Don't skip leg day! Everyone knows they shouldn't, but it's not always easy when life gets in the way. Maybe the weather is bad, your car may be broken down, or you don't have time. This one missed day can then easily become two, then three, then four missed days; the whole time your legs are missing out on a chance to grow.

Whatever the reason, it doesn't need to be this way due to the numerous options you have to train legs at home. This article will lay out your 3 best options. We will give you the best leg workouts based on three levels of equipment, so you never have to skip leg training again.

What Makes A Good Home Workout For Legs?

Many people automatically assume that an at-home leg day will be subpar. They think that limited equipment and a smaller exercise selection will result in less gains.

But here's a secret - You don't need a ton of exercises! You need the right ones!

So, what makes a good home workout? One that uses the best exercises by making the most out of your available equipment. Do this and you can effectively build your legs in the comfort of your home.

Here are 3 different leg workouts you can do at home depending on how much equipment you have.

The Best Leg Workout With Equipment

Home gyms have grown immensely since COVID-19. This popularity gave birth to a wide selection of affordable gym equipment, making training at home easier than ever.

Therefore, the first leg workout will be for those with a minimal amount of equipment.

Equipment Needed

You don’t need much to get an awesome leg workout. Here are the three pieces of equipment to have.

Squat Rack Or Power Rack

The central part of your at-home gym will be your squat rack or power rack. This equipment allows you to perform the best leg workout exercises, such as the back squat, at home.

Our SR1 Squat Rack could be a great cost-effective option.

Barbell

If the squat rack is the central part of your home gym, barbells will be the most important part for your leg exercises. Why? Because it’s impossible to perform any of these exercises without it!

Weight Plates

Last but not least, you need some weight plates. Your best bet will be bumper plates.

Not only are they more cost-effective, they’re also safer for your home and will cause less damage if they are dropped (but you should still try not to let that happen!)

If you need a suggestion, our HD plates would be a good choice.

5 At Home Workout Leg Exercises (With Equipment)

If you have the minimal equipment listed above, you’ll be able to train in a similar manner as you would in the gym. Here are the 5 best barbell exercises you can perform at home.

Back Squat (High Bar)

The back squat is the king of leg exercises and is definitely the best leg exercise you can do at home. Luckily, all it requires is the basic setup we laid out above!

When performing these, use a high bar setup, as you'll be getting plenty of hip extension with your other exercise. The high bar setup results in a more upright torso, which isolates the quads more.

Barbell Deadlift

The deadlift is more than a leg exercise; it's a full-body strength and mass builder. Still, the primary movement is hip extension making it the perfect complement to the high bar back squat.

One alternative would be to do a low rack pull or pull from pins. These are a raised deadlift that can mitigate strain on your back. While it does lessen the range of motion, they will let you use more weight. If you choose to use these, use a low setting so the bar is around mid-shin level.

Romanian Deadlift Split Squat

Although not a true deadlift, the Romanian deadlift is a top exercise for isolating glutes and hamstrings. It emphasizes hip extension and mitigates knee flexion which places more stress on these muscles.

Keep in mind the primary goal is to build stress in the hamstrings rather than then go as low as you can. Maintain proper form with a straight back and your shoulder blades pulled back.

Split Squat

Your home leg workouts aren't complete without including at least one unilateral exercise. For this, the split squat is a top choice.

You could perform a barbell lunge but loading is more challenging due to the movement.

On the contrary, the split squat is a static movement, making it easier to load heavy and build mass and strength.

Barbell Glute Bridge

The barbell hip thrust is the best glute exercise there is, hands down. Unfortunately, it requires a bench to perform.

Therefore, you can perform the next best thing; a barbell glute bridge. You perform these in a similar manner but with your back on the ground.

Your Home Leg Workout

This is a great leg workout for your home training. Just remember to always use progressive overload to keep growing (Check out this article to learn the details!)

• Squat 4X4
• Deadlift 3X6
• Split Squat 3X8-12
• Romanian Deadlift 3X8-12
• Barbell Glute Bridge 3X8-12

The Best Home Dumbbell Leg Workout

Don't have a full home gym setup? No worries.

You can build high levels of strength and add pounds of muscle to your legs with a set of dumbbells or kettlebells. Here’s what to do.

Equipment Needed

For this at-home dumbbell leg workout, all you need is a set of dumbbells or kettlebells—both work fine!

If possible, a few pairs would be better as it allows a larger weight range. A larger range of weight makes it easier to use progressive overload and load the various exercises differently.

Either way, you can make it work with whatever you have.

If you are looking for a set (or two or three!), check out our vinyl-coated and powder-coated kettlebells. Both would work.

5 At Home Dumbbell Leg Workout Exercises

Here are the 5 best at-home leg exercises you can use with a set of dumbbells or kettlebells.

Goblet Squat

The goblet squat is the go-to dumbbell exercise for building the quadriceps.

It requires you to hold the implement in the front of your body at chest level, which demands an upright torso. This limits hip flexion and makes the knee extensors (the quads) the primary mover.

