Episode 185: 10 Best Leg Exercises for Beginners

In this episode, Dr. Jeff Armstrong, an exercise physiologist and certified strength and conditioning specialist, and co-host, Corbin Bruton, explore the top 10 leg exercises for beginners. They compare their picks with those from a recent Men's Journal article and AI suggestions. They discuss the importance of leg exercises for aging well and dive into the benefits and techniques of each exercise, including squats, lunges, deadlifts, and more. Stay tuned for expert advice and practical insights to help you kickstart your fitness journey!

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Transcript

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An article titled, The 10 Best Leg Exercises for Beginners, appeared in a recent issue of Men's Journal. I am Dr. Jeff Armstrong, an exercise physiologist and certified strength and conditioning specialist with my co host, Corbin Bruton. In this episode of the Aging Well podcast, we share our 10 best leg exercises for beginners and compare this with what the author listed, as well as what AI suggests. We will also share insights into why it is important not to skip leg day to age well. Dr. Armstrong. I got a men's journal here, an article, about the top 10 best leg exercises for beginners. And I thought, we really haven't covered one of these in a while. what a great opportunity to actually cover one of these. Go back to the basics and come up with their own list of top 10, leg exercises. What do you think about that? Let's take this one exercise at a time, listing our 10 best exercises in ranked order. starting with number 10 and discuss the articles list. So what is your number 10? Number 10 for me, probably sumo squats. Okay. Why is that? I just feel like it is a good basic exercise. As far as hip mobility, I just feel like you're not hitting all the quads. You're not hitting the hamstrings. you're just hitting that internal, like your. Adductor muscles. I feel like it's good for a beginner. It's very, good with the basics, but as far as overall muscle activation, for me, I'm going to place that at number 10. Okay. I have leg extension. Is I think leg extension, not one of my favorite. I don't like isolation exercises per se, but for beginning to learn how to activate the muscles and, you know, get a feel for how the quadriceps need to be contracting to stimulate growth and increases in strength in the quadriceps. I think the leg extension is a good exercise for beginners. And so I ranked it number 10. What's your number nine? Number nine, I have hamstring curls it's pretty basic. it's a good way to activate the hamstrings. You're utilizing the machine, you're laying down, you're able to girl, you know, with your bicep femoris. And, I don't know, I think it's pretty simple. it also allows you to isolate the hamstrings without putting too much strain on the knees. I have it at number nine as well. it's not one of my favorite exercises. because it's on a machine and it is an exercise that people can have difficulty doing properly. it can be a good beginning exercise to learn the rhythm of contracting the hamstrings, getting that good stretch and working the distal joint of the hamstrings. What is your number eight? Number eight. I have a regular squat, but elevated on the, like where your heels are elevated for number eight. Okay. so basically kind of a squat. I, I'm not a big fan of elevating the heels on a squat and at any time, really. Yeah, it can be good for a slain the quadriceps a little bit more. But for actually learning to get that full mobility, I'm not a big fan of elevating the heels. My number eight is the calf raise. I think it's a good exercise. People need to strengthen their calves. And it's a reasonable isolation exercise for hitting the calves a little bit more. good exercise to learn. Nothing really earth shattering about the calf raise, but a good beginner exercise if we're really looking at work in the lower body. So you got to have calf raises in there because who wants skinny calves? Number seven for me, I have the toe raise. So where an individual is leaning against the wall and lifting their toes upward. the point of that is thinking just basic beginner movement it helps with ankle mobility, which in return is going to help with knee knee mobility and hip mobility as well. So again, I was thinking more along the lines of just kind of super, super basic. You can utilize it as a warm up exercise and it's just real simple. and it actually, there's a lot more literature out there now that it's, helping with athletes and, it's helping with that explosion of jumps and dynamic movements as well. So it's just a simple little warm up. that you might want to throw into your workout routine. But other than that, it's kind of basic. I wouldn't include that as a strengthening exercise simply because there's no progressive overload involved. I, I personally, I, I would think there's a little bit better ways to improve the ankle mobility. one would be to kind of do the same dorsiflexion movement, but having a band that