How To Make Your Legs Bigger Without Weights

Strengthen Your Legs At Home

If you want to build up and strengthen your legs but you don't have a gym membership or access to weights we have you covered. One of the nice things about making your legs bigger without weights is that you can strengthen your legs at home. This will help you to never miss a workout since you will not have to travel anywhere you have no excuse to not be able to get a workout in before bed.

This is especially useful if you have kids. When you put your kids to bed you can just go to another room and begin your workout without worry. Just make sure your not in a room above them and they shouldn't wake up. Exercises without weights are also great to strengthen legs with bad knees since using heavy weights is a lot harder on a person's joints.

You should be performing workouts at least twice a week for your legs. Since we are utilizing body weight exercises your joints will heal quickly. Body weight exercises are a great way to strengthen weak legs.

There are many exercises you can use to strengthen your legs at home. Here are some of my favorite exercises to use at home when I cannot make it to the gym.

• Bodyweight Squats

• 1. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. You can place your hands behind your head. This will be your starting position.
  2. Begin the movement by flexing your knees and hips, sitting back with your hips.
  3. Continue down to full depth if you are able,and quickly reverse the motion until you return to the starting position. As you squat, keep your head and chest up and push your knees out.
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• Sissy Squats

• 1. Standing upright, with feet at shoulder width and toes raised, use one hand to hold onto the beams of a squat rack and the opposite arm to hold a plate on top of your chest. This is your starting position.
  2. As you use one arm to hold yourself, bend at the knees and slowly lower your torso toward the ground by bringing your pelvis and knees forward. Inhale as you go down and stop when your upper and lower legs almost create a 90-degree angle. Hold the stretch position for a second.
  3. After a one-second hold, use your thigh muscles to bring your torso back up to the starting position. Exhale as you move up.
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• Pistols (Single Leged Squats)

• 1. Stand straight with your feet hip width apart, arms fully extended and your hands by your sides.
  2. Raise your left foot from the floor, extending your leg out in front of you.
  3. As you do so, raise both arms out in front of you in a smooth arc for balance. This is the start position.
  4. In a controlled movement, lower your body toward the floor by bending your right knee while pushing your hips back as if sitting down in a chair.
  5. Continue this downward movement until your right thigh is parallel to the floor.
  6. Hold for a count of one.
  7. Return to the start position by pushing down through your right heel and straightening your leg. Lower your arms to the start position as you do so.
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• Single-Leg Hip Raise

• 1. Lie down on your back, with one leg straight, and the other with your knee bent, and foot firmly on the floor.
  2. Place your arms out to your sides with your palms up.
  3. Contract your abs, and press your foot through the floor to raise your hips up, while keeping your other leg straight.
  4. Make sure you squeeze your glutes and hamstrings, while your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.
  5. Lower your hips slowly towards the floor but do not touch the floor. Keep the muscles contracting by remaining 1 inch off the ground.
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• High Knees

• 1. Stand straight with the feet hip width apart, looking straight ahead and arms hanging down by your side
  2. Jump from one foot to the other at the same time lifting your knees as high as possible, hip height is advisable
  3. The arms should be following the motion
  4. Touch the ground with the balls of your feet
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• One Leg Deadlifts

• 1. Stand with feet together and hands just in front of thighs. Lift leg slightly so foot is just off floor.
  2. Lower torso forward and downward while raising lifted leg back behind. Keep back straight and knee of supporting leg slightly bend. Keep hip and knee of lifted leg extended throughout movement
  3. Once stretch is felt or hands contact floor, return to original position by raising torso while lowering lifted leg. Straighten knee of supporting leg as torso becomes upright.
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• Hamstring Curl

• Ball Variation

  1. Begin on the floor laying on your back with your feet on top of the ball.
  2. Position the ball so that when your legs are extended your ankles are on top of the ball. This will be your starting position.
  3. Raise your hips off of the ground, keeping your weight on the shoulder blades and your feet.
  4. Flex the knees, pulling the ball as close to you as you can, contracting the hamstrings.
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• One Leg Hamstring Curl

• 1. Position a stability ball by your feet and your upper back on a mat
  2. Place your heels on the stability ball. Lift your hips off the floor so that a straight line forms between your shoulders, hips and heels.
  3. Keeping the hips elevated and the core tight, bring the heels toward your body, rolling the ball towards your rear end.
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• Hip Bridge

