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The article suggests that you shouldn't skip the legs. What's the best equivalent of pullups for leg muscles?
by smallerfish 2y ago
The article suggests that you shouldn't skip the legs. What's the best equivalent of pullups for leg muscles?
- SamBam 2y agoIf you mean in the sense of pulling, probably Nordic curls, although they're a pretty advanced movement. Usually, though, pushing strength is enough for most people for their legs, so if you mean in terms of hard, difficult movements, then working your way up to pistol squats is a good goal for most people.
- alan-hn 2y agoBarbell squats or deadlifts, squats will hit hams, quads, and glutes along with supporting muscles and spinal erectors Deads hit mostly glutes and hams, almost no quads, but a bit more back involvement I recommend doing both, personally If you want bodyweight only then probably pistol squats but it's difficult to work the legs that much with just bodyweight because they already carry your body weight every day
- abakker 2y agoSomething that many people can do is add weights to a backpack. If you have a good backpack and you can add books/water/rocks etc you can squat with that. If the balance of the movement gets a little unwieldy, a slight heel lift block can help. Also, goblet squats with a kettlebell.
- dilap 2y agoI found my pistol squats got better after a few months of just training boxing -- so I think even just hopping around and doing jump-rope is probably pretty decent exercise for your legs.
- alan-hn 2y agoA large part of pistol squats is balance and the strength of supporting muscles, general movement like boxing training would absolutely help with that
- brycethornton 2y agoProbably "air" squats, just squatting to parallel or below without any weights.
- michaelrpeskin 2y agoSquats. If you were only ever allowed to do one exercise, I would say the squats is the best. It hits the big muscles. Forces you to learn balance through the range of motion. And improves flexibility. The hormone release from training big muscles under heavy weight will echo throughout the body and help stimulate growth everywhere. Deadlift is more fun, hits the big muscles, and you can go even heavier. But I don’t see the same benefits when I focus on a heavy deadlift cycle as compared to a heavy squat cycle.
- ungamedplayer 2y agoI find my CNR endurance improves with a heavy dl cycle much more so than a heavy squat cycle. The CNR fatigue really helps with getting to sleep and I feel better the following week(s).
- michaelrpeskin 2y agoYes. That is totally true. You can feel the CNR stimulation deep in your soul. I feel great on a DL cycle and my proportions make me relatively much better at deads than squats so I tend to do them more. But I also recognize that for general health and fitness squats are probably better if you were forced to choose.
- munksbeer 2y agoWhat is CNR?
- michaelrpeskin 2y agoIt's supposed to be CNS (central nervous system), but I made the same fat finger typo on my phone :)
- nightowl_games 2y agoI never recommend anyone do deadlifts. Deadlifts can cause back injury if not done properly. You shouldn't do deadlifts unless you are a serious lifter who is aware of proper form and paying attention to it.
- i_am_proteus 2y agoConsider burpees alongside squats. Bodyweight exercises for lower body benefit from some 'explosive' motion. There's no true equivalent to the pull-up, because your legs routinely carry your body's weight, whereas your arms do not.
- wussboy 2y agoIs there a burpee equivalent that is easier on the knees?
- SamBam 2y agoSee a physio or a trainer to do it right, but in general explosive or percussive movements are supposed to be good for knees. People used to think that jogging was terrible for knees, for instance, but now the consensus seems to be the opposite. Starting slow and doing good form squats and slow burpees could improve your knee health to the point where you can do regular-tempo burpees. However, don't get medical advice from internet forums.
- green_dee 2y agoNothing will never be better than heavy barbell squats, but if variation is needed there's also (in this order) split squats and front squats to try. The only exception is low-bar/leg disability, then I think it might be better to keep it bodyweight and machine oriented (such as leg press).
- ricc 2y agoIf you really mean "pullups" for legs and not just leg training in general, then not much comes into mind aside from leg curls or, as someone else mentioned, Nordic curls. I think the Nordic curls is the only one relatively achievable at home with minimal equipment.
- ramses0 2y agoClipped bicycle pedals give you opportunities for pulling and IMHO semi-qualify as "bodyweight fitness". It does require a bicycle (and shoes/straps), but a bike isn't usually considered gym equipment, and it's heavily involved with your body weight.
- brightball 2y agoWall sits and plyometric squats (jump squats where your goal is to give yourself a soft landing).
- Lalabadie 2y agoAt the risk of stating the obvious, everything done single-leg is equivalent to an overload of 100% of your bodyweight, along with recruiting more stabilizers. It's possible to move from an easier form (simple squat) to a harder one by progressively shifting weight on one leg at a time.
- rjh29 2y agoOne legged squats are not hard though (mostly balance) they just look hard. A 1xBW squat is beginner level.
- cko 2y agoBulgarian split squats (or rear leg elevated squats) are pretty good, especially if you hold a kettlebell in front. If you have a good 40m to run, then I would also do interval sprints.