is pulling the shin. forward anteriorly, so that it opens up that ankle capsule and allows for a little bit of mobility. I think somebody with limited mobility in the ankle just simply raising their toes off of the floor isn't going to improve anything because they're not necessarily improving on What is limiting that mobility in the first place? So I would disagree with you on that one. My number seven is the hip abduction adduction exercise again, kind of sticking to a machine. I'm Big proponent of using machines a little bit earlier on in the training to learn how to isolate the muscles. this doesn't necessarily have to be done with a machine. It can be done with bands, cables, those types of things, even just, using kind of body weight to a certain extent. But getting that hip abduction adduction, I think focusing on the hips. the rotator cuff is a core basic exercise to prevent injury and to, really strengthen the link of the limb to the trunk is critical for a beginner. if you have weak hip abduction, adduction, it's going to carry over into potential injuries and an inability to really progress with the bigger exercises So I think hip abduction, adduction, whether it's with a machine. using banded exercises that could be, you know, doing banded lateral walks and those types of things. That's an important beginner exercise for lower extremity strength. Yeah, ironically, that's what I got for, number six banded workouts. Whether you're putting the band above your knee and walking laterally or mid calf, or even on your feet and you're just walking laterally, you're moving forward or you're moving backwards, anything to activate. those muscles. But again, I wasn't looking at it as strength training. just basic movement for beginners to allow mind muscle connection and to feel the muscles being activated before their actual workout. So your list isn't necessarily the 10 exercises. It's maybe 10 activities that you would do for lower body. Yeah. For a beginning for an absolute novice. And my number six is the Bulgarian split squat lunge. I think those are two different variations of similar movements. getting somebody Beginning to be a little bit more unilateral, but still maintaining some level of stability and it's a pretty good beginning exercise about the Bulgarian split squats going to require a little bit more balance than the lunge does. So maybe a little bit more of a progression from the lunge, but I like those exercises for getting a little bit of stability a little bit of area variation for the lower body. It does work in a little bit more. Maybe the abductors, abductors. A little bit more in strengthening those, through the range of motion. So what's your number five? Number five, just sticking to the basics, I have a lunge, but instead of a lunge going forward, I have the lunge going backwards. the reason for that is a lot of individuals in their beginning Phase and starting their journey, with exercise when they do a lunge right from the get go, a lot of them tend to put a lot of pressure on that knee. And just a small tweak of backwards lunges actually removes that pressure from the knee and helps them adapt to their body's needs. eventually you would want to advance that to either forward lunges or lateral lunges as well. I think a basic stable lunge to begin with is probably better overall than a movement lunge where you're either stepping forward doing walking lunges or a reverse lunge because you have your feet planted consistently and you're moving up and down through that particular range of motion and that positioning, I think is a little bit better of a beginner. positioning for doing lunges. That's why I like the Bulgarian split squat and lunge better. For my number five, I put bench steps. Not always my favorite exercise, particularly for advanced lifters, but for beginners to get that full range of motion in the hip and knee joints to simulate more of a squatting exercise. But again, getting that deeper range of motion. Bench steps can be a pretty good and easy exercise for them to do. For some, especially older Beginning lifters that might have some mobility issues. you're able to progress the height of that bench a little bit over time, and that can increase that mobility while still strengthening the joint. So I don't mind the bench steps for a beginning exercise. ironically, number four for me is box steps. So you said bench step, but I said box step, which is essentially the same thing, but again, increasing that height, nice and exploding coming up. Slow and control going down. You can either do this weighted or not weighted it kind of depends on if you're a novice or if you want to make it a little bit more advanced. All right, number four for me then is the deadlift, particularly the hex bar deadlift. I'm not huge in promoting the straight barbell deadlift unless they're planning on going into powerlifting or olympic lifting where they need to be able to deadlift it off the floor. I think a hex bar deadlift is a really good exercise it's one of our basic five foundational movements to get