time you know that I love the quadruped (hands and knees) position for core strengthening. This position allows the back and core muscles to be optimally strengthened to help standing, walking, and running.

Just think about it before babies stand or walk they crawl on their hands and knees, this quadruped position is the same thing. Instead of crawling forward you just stay in one position.

I like birddog where I move my arms and legs at the same time because that’s challenging for my body. If you’ve never done this exercise before you may consider just practicing engaging your belly and core in the hands and knees position, or moving just your arms or legs. 

Some people think the main point of this exercise is to reach as far as you can. That’s not what I recommend. For birddog the main objective is to keep your belly and core tight, and keep your back flat and unchanged position while you move your arms and legs. So when I do this I focus on keeping my belly tight and my back stable, and I only reach with my arms and legs as far as I can without changing my back position.

Squats

I love the squat exercise. It strengthens my quads, hamstrings and glutes all in one motion. It mimics getting up and down from a chair, or squatting down to pick something up from the floor so it’s good to make sure I can still do this motion for the rest of my life. I vary the position my legs are in my squats to what feels comfortable that day. If I have tight calf muscles or ankles one day I may angle my feet to point outward, or if I want to feel the stretch at the back of the calf and heel I may make sure my feet are pointing directly forward. Can my knees go past my toes in a squat? Absolutely yes they can. When doing the squat I make sure my heels are staying down and I squat with knees over toes if I want to strengthen my quads more, or pressure more on my heels if I want to strengthen my glutes more.

Deadlift

Finally my newest favorite exercise is the deadlift. I love this exercise for leg weakness, hip tightness and core weakness. I didn’t know all the benefits of deadlifting until I completed my personal training certification. We didn’t really talk about this as an exercise in physical therapy school, at that time we kind of talked about it for the athletes. Once I started deadlifting on a regular basis I saw real results with my strength. These are what noticed:

1. My hips aren’t as tight when I deadlift

2. I got rid of hip tightness in the front of my hip with deadlifts

3. I strengthen my core more effectively with deadlifts

4. I can lift groceries better with deadlift training

5. I can pick up the laundry basket and boxes better with deadlift training

As you can see with that list of all the things I noticed with deadlifting I think the most surprising one for me was the tightness in the front of my hips from when I sit so long is gone when I deadlift regularly. This is a game changer. It has changed the way I tell my clients to exercise when they have tightness in the front of their hips.

The key with each of these exercises is to make the muscles tired. That could be from many repetitions, or it could be from adding resistance in the form of ankle weights, resistance bands, dumbbells or barbells.

Ok so let’s recap: My favorite exercises for leg weakness are the straight leg raise, sidelying hip abduction, birddog, squats and deadlifts. When I do strength training I aim to get the muscles tired, have no pain, so I may or may not add resistance with ankle weights, resistance bands, dumbbells or barbells. The newest favorite exercise is the deadlift and surprised me the most with the benefits with the tightness in the front of my hips from sitting too long is gone when I deadlift regularly.

If you’re looking for knee pain relief check out this free guide I created just for you