Calisthenics Leg Workout – Introduction
What is a great calisthenic leg workout for beginners at home – no weights necessary?
When it comes to leg training or strength workouts in general, most people lift weights.
And while there is nothing inherently wrong with using barbells, dumbbells, or resistance machines in your workouts, they’re not always available.
Sure, you COULD go to the gym or buy some equipment for your home, but these things are often barriers to consistent exercise.
In contrast, you can do calisthenic or bodyweight training almost anywhere and anytime.
Work out at home on rising, in a perk at lunchtime, or in your yard after dinner.
With calisthenics, you are the boss!
However, to get the most from bodyweight training, you still need to follow a logical program.
You can’t just do a few sets of push-ups and expect to get good results.
So, in this article, we will share a great calisthenic leg workout that’s perfect for beginners.
However, more experienced exercisers can do it too.
Table of Contents
- Leg Calisthenics Workouts – Introduction
- Beginner Calisthenic Leg Workout
- Calisthenic Leg Workout FAQs
- Best Calisthenics Leg Workout – Wrapping Up
Beginner Calisthenic Leg Workout Overview
This workout is designed to work all your major lower body muscles.
You can do it once per week or more often if you wish.
If you decide to work your legs more frequently, make sure you give yourself time between sessions for recovery, e.g., Monday and Thursday.
But, before you start this (or any other) workout, spend a moment or two preparing your muscles and joints for what you’re about to do.
Walk, jog, or jump rope for 5-10 minutes, then mobilize your ankles, hips, knees, and lower back.
Finish off by doing a few stretches for the target muscles, paying extra attention to any that feel tight.
Best Calisthenic Leg Exercises List
- Hip thrusts
- Wall squats
- Hamstring walkouts
- Step-through lunges
- 11/2 rep squats
- Prisoner good mornings
- Standing calf raises
Feeling warm and ready to go? Then let’s do it!
Here’s your calisthenic leg workout:
Calisthenic Leg Workout
Not sure how to do some of these exercises?
No problem!
All the exercise descriptions are covered in the next section.
Calisthenic Leg Workout Instructions
Follow these step-by-step instructions to get the most from your calisthenic leg workout:
#1. Hip thrust
Target muscles: Gluteus maximus, hamstrings
Prolonged sitting can put your glutes and hamstrings to sleep.
This exercise will help wake them up, so they’re online and ready for the rest of your workout.
Steps:
- Lie on your back with your legs bent and feet flat on the floor.
- Pull your toes up toward your shins.
- Drive your heels into the floor and lift your hips up toward the ceiling, taking care not to hyperextend your lower back.
- Lower your butt back to the floor and repeat.
Floor Glute Bridge Demo
#2. Wall squat
Target muscles: Quadriceps
It’s not just your glutes and hamstrings that go to sleep when you spend a lot of time sitting; the quads do, too.
This isometric or static exercise will fire up your quads, so you get more from the following exercises.
Steps:
- Stand with your back against a smooth wall.
- Put your feet out in front of you, about 24 inches from the wall.
- Bend your legs and slide down the wall until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
- Press your lower back into the wall.
- Hold this position, but not your breath, for 20-40 seconds.
- Rest a moment and repeat.
How to Do a Wall Squat
#3. Hamstring walkout
Target muscles: Gluteus maximus, hamstrings
While leg curls are probably the most widely performed hamstring exercise, they aren’t very practical if you don’t train in a gym.
Don’t worry, though; you can still train your hammies with just your body weight.
Steps:
- Lie on your back with your legs bent and feet flat.
- Lift your hips up toward the ceiling.
- Keeping your hips up, walk your feet out and away from you until your legs are almost straight.
- Do not let your butt touch the floor.
- Walk your feet back in and repeat.
Hamstring Walkout aka Glute Bridge Walkout Demo
#4. Step-through lunge
Target muscles: Gluteus maximus, hamstrings, quadriceps, abductors, adductors
Step-through lunges combine front and rear lunges to deliver an unparalleled bodyweight leg workout.
If you only do one calisthenic leg exercise, this should probably be it!
- Stand with your feet together and your arms by your sides.
- Take a large step forward, bend your legs, and lower your rear knee down to within an inch of the floor.
- Next, push off your front leg and straight into a backward lunge.
- Again, bend your legs and lower your rear knee down to within an inch of the floor.
- Push off your back leg and bring your feet back together.
- Repeat this forward/backward lunge sequence on the opposite leg.
- Continue alternating legs for the duration of your set.