something up off the ground. The hex bar puts it in better positioning of the hands and the weight relative to the limbs that it accounts a little bit better for differences in body types and takes a little bit more of the load off of the lower spine. number three for me is the deadlift. just a standard one, not an RDL, although I do think RDL if you can do that nice, slow and controlled, you really activate the hamstrings. just from the basic, basic, I was thinking just a novice, just the act of. Squatting down, grabbing the bar, and then getting into a standing position. I think the deadlift is an excellent choice. My number three is the RDL. I like that a lot better for hamstring strengthening. it's not that much different than a deadlift. It depends on how you're performing it, but I do consider a more or less different exercises. RDLs with dumbbells with, you know, you can do them with a Zurcher hold. You can do them holding the bar on the back Yeah, many different positions. You can do more of a goblet. You can do dumbbells at the sides. And so I like the variations of the RDL. Number two, number two for me is actually, I have the leg press. So when an individual they're in the machine and they're actually laying down and they're nice, slow and controlled, and then they're pushing up. You can also adjust your foot placement. And by adjusting your foot placement, you're going to get a different effect on the muscles I am never been really a fan of the, the leg press. I just feel like barbell exercises are a lot better overall for a beginner and especially learning movements than a standard kind of view. leg press because you tend to see a lot of people begin to really kind of roll that lower back in the deep part of the, the, the leg press and can eventually cause a lot of injuries. Not, I mean, Don't discount having it on a list. It's not on my list. My number two is the Zurcher deadlift. And I know a lot of people will look at me and say, I'm insane with that. I think every beginner should be doing a Zurcher deadlift. If you can't deadlift it off the ground, then do what I might call a reversed Zurcher deadlift, where you take it from the upright standing position. You're rolling the back a little bit more. So you're really stretching out those vertebral muscles. You're stabilizing, you're going down nice and slow. Then you get into a bit more of a squat as you're going down. And then the goal is to be able to bring that bar all the way to the ground. I've started doing those myself and I'm finding them wonderful for my back. Being six foot five, it's a lot more difficult to get to that full depth. So, I get down as low as I can. Generally with warmup, I can eventually get down to the ground. I'm not anywhere near being able to get it off of the ground, but with time, as I increased my hip mobility, my spinal flexion, and my ankle flexion I think I'm going to ultimately be able to get to, that's a goal and then be able to progress from that. it's an exercise I've really started forcing the wrestlers to do because it is such a functional exercise. I have one athlete who complained of back injuries and after two sessions doing a Zurcher deadlift. coach Armstrong, you cured my back. a lot of it is just kind of that mental inhibition that we get in terms of using our back, especially if we have back pain So doing that very carefully, very slowly can be a very good lift for anybody to do. it's a very functional lift. I put that on my list it may not be as appropriate for our oldest beginning lifters, but if you look at how people pick things up off the ground, the Zurcher deadlift is the exercise. It gets back to the basic body mechanics on that one. I just feel like that might be a little bit more advanced than for a beginner. But, yeah, it's like the more I think about it, you might be on to something there. It's a natural movement. Well, if you think about it, it is a more advanced movement, but it's also a very basic movement. if we wait to add that into our routine we end up building in a lot of stiffness and immobility from doing heavy squats and deadlifts and those types of things. And then we lose that ability to be able to do more of the Zurcher deadlift. if we start it from the beginning, starting it very light, might only be the bar, doesn't even have to be heavy might even be using a PVC pipe or something like that, I'm not a searcher deadlift, but more like a goblet deadlift, kind of the same thing we can progress from there. And it's going to have carry over into all the other exercises. I think in a couple of years, you're going to start hearing everybody on YouTube and Instagram promoting the Zurcher deadlift for everybody. there's a couple of sources right now where I've seen it, where, they do really emphasize it, particularly for combat athletes. it wasn't too long ago where most people hadn't even heard of a Zurcher squat. Now you can't even go on YouTube without seeing videos on why you should be doing the Zurcher squat. So, the Zurcher squat, is going to be my number one, my Zurcher or goblet squat. they are