Forget Leg Machines — You Just Need Bodyweight Exercises and 18 Minutes for Powerful Legs

Getting your hands on the leg extension, hack squat, leg press, leg curl, and Smith machines on a Saturday (the unofficial international leg day) can be as challenging as getting a parking spot at the mall on Christmas Eve.

As a veteran personal trainer with over 17 years in the trenches, I understand the convenience of gym machines. However, you don’t necessarily need machines to build powerful legs.

Dr. Andrew Huberman, an associate professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford University School of Medicine, puts his weight behind bodyweight exercises for building strength and muscle mass.

“Heavyweights (30-80% of an individual’s one-repetition maximum) can help build muscle and strength, but they are not required. There are three major stimuli for making muscles stronger, larger, or better in some way: stress, tension, and damage. All these can be achieved through bodyweight training.”

In this article, I break down everything you need to know to build jacked and diced legs at home using bodyweight exercises in 18 minutes.

The 18-Minute Leg Blast Workout

Irrespective of whether you are doing bodyweight or added resistance workouts, you must spend at least five minutes warming up. Loosening up the joints, tendons, and muscles reduces the risk of injury and ensures optimal mobility to work through the full range of motion.

Hip circles, leg swings, walking lunges, and arm circles are some of the most popular dynamic stretches to warm up for your workouts.

The 18-Minute Bodyweight Lower Body Workout

To ensure optimal training intensity to promote hypertrophy, we’ll be opting for a circuit workout. It involves rotating through a series of exercises in a limited time with minimal rest time between the movements.

Aim for three rounds of the six-minute circuit given below. As you gain more experience, you can try different exercise variations to keep your workouts exciting and challenging.

Time	Exercise	Rest
45 seconds	Air Squats	15 seconds
45 seconds	Jump Squats	15 seconds
45 seconds	Nordic Curls	15 seconds
45 seconds	Lunges	15 seconds
45 seconds	Wall Sit	15 seconds
45 seconds	Single-Leg Calf Raises (22 seconds roughly on each leg)	15 seconds
2 Minutes	Rest

Here is how to perform each exercise with the correct form:

Air Squats

1. Stand upright and place your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Bend at your knees and hips to lower yourself until your upper legs are at least parallel to the floor.
3. Drive through your heels to return to the starting position.

Jump Squats

1. Get into the starting position with your feet hip-width apart and your hands in front of your chest.
2. Flex your knees and hips to lower into a partial squat.
3. Explosively perform a triple extension to launch yourself in the air.
4. Land on your toes with soft knees to limit joint strain.
5. Repeat for recommended reps.

Nordic Curls

1. Kneel on the floor facing away from the Nordic curl strap.
2. Place your ankles under the strap. Your body, from head to knees, should be in a straight line.
3. Extend your knees to lower your torso toward the floor.
4. Break the fall with your hands.
5. Squeeze your hamstrings and glutes and drive your calves into the strap to return to the starting position.

Lunges

1. Stand tall with a shoulder-width stance and place your hands on your hips.
2. Step forward with your left foot.
3. While keeping your torso upright, flex your hips and knees so the right knee is a few inches off the floor at the bottom of the range of motion.
4. Extend the knees and hips, and step forward so both your feet are placed together.
5. Repeat on the right side.
6. Alternate between sides for the recommended reps.

Wall Sit

1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your back against a wall.
2. Slide down until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
3. Hold your arms in front of your body.
4. Hold this position for 45 seconds.

Single-Leg Calf Raises

1. Stand with your heels hanging off an aerobic stepper and raise one leg off the stepper.
2. Hold onto a sturdy surface like a wall for balance.
3. Slowly lower your heel toward the floor to achieve a deep calf stretch.
4. Extend your ankle and pause in the fully shortened position for a second.

A Note On Exercise Variety

Many people who train at home fall into the trap of thinking they need to perform new exercises in each workout to ensure consistent growth. Switching exercises too often can be counterproductive to your gains if they are not backed by a plan.

A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that some variation in exercise selection helps maximize hypertrophy. However, exercises must target muscles in new ways; excessive, random exercise variation may not be as beneficial. (1)

Tips to Maximize Bodyweight Leg Workout Results

To ensure consistent growth, you must employ progressive overload. But how do you do that in this 18-minute bodyweight leg workout? Let’s find out.