Bodyweight Step Through Lunge Demo
#5. 1 ½-rep squat
Target muscles: Gluteus maximus, hamstrings, quadriceps, abductors, adductors
Just in case the previous exercise failed to set your thighs alight, here’s another exercise for your upper leg and hip muscles.
Squats are a popular and effective exercise, but this variation turns the intensity up a couple of notches!
Steps:
- Stand with your feet just outside shoulder-width apart, toes turned slightly outward.
- Bend your knees and squat down until your thighs are roughly parallel to the floor.
- Stand halfway up and then descend back to parallel.
- Stand all the way up – that’s one rep.
- Continue for the prescribed number of reps.
How To 1.5 Squat
#6. Prisoner good morning
Target muscles: Gluteus maximus, hamstrings
Good mornings are so-called because, when you do them, you look a little like you are bowing to greet someone.
Don’t let the polite name of this exercise fool you; prisoner good mornings are an excellent glute and hamstrings exercise.
Steps:
- Stand with your feet about hip-width apart.
- Place your hands on your temples with your elbows pressed backward to open your chest.
- Bend your knees slightly, but then keep them rigid for the duration of your set.
- Push your butt back and hinge forward from your hips.
- Lean over as far as you can without rounding your lower back.
- Drive your hips forward and stand up straight.
- That’s one – keep going!
Prisoner Good Morning Exercise Demo
#7. Standing calf raise
Target muscles: Gastrocnemius, soleus
You probably won’t be surprised to learn that calf raises work your lower legs.
However, what a lot of people fail to realize is that you don’t need to use a calf raise machine to train this muscle group.
In fact, your body weight is all you really need to build an impressive, strong pair of calves.
Steps:
- Stand on the edge of a step, so your heels are hanging off and free to move.
- Hold onto something for balance, e.g., a handrail or wall.
- Lower your heels down below the level of your toes and get a good stretch in your calves.
- Pause for 1-2 seconds.
- Next, push your toes down and lift your heels, so you are balancing on your tiptoes.
- Again, pause for 1-2 seconds.
- Continue for the desired number of reps.
- Too easy? Try doing this exercise on one leg.
3 Great Bodyweight Calf Exercises
Calisthenic Leg Workout FAQs
#1. How many reps and sets should I do?
Specifying an exact number of reps you need to do is hard because we don’t know how strong or experienced you are.
Some people will be able to do more reps than others.
So, rather than worry about the precise number of reps you need to do, just do each set to within a couple of reps of failure.
This could be ten or so for some people or 20 or more for others.
Regarding the number of sets, two should be sufficient for most beginners, while fitter and more experienced exercisers can do three or four.
However, do not do too many too soon, as this will probably cause intense muscle soreness.
#2. Can I change the exercises in the workout?
While you can if you wish, we don’t really recommend it.
Changing the exercise could upset the balance of the workout.
The only reason to change the exercises is if there is one that you cannot do safely or that causes you pain.
Otherwise, changing exercises serves no purpose.
Finding an exercise hard is NOT a good reason to replace it.
Easier exercises won’t give you the results you want.
#3. How soon should I wait to repeat this workout?
Most people should be able to recover within 48-72 hours.
However, if you still feel tired, it could be that you overdid things and need to make your next workout a little less challenging.
Remember, though, more workouts may not necessarily provide you with better results, and most people only need to do this workout twice per week.
Three or more times is probably too much.
#4. Is this a cutting or bulking program?
It’s neither, and it’s both!
The reality is that cutting and bulking (losing fat or gaining muscle) is more about your diet than they are about your workout.
To lose fat, you need a calorie deficit, and to build significant amounts of muscle, you need a calorie surplus.
Your training doesn’t need to change to achieve these two different goals.
So, align your diet to your body composition goals, and don’t worry too much about doing different workouts.
#5. Do I really need to warm up before working out?
Warming up only takes a few minutes but could save you months of lost training time if you suffer what could have been an avoidable injury.
Warming up also increases muscle engagement to make your workouts more effective.
So, by all means, skip your warm-up, but the benefits of doing so are far outweighed by the drawbacks.
Calisthenic Leg Workout – Wrapping Up
Working out doesn’t need to be expensive, complicated, or time-consuming.
In fact, the best workouts are simple, time-efficient, and can be done with minimal resources.
This type of low-maintenance training makes it easier to be consistent.
And when it comes to being successful, consistency is the key.
So, don’t worry if you don’t belong to a gym or don’t have space for a squat rack in your garage – you can still get in great shape using nothing but your body weight for resistance.
Do this workout a couple of times a week for the next 6-8 weeks, and you’ll quickly see just how effective calisthenic leg training can be.
Rich is a NASM-CPT (Certified Personal Trainer),