very similar in terms of where the weight is going to be positioned. And so for somebody really beginning, and maybe it's a little bit uncomfortable to hold the bar. In the crux of the elbow, or maybe that's a little bit too heavy. If they're using kind of Olympic bar, you know, depending on the bars that they have, maybe they only have access to dumbbells. The goblet squat is very similar. You can start light, but in most cases, everybody, if they're progressing. over time. They're overloading progressively. That goblet squat is going to become less and less effective because they don't have the weight sufficient enough to overload the muscle groups. And so at some point you have to transition from a goblet squat to a Zurcher squat. personally I would start with the Zurcher if you can. Get used to that weight being in the crux of the arm. As you add weight to it, it's going to get more comfortable and you'll be able to continue to progress up and really start getting heavy on there without undue stress on the back. And I think it's just the phenomenal exercise. It is my number one. If I could only pick one exercise to do for whole body, let alone just legs, The Zurcher squat would be my go to exercise. What is your number one? my number one. I was going off the mindset that this list was for beginners, just absolute basic. my number one is actually a seated squat. if you're having someone who hasn't worked out in a really long time, or they're starting their workout journey, I think that a seated squat. Especially in that fourth age bracket. is ideal. I remember when I was an activities director, there was a lot of individuals that had a hard time getting out of their seat or even sitting down. having a chair or sitting on the couch and pushing off from your knees or the arms of the chair getting into that upright position and then slow and controlled sitting back down. I think for the novice day one, learning your body, learning the exercises. I think that seated squat is a, it's, it's like, it's like, It's like a squat with training wheels, And I really think that's going to be number one. So how is it different than just a squat? Well, it's a lot different than a squat. And the fact that, you know, if you're squatting without, a seat behind you, you have the opportunity to fall, you're at a higher risk there is a big difference between squatting and squatting with. something behind you to sit on. I wouldn't consider this different squat. I mean, it's a squat. all that is, it gives you kind of a target for your depth. if you're talking about somebody who is extremely weak, then a sit to stand is a good exercise. But again, it's still in my opinion, a squat. it's just your, your dynamics are going to be a little bit different. a lot of people tend to kind of swing to use momentum to help get them up out of that chair, that seat. I wouldn't really differentiate that from a squat. if you're talking very bare bone beginner, somebody being able to step So stand up out of a seating position is an essential precursor to being being able to do any squat and then being able to sit back. But I would say you got to be in a really weak position to not be able to in the eccentric contraction, lower your body down to at least perpendicular to the ground, pause, and then be able to stand yourself back up again. if that's the case, then having a bench behind is going to be a safety measure to prevent them from falling backward. in that case, other issues need to be resolved before they really start progressing to a squat. So I'm not arguing it's a bad thing. I just think it's a very sub beginner exercise. the average person should be well beyond the sit to stand to start progressing in their exercise. If somebody is older, and then you get into heavier lifting, trying to target certain positioning. Yeah, there's, there's benefits to a box squat. I just kind of considered that an overall variation to the squat that could be done with a Zurcher, goblet, back squat, front squat, any of those types of things. in my own experience, back when I was personal training, even young individuals in their twenties, didn't have the form or technique to do an actual squat. If they'd squat, they'd actually be pushing their knees forward, could still stay in this upright position where their butt wasn't coming back and their hips were going forward. And it was almost like they were trying to matrix as they were squatting. I think that seated squat, it just kind of, like I said, it's like training wheels. They're, they're, they're getting the movement down. as a beginning type exercise, it's super beneficial to get the actual movement down and then advance it more to just the regular squat. Plus when you're coming up, you know, you have the luxury of pushing off if it's a chair with arms, you can push off the arms or you can push off your own knees. although that's not ideal, eventually you want to stop doing that. if it's an individual, in that. Fourth age bracket, that could be really beneficial for them. I wouldn't necessarily always consider somebody in their