We’ve all heard the jokes about skipping leg day, but so few realise quite how important training your legs can be for a healthy workout routine.

Indeed, many of us focus on building a bigger bum or slimming down the waist, but actually, working on your legs can help you achieve the overall health and fitness goals you’re looking for, you just probably never quite realised it!

1. BASIC FUNCTIONING

From running to walking, cycling to getting up the stairs, we use our legs constantly from the moment we wake up until the moment we go to sleep. Training and building strength in our legs can help our basic functioning, making things like walking long distances so much easier, but also helping to improve our balance and stability too! When regularly working on your legs, you’ll notice things like carrying your grocery bags and picking up boxes become so much easier, and your basic functioning will be a breeze the more you train your legs.

2. YOU’LL BUILD MORE MUSCLE

Firstly, classic leg exercises like squats and deadlifts have been proven to aid the release of more growth hormone and testosterone than other exercises, helping you to build muscles quicker and more effectively. Not only that, but these types of exercises actually work your whole body, helping you to achieve your overall health and fitness goals whilst building strong muscles at the very same time.

3. YOU’LL BURN MORE CALORIES

Whether or not your fitness goal is to lose weight and tone up, if you want the most effective workout when you step foot inside the gym, you simply must work on training your legs. Training larger muscles like those in your legs requires more energy and therefore burns more calories – which is excellent news for those hoping to lose weight and tone up through exercise. Your gluteus maximus, or your butt, is actually the largest muscle in your body. Leg exercises are key to maximising your calorie burn! 

4. SYMMETRY 

In order to achieve symmetry in your body and to create a smooth and balanced aesthetic, you simply need to work on your legs. Whether you want to tone up, build muscle, lose weight or just get fit and healthy, you’ll want your body to be in symmetry, with your top half and your bottom half looking in sync. 

5. BETTER RESULTS 

Training your legs will help to increase your metabolism, build your strength and increase your range of motion, giving you better overall results and helping you to achieve your health and fitness goals quicker and easier. To put it simply, whatever it is you want to achieve in the gym, training your legs will help to give you better results quicker, so what are you waiting for?

Squats, deadlifts, and lunges are simple yet effective leg workouts that you should be implementing into your exercise routine. Focus on working those leg muscles and feeling the burn to maximise your results and help to make your health and fitness goals a reality.