Increase Intensity and Difficulty

Don’t go through the motions for the sake of it. Rushing through the reps can take tension away from the target muscles and transfer it to the secondary muscles. Use slow eccentrics to maximize TuT and promote hypertrophy. I recommend my personal training clients spend 3-5 seconds in the lowering phase and at least 1 second in the fully lengthened position.

According to a study published in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, slow- and normal-speed range of motion promoted muscle growth. However, normal-speed training led to slightly better strength gains. (2)

Furthermore, you can employ advanced training principles like supersets and intraset stretching in your workouts to optimize target muscle recruitment.

Focus on Proper Nutrition

To build muscle tissue and strength on a bodyweight program, you must focus on your nutrition. Eat a balanced protein, carbs, and fats meal to achieve maximal growth.

People training for hypertrophy should aim for one gram of protein per pound of body weight. However, make sure you’re not following a cookie-cutter diet plan. Use a diet plan that suits your training objectives and lifestyle for the best results.

Use our TDEE calculator to find your daily calorie and macronutrient goals. Then, use nutrient-rich whole foods to ensure you are checking off all the right boxes.

Recovery and Consistency

Contrary to what most people think, you don’t build muscle during your workouts. You actually develop micro tears in the muscle fibers while training. Your muscles grow back bigger and stronger while you’re resting.

Sleep for at least seven to eight hours each night to give your body enough time to recover. Feel free to take a day off from training if you don’t feel adequately rested. However, don’t use this as an excuse to skip workouts. Consistency is the key to getting you to your training objectives.

Benefits of Bodyweight Leg Exercises

Here are the advantages of adding bodyweight movements to your training regime:

Versatility and Convenience

Leg training machines can help load the target muscles effectively. However, most of these machines are big and intimidating, which makes many newbie gym-goers want to remain in the cardio zone.

On the other hand, bodyweight exercises are incredibly versatile. There are enough bodyweight exercise variations to train your muscles from different angles, and you can use progressions and regressions to match your fitness levels.

You can perform bodyweight leg exercises anywhere and at any time, leaving you no excuses to skip working out.

Enhanced Functional Strength

Bodyweight movements mimic daily activities, which improves your performance in daily tasks like walking, running, climbing stairs, carrying groceries, and getting up from a chair. Most bodyweight lower body movements recruit your core for stabilization.

“Bodyweight exercises are practical, effective, and functional, as they help strengthen the muscles we rely on for everyday tasks,” said Jess Sims, a certified personal trainer and Peloton instructor.

Furthermore, you can perform single-leg exercises to challenge and improve your overall balance and coordination. Most leg training machines require you to use both your limbs, which can lead to strength and muscle imbalances if one side of your body is stronger than the other.

Reduced Injury Risk

When you are doing bodyweight exercises, your focus is on performing the exercises with a picture-perfect form to develop a mind-muscle connection and maximize target muscle stimulation.

On the flip side, most people try to lift too heavy while using leg training machines, which significantly increases injury risk.

Bodyweight exercises allow your joints to move through their full range of motion, which can improve mobility in the long term. Since there is no additional resistance and you are in total control of the exercises, you can find ways to work around aches or pains.

Cost-Effectiveness

Depending on your location, membership fees for decent training facilities can be sky-high, which can be a major hurdle for people trying to shed weight and improve their overall health. Bodyweight exercises can be done in the comfort of your living room and won’t burn a hole in your wallet.

Conclusion

Don’t fret if you don’t have the time or the resources to hit a commercial gym. Bodyweight leg workouts are accessible, functional, and guarantee results. The 18-minute leg workout detailed in this article takes the guesswork out of the equation and puts you on the fast track to achieving your dream physique.

If you have any questions about using bodyweight leg workouts, drop them in the comments below, and I’ll be happy to help!

References

1. Kassiano, W., Nunes, J. P., Costa, B., Ribeiro, A. S., Schoenfeld, B. J., & Cyrino, E. S. (2022). Does Varying Resistance Exercises Promote Superior Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Gains? A Systematic Review. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 36(6), 1753–1762. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000004258
2. Westcott, W. L., Winett, R. A., Anderson, E. S., Wojcik, J. R., Loud, R. L., Cleggett, E., & Glover, S. (2001). Effects of regular and slow speed resistance training on muscle strength. The Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness, 41(2), 154–158.

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