List of Barbell Leg Exercises

Barbell Squat

• The Barbell Squat is one of the better-known exercise for legs and it targets mainly your quadriceps (front thighs) and your glutes (buttocks).
  
  
• You perform it by first placing a barbell on top of your shoulders (behind your neck) while standing and proceeding with lowering yourself down by bending your knees.
  
  

Barbell Half Squat

• The Barbell Half Squat is a squat exercise variation in which you stop lowering yourself halfway down (i.e. before your knees form 90 degree angles).
  
  
• This leg exercise is helpful if you are looking to reduce the amount of stress being imposed on your knees and can be just as effective given more repetitions or by adding more weight.
  
  

Wide-Stance Barbell Half Squat

• The Wide-Stance Half Squat is a combination of variations in which you put your feet further apart than you normally would.
  
  
• The increased distance between your feet allows you to bring your hip muscles into the mix more in order to assist your thighs and buttocks.
  
  

Heels-Elevated Barbell Front Squat

• The Heels-Elevated variation is often used by people with low ankle flexibility since the position can help them get into a lower position than they would normally.
  
  
• However, since there is debate as to whether this technique puts too much strain on the knees it is probably best to avoid it when possible.
  
  

Heels-Elevated Barbell Front Squat to Bench

• The Squat-to-Bench variation can prevent weight lifters from lowering themselves too low down to a level where they could become stranded (i.e. not able to raise themselves back up).
  
  
• The front barbell placement can help put the focus on the leg muscles and less so on the back muscles since your back is straighter.
  
  

Wide-Stance Barbell Front Half Squat

• The Wide-Stance and Front Half Squat exercise is a combination of three squat variations.
  
  
• You'll find this leg exercise useful if you want to alleviate the stress on your knees and if you want to move the focus away from your back muscles and into your hips and thigh muscles.
  
  

Wide-Stance Barbell Hack Squat

• The Hack Squat variation has you holding the barbell down behind your buttocks instead of on top of your shoulders.
  
  
• One of the concerns when performing the hack squat leg exercise is maintaining balance since the barbell's weight will tend to pull you backwards.
  
  

Barbell Hack Squat with Elevated Heels

• The Hack Squat with Elevated Heels will help you perform the hack squat if you have flexibility issues in your ankles or if you want to be able to lower yourself down an extra inch or two.
  
  
• But as is always the case with the elevated heels position some people find that it puts more stress on the knees than the flat-footed position.
  
  

Barbell Front Lunge with Foot Straight

• The Barbell Front Lunge leg exercise constitutes another but different way to target the muscles located in your legs.
  
  
• Like the squat you'll need to put the barbell on top of your shoulders behind your neck but you'll lower yourself down by stepping forward with one foot instead of staying put in your initial position.
  
  

Barbell Front Lunge with Foot on Side

• The Foot-on-Side Front Lunge variation is quite similar but instead of keeping your feet aligned forward the foot staying back will move to its side.
  
  
• This variation is helpful if you are looking to lower yourself down more than you can by keeping your feet aligned or if you don't want to stretch the calf muscles of the foot staying back.
  
  

Barbell Step-Up

• The Barbell Step-Up leg exercise is similar to the lunge exercise except that you step up onto a bench or a small step in front rather than simply stepping forward in front.
  
  
• Careful attention to one's balance will be required since you'll be moving weight around quite a bit while doing this exercise, especially when stepping down from the bench.
  
  

Seated Barbell Calf Raise

• The Seated Calf Raise is the leg exercise you'll need if you want to target your calf muscles specifically.
  
  
• It is performed while sitting on a bench by placing the barbell on top of your thighs and by trying to raise your heels off the ground by pushing on your toes.
  
  

Standing Barbell Calf Raise

• The Standing Calf Raise variation is quite similar to the seated version and is second to none if you want to target your calf muscles.
  
  
• Although not required you'll find it useful to have a small object to put your toes one (such as a weight plate) in order to increase the range of motion.
  
  

Looking for more Barbell Exercises?