Training just above the belt is a huge mistake as our lower body is home to some of the biggest muscles in the body. Apart from making your body look proportionate, workouts that challenge your bottom half reward you with strong glutes, athletic quads, healthy hamstrings and toned calves. Here are 7 reasons why you shouldn’t miss leg day:
Reduced risk of injury
Improving lower body strength by performing functional exercises, like lunges and squats, promotes stability in the knee which is one of the best ways to prevent injuries and tears.
Improved Balance
Balance is essential for maintaining control of your body. Exercises like lunges and deadlifts increase your stability, develop your proprioception and help to keep you ready for anything.
Improved Athletic Performance
A well developed lower body will allow you to exert a maximal amount of force, which in turn makes you faster and more explosive. The power generated from our lower halves is is essential for nearly every sport.
Increased Metabolism
Apart from making you speedier on the track, Leg day can also speed up your metabolism. When the body composition has more muscle, it automatically makes the body burn more fuel, thus you will also burn those extra calories.
Improved Endurance
Strength based movements like squats and deadlifts develop your hips and make you a better runner. Strength training can help give endurance athletes a leg up on the competition.
Relieves Lower Back Pain
Weak hamstrings and short and tight hip flexors are most likely to cause some back pain. Strengthening the hamstrings, glutes, and abdominal muscles and stretching hip flexors can help relieve the back pain.
Increased Range of Motion
Mobile joints are required in all disciplines in order to maximize their power output. Learning the correct movement patterns for exercises like the squat, deadlift, and lunge will improve your range of motion.