Whether you’re looking to shed a few pounds to lean out or make a major change in body composition, you can’t overlook your biggest muscle groups.  That’s right… you need to workout legs to lose weight!  Spending hours strapped to the elliptical machine or step mill isn’t gonna cut it.  You need to build the power house muscles of the lower body to fire up the fat burning machine!

Workout Legs to Lose Weight

Compound Exercises like squats and deadlifts are key.  Not only do they work and engage your core and upper body, but with intense workouts you can actually increase your body’s release of growth hormone and testosterone.  These are some of the body’s best fat burning tools!  And to the Ladies… you shouldn’t be doing squats with 2 pound pink dumbbells.  While you will see the fat burning benefits of these workouts, you won’t put on the muscle mass that the guys do!

Don’t confuse cardio workouts for muscle building workouts.  While you certainly can sculpt a butt you could bounce quarters off of by hitting the Stepmill regularly, you won’t come close to maximizing the fat burning power of the leg muscles without weight lifting.

Intensity is key.  If your goal is to workout legs to lose weight, then actually WORKOUT!  HIIT Workouts are specifically designed to keep your metabolism soaring while engaging large muscle groups.

Skip the machines.  If you’re new to squats or deadlifts practice mastering your form before trying to move mass amounts of weights.  Doing squats on a smith machine for example virtually eliminates your need for balance.  Don’t pay attention to the meatheads in the gym pressing half a ton on the smith machine.  They may look shredded, but I guarantee they would have got there a hell of a lot faster focusing on proper form versus weight.

Workout Legs to Lose Weight – Top 3 Leg Exercises You Need Do (bodybuilding.com poll)

1. Barbell Squats –  Rest the barbell on the back of your shoulders (actually the weight should be distributed between your shoulders and your hands/arms).  Looking straight ahead, slowly allow the hips to come back and squat down keeping the back straight and knees pointed forward.  Lower until your thighs are about parallel to the floor.

2. Walking Dumbbell Lunges – Check out the Triceps and Legs Circuit Workout!

3. Seated Leg Presses – Two things to remember when doing seated leg presses:  Keep your head up and looking forward and focus on keeping your shins paralell to the floor.  You’ll also notice that if you push more through your heels you’ll feel it in your butt and hamstrings more, and if you’re pushing with the top of your foot you’ll feel it in the quads.

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