• 1. Lay on your back with your hands by your sides, your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Make sure your feet are under your knees.
  2. Tighten your abdominal and buttock muscles. Using mainly your heels. Lift your hips off the floor keeping your back straight. Hold for a sec, lower yourself and repeat.
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• Elevated Hip Bridges

• 1. Lay on your back with your hands by your sides, your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Make sure your feet are under your knees.
  2. Elevate your feet on a medicine ball, Tighten your abdominal and buttock muscles.
  3. Using mainly your heels. Lift your hips off the floor keeping your back straight. Hold for a sec, lower yourself and repeat.
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• Single Leg Hip Bridge

• 1. Lay on your back with your hands by your sides, your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Make sure your feet are under your knees.
  2. Tighten your abdominal and buttock muscles. Raise your hips up to create a straight line from your knees to shoulders.
  3. Squeeze your core and try to pull your belly button back toward your spine.
  4. Slowly raise and extend one leg while keeping your pelvis raised and level. If your hips sag or drop, place the leg back on the floor and do a double leg bridge until you become stronger.
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• Single Leg Calf Raise

• 1. Step up onto the step with one foot, rising up onto your toes as high as possible in one smooth motion.
  2. Hold for a couple seconds and lower. Step back off the riser to the original starting position.
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• Walking Lunges

• 1. Stand upright, feet together, and take a controlled step forward with your right leg, lowering your hips toward the floor by bending both knees to 90-degree angles. The back knee should point toward but not touch the ground, and your front knee should be directly over the ankle.
  2. Press your right heel into the ground, and push off with your left foot to bring your left leg forward, stepping with control into a lunge on the other side. This completes two reps.
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• Side Lunge

• 1. Start off by standing straight with your feet shoulder width apart. You can place your hands at your side, across your chest or at your sides. Do not use your hands to push of your thighs.
  2. As you begin to inhale, step out to one side. Let's start with the right foot, keeping your left foot planted on the ground. Keeping your body straight.
  3. As you step out with one foot, once it is on the floor bend at that knees lowering your body. Your knee and foot should be in a perfectly vertical line.
  4. Once your thighs is nearly parallel to the floor, hold for a second or two then extend back up and step back to the starting position.
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• Jump Lunges

• 1. Assume a lunge stance position with one foot forward with the knee bent, and the rear knee nearly touching the ground.
  2. Ensure that the front knee is over the midline of the foot. Extending through both legs, jump as high as possible, swinging your arms to gain lift.
  3. As you jump as high as you can, switch the position of your legs, moving your front leg to the back and the rear leg to the front.
  4. As you land, absorb the impact through the legs by adopting the lunge position, and repeat.
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• Static Wall Squat

• 1. Stand with your back toward a wall and place the stability ball between your back and wall. The ball is pressed between your lower back and the wall.
  2. Your feet should be placed about shoulder-width apart.
  3. You can place your hands on your hips for balancing purpose.
  4. Bend your knees, keeping your core muscles tight. Lower your body so that your thighs are just parallel to the floor (ninety-degree angle at the knee joint) and hold.
  5. Still keeping your back pressed into the ball, return to the starting position. Push through your heels to drive your body back to the starting position.
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• Static Squat

• 1. Begin by placing your feet together.
  2. Next, bend at the knees and lower your buttocks down until it is parallel with the ground. Keep your gaze looking forward and avoid looking down toward the ground.
  3. Be sure your knees are not past your toes and your back is not rounded. Hold this position for the desired amount of time.
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• One Leg Wall Sit

• 1. Stand with your back against a wall, placing your feet about two feet out in front of you. Feet should be hip-distance apart.
  2. Bending your knees, slide your back down the wall until your knees are at 90-degree angles. Your knee joints should be over your ankle joints, so you may need to inch your feet further from the wall to create proper alignment. Your thighs should remain parallel.
  3. With your core engaged, extend your left leg out. Hold for 15 seconds, then lower.
  4. Know repeat with the other side
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Use these exercises and you will add significant strength to your legs. Leave a comment on what your favorite exercises on the list are. Or have a favorite exercise that's not in the article leave a comment and let us know.