10 Best Calisthenics Leg Exercises for Beginners and Intermediate

Getting big and strong

legs with calisthenics is

What's up, guys?

It's Bas here from Calisthenics Family.

Bodyweight exercises

can be very effective for training legs,

especially if you're a beginner or

you don't have access to gym equipment.

In this video,

I'll show you the

This video is for all calisthenics athletes

who want to get bigger and stronger legs

and also want to work on their

All these exercises can be found

in our Calisthenics

Family workout app in a structured way.

So make sure to check that out.

Watch this video all the way to the end

in order to enter t

The first exercise is

This exercise targets the quadriceps,

hamstrings and glutes to perform this exercise.

Start with your feet shoulder width apart.

Lower your hips by bending knees,

keeping weight in the heels and keeping your chest lifted.

Go to about 90 degrees or more if you can.

From there, push to your legs and use

back up while also tensing your glutes.

You can make this exercise harder by adding weight,

increasing time under tension

or doing paused reps.

The second exercise is

This exercise requires

and can be modified in intensity.

So it's a challenge for everyone,

To perform

this exercise, extend

one leg straight in front of your body,

keep the torso upright, and lower yourself

until your hip is below your knee.

From there, push through your heel leg and squeeze

your glutes to return to a standing position.

If the pistol squat is too hard,

you can either do negative pistol squats

with a box assisted, which will help

with the strength requirement of this movement.

Or you can do assisted pistol squats with a resistance band

to focus more on the balance, stability

and flexibility of this move.

The third exercise is

This exercise is great for building hamstring strength.

You can do this exercise by either

performing a negative Nordic girl

where you try to control the downward motion

of the movement, lengthening the hamstring.

Or you can use resistance bands

to do a full assisted Nordic Curl

where you also do the concentric motion

with help of the resistance band.

To do this exercise, put your knees on the floor

and your heels under a bar, couch or another heavy object.

Extend your hips forward and squeeze your glutes.

From here, try to lower yourself down

in a controlled manner.

If you don't have a place where

you can put your heels under,

then you can also do this with your partner.

Your partner puts his or her weight on your heels

so you can perform this exercise in the same manner.

The fourth exercise is the

This exercise is great for building

quadriceps, strength and adding muscle to your leg.

It is similar to the Nordic curl,

but instead of your upper body moving forward,

you move your upper body backwards while keeping

your hips extended and your glutes tensed.

Try to go as deep as you can

without losing the line in your upper body.

hold this position for one second

to get rid of momentum and then activate your quadriceps

to get back up while keeping your hips extended.

Over time

you will notice that you can go deeper and deeper.

You can also perform this exercise

with the help of a resistance band to make it easier.

The fifth exercise is

This exercise targets the

It also helps with increasing your flexibility

in the calf muscles, which will help with keeping

your heels on the floor

when performing squats or pistol squats.

To perform this exercise, start in a lunge position.

Drive the knee that is in front of your body

over your toes as far as you can in a controlled manner.

Try to keep the heel of the leg

that is in front flat on the floor.

Resist the urge to take your view of the floor

in order to go deeper.

Once you're in the deepest position.

Hold this for 1 to 2 seconds.

If this exercise is too easy, add weight to make it harder.

If this exercise is too hard, elevate the front leg

to make it easier.

The sixth exercise is

This exercise dogs predominantly

the glutes and the hamstrings.

To perform this exercise, lie on your back, knees

bent and feet flat on the floor.

Drive your hips up by squeezing your glutes,

extending the hips and pushing your heels into the floor.

Try to contract your glutes as much as you can.

Hold the top position for 3 seconds

and then lower yourself down in a controlled manner

to make it harder,

You can do a single leg hip thrust

where you only have one foot on the floor.

The seventh exercise is

This exercise targets

and can also improve

balance and coordination.

To perform this exercise, elevate the back foot

and then lower the body into a lunge position

with the front knee over the ankle

and the back knee almost touching the ground.

Hold this position for one second and then push back up.

If you want to put more focus

on the quadriceps with this exercise,

get the front foot a bit closer to the box or bench.

If you want to focus more on glute activation,

then bring the front foot further away from the box

or bench.

If this exercise is too hard,

you can start with normal lunges.

If this exercise is too easy, you can as a way to make it

more challenging.

The eighth exercise is

This exercise is a plyometric exercise

that combines a squat with a jump, which is great

for improving explosive power in the leg.

It targets t

and can also

improve

Start in a squat position with your feet shoulder

width apart, then jump explosively upwards

as high as you can, reaching your arms backwards.

If this exercise is too hard, focus on normal bodyweight

squats first to build up the strength in this exercise.

If it's too easy, you can do a harder variation

such as a jump to squat, where you start on your knees

and jump into a squat and then do a jump squat.

The ninth exercise is

This unilateral exercise targets

To perform this exercise, stand on one leg,

keeping a slight bend in the knee while hinging

forward at the hips and extending the non

supporting leg straight behind the body.

Return to the starting position and repeat.

The 10th and final exercise is

This exercise targets the calf muscle.

There are two variations that you can do.

You have the standing calf raise,

Which targets mostly the bigger upper calf

muscle known as the gastrocnemius.

Or you can do the seated calf raise, which primarily works

the soleus muscle, which is a smaller muscle

located in the lower part of the calf.

To perform both variations

raise your heel as high as you can

and contract your calf muscle as hard as you can,

holding the position for one second, then

lower yourself back down to the starting position.

You can make this exercise harder by adding

weights or performing them with a single leg.

All right guys. That his already.

These are

Please don't skip leg day since it's half of your body.

If you want to get started

in a complete way with calisthenics, then

check out our Calisthenics Family Workout app.

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set of our calisthenics family resistance bands.

after publishing this video.

The winner will be announced in next week's video.

This is what we gave away in last week's video,

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