Stronger legs provide your body with a powerful calorie-burning engine. Whatever you can do to strengthen and tone your legs will support your weight loss efforts. Why? Having well-toned, muscular legs will allow you to engage in more intense physical activity. Exercise is one of most critical factors that influence body composition, which determines how many calories you burn each day. In addition to improving your level of exercise, developing stronger legs will increase your lean muscle mass, make strength training easier and offer you better back support.
Increased Muscle Mass
Developing your leg strength helps to build lean muscle tissue. Increasing your muscle mass boosts your metabolism and encourages weight loss because your more-muscular body burns more calories. According to the Mayo Clinic, people who have a large amount of muscle mass burn more calories, even while their bodies are at rest. When engaged in physical activity, a muscular body burns even more calories. Keeping your legs in shape is an excellent way to improve your body composition and build more fat-burning muscle.
Effective Lower Body Strength Training
Making your legs stronger allows you to burn more calories with lower body strength training. Exercises such as squats, lunges, calf raises, leg extensions and leg curls are powerful movements that will help you burn calories, achieve flexibility and keep your muscles toned. To avoid injury, approach lower body strength training by starting slowly and gradually building up the power in your legs for more strenuous exercise.
Increased Stamina for Cardiovascular Exercise
Cardiovascular exercise is especially helpful for weight loss; it is particularly effective for burning calories and fat. Cardiovascular exercise requires a tremendous amount of energy. The more you do it, the more it raises your metabolism, which makes you a more effective fat-burner. Activities that fall into the category of cardiovascular exercise include brisk walking, aerobics, running, cycling, swimming and elliptical training. If you prefer to exercise in groups, try playing tennis, basketball and other high-intensity sports. All of these activities can be considered cardiovascular exercise.
Reducing Chronic Back Pain
If you experience chronic back pain, keeping your legs toned and strong may ease the discomfort. Your legs have large muscles because they are designed to carry your body’s weight. Building and maintaining the muscle tone in your legs will allow them to bear the burden more effectively, minimizing the strain on your spine. According to the McKinley Health Center at the University of Illinois, leg stretching exercises increase the flexibility of your spine and pelvis, which helps to alleviate chronic back pain.
References
- Mayo Clinic: Metabolism and weight loss: How you burn calories
- Georgia State University Department of Kinesiology and Health: Lower Body Strength Training Exercises
- Hospital for Special Surgery: Exercise Tips for Fat Loss
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: McKinley Health Center: Managing Chronic Back Pain
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