B-Stance Romanian Deadlift

Above we spoke about the barbell Romanian deadlift to emphasize your glutes and hamstrings.

You'll take the emphasis one step further with this dumbbell workout by performing what's known as a B-stance Romanian deadlift.

The B-stance Romanian deadlift is a unilateral version so it’ll require less weight.

Further, it’s performed by placing one leg back so your toe is a few inches behind the other heel. You then perform an RDL in the same manner with minimal knee flexion.

This helps most people find targeting the muscle easier due to the movement pattern.

Sumo Squat

The sumo squat is a squat variation that uses a wide stance with your legs rotated outward. Let your arms hang in front of the body and hold onto one or two dumbbells.

Focus on keeping an upright torso during the eccentric contraction (going down). Further, your hips stay closer to your legs compared to other deadlifts.

This places more work on your quads but concentrates on the inner thighs; your glutes will burn, too!

Pendulum Lunge

Why do one version of the lunge when you can do two? That's the pendulum lunge.

While holding dumbbells, you will first perform a forward lunge, which is then followed by a reverse lunge, stepping with the same leg.

Single Leg Dumbbell Glute Bridge

As mentioned above, the barbell hip thrust is the single best glute exercise.

However, as you only have a set of dumbbells, you’ll need to use what you have. Therefore, you can perform the single leg dumbbell glute bridge. This will automatically increase the difficulty.

You can then load your hips with a dumbbell (or two) to really increase the intensity.

Your Home Dumbbell Leg Workout

If you have just 1 or 2 sets of dumbbells, you can use rate or perceived exertion (RPE) and increase reps over time. If you have a larger range of weights, you can increase the load as well.

• Goblet Squat 4X8RPE
• B-Stance Romanian Deadlift 3X8RPE
• Sumo Squat 3X8RPE
• Pendulum Lunge 3X8RPE
• Single Leg Dumbbell Glute Bridge 3X8RPE

The Best Leg Workout With No Equipment

Have you ever heard you can't build leg muscle without weights?"

Well, we're here to tell you that you can. Here are the best home workout leg exercises you can do with minimal or no weight to increase mass and muscle size.

Equipment Needed

Nada! These leg exercises can be used with absolutely zero equipment.

5 At Home Leg Exercises Without Equipment

The following are 5 leg exercises you can do at home using only your body weight. Since you'll use no external load, these exercises will use variations to increase the load placed on your lower body.

Squat Jump

Body squats are a great leg exercise, but there's a problem: For many people, they can be a bit too easy to stimulate growth. For that reason, we'll have you do squat jumps instead.

Squat jumps are a power movement that requires your muscles to produce as much force as possible as fast as possible. Ultimately, this means more muscle activation!

Studies have shown that these still stimulate muscle growth, even with very small loads or no loads at all!

Skater Squat

Skater squats are basically an unsupported lunge, and if you think that sounds tough, you're right! But that toughness will help you build muscle.

The skater squat is going to help put mass on the entire leg and increase your leg strength. At the same time, you’ll improve balance and increase joint stability.

It’s a challenging exercise so feel free to use regressions. This can include the Bulgarian split squat of holding onto a sturdy object to help assist.

Nordic Curl

The Nordic curl is an intense leg exercise to train your hamstrings and to a lesser extent, your glutes.

It relies on using the eccentric contraction of the hamstrings to lower the body down slowly. Eccentric training has been shown to be the primary contraction that stimulates muscle growth and strength.

You can then either raise yourself back up using your hamstrings or stop the exercise and reset at the top position. Either way, your hamstrings will feel it. Trust us.

Nordic curls are an advanced exercise so start slow. Begin by performing partial reps.

Lower yourself down as low as you can and then pull yourself back up. You can then progress on going lower and lower.

Kickstand Squat

A kickstand squat is a single-leg squat. Kind of.

Perform these by placing one foot slightly behind your other foot, where it will assist with balance. Even though it's on the ground, it should act more like a kickstand for support rather than provide force output. Therefore, it's up to you to control how much, or how little you use it.

Walking Lunges

Walking lunges are a great option for training your legs at home. They're challenging and will push your training to the next level.

Instead of performing them with a traditional rep scheme (e.g., 3x8, 5x5), setting a goal number works great.

For example, in week 1, you could do 50 lunges. Then, in week 2, you'd want to do 60 lunges and so on.

The Best Leg Workout With No Equipment

When performing these movements, you’ll primarily be using RPE. As you won’t be able to load, your main goal is to take your exercises to near failure and increase total reps over time.

• Squat Jumps 5 X 5 (Max Effort)
• Skater Squat 3 X 8RPE
• Nordic Curl 3 X 8RPE
• Kickstand Squats 3 X 8RPE
• Walking Lunges 50

Never Miss Your Leg Workouts At Home Again!

Next time you feel like training in your PJs and controlling the music, you can now train your legs at the same level as the gym!

We laid out a total of 15 awesome home workout leg exercises that can be performed with three different levels of equipment.

Remember the most important factor is to always push your body and do more than you did the week before. This is true at both the gym and home.