fourth age a beginner lifter. remember fourth age is that age of decline, so this person is already. Very advanced, very frail. I wouldn't even be thinking about doing squatting and things like that because somebody in the fourth age, they're probably not in a position to really be able to be doing that. I would stick more with the machines from that basis. I, my concern with kind of starting somebody with, Yeah, somebody who absolutely doesn't need to be doing a sit to stand. you're talking a young true beginner. Their technique might not be very good. I want to work on that technique from a natural squatting position because they're learning to do the squat. there is a little bit of a jump between how most people are going to be getting up out of a chair versus how they would squat, so somebody that is doing a box squat, that's a more advanced lifter. They already have the squat mechanics down and they're utilizing that to strengthen various ranges within the motion. I want to get somebody, if they're learning to squat, to be doing an actual squatting, motion and it may require a little bit of assistance. You can do it with bands, those types of things to kind of lessen some of the load. But I want to build that particular technique rather than using crutches to aid in a similar movement, if that makes any sense. All right, let's jump to what chat GPT says, because a lot of people are going to go to, these AI sources and say, Hey, tell me what exercises I should be doing. What is their list? I'm just going to run through these quickly. Number 10 was leg extensions. I don't know why it says seated leg extensions because, how else do you do leg extensions? there are variations of exercises that emphasize the quads, if you have access to a gym, this isolates the quads and is excellent for building knee stability. Reverse lunges. similar to regular lunges, but easier on the knees, targeting the glutes and the hamstrings. Not an unreasonable exercise. Lateral leg raises, again, kind of really just there framing for the abductor exercises to work the outer thighs. so they have it a little bit lower. I can respect that leg press. If you have access to a gym, we've already discussed the leg press or calf raises. or wall sits. I would have that much lower on the list. And I think that speaks to what you were talking about in regards to somebody who is not able to do a good squat. and going from a sitting position to a standing position. Wall sits might actually be a better exercise for that. my concern with wall sits is it's very different in regards to the motion than a squat. It may be good for extremely weak individuals. You see it a lot in rehabilitation settings. It's going to be a little bit more emphasizing of the quads as opposed to the whole of the muscles involved in a barbell squat. not a reasonable, beginner exercise, but not something I would necessarily jump right into. Number four is step ups. So I think that's gotten on all our lists. where did I have that on mine? I had number five. I think you had it at number four. So you're kind of coinciding with chat GPT. Number three, glute bridges. Neither of us had that on our list. Why was that not on your list? although I think it is a basic move, I just feel like it's not in the top 10. I don't know. I think it, I just don't, when I think a glute bridge, I don't think, Oh, you know what, that's really going to help with my lower body leg strength. if anything, it activates the glutes and that's great, but I don't know. I'm coming from the ground, into a raised position. I just don't look at it as a, superior exercise, I guess. it can work the glutes. glutes and the hamstrings, at the hip joint is quite important for building functionality and strength. And we need those muscles to walk, to run, do those types of things. I feel like the glute bridge is. overemphasized. it has gotten its way into the gym because it's convinced women that it's going to give them those big, firm, round butts that they're after. I don't find it to be that much more effective than other exercises. loading from that position can put a little undue stress on the lower back, particularly that L5 sacral joint. I just don't see it as being that effective. There are better ways to hit the glutes. I would prefer doing more of an RDL type of exercise, deadlift, squatting exercises. it's probably a bit more unnecessary for a beginner and for somebody who's more time pressed in the gym. Number two are lunges. I don't really differentiate between forward lunge, back lunge, walking lunge, all those types of things. I think those are all progressions. but They have lunges as number two. All right. On the number one body weight squats, fundamental exercises, strengthens your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and core. So nothing earth shattering about that or that list. Any comments on the list? Just, I can't believe the, the, the glute bridge. that's the only one I like. Everything else. Yeah, I could see those all being a beginner exercise and someone who's about ready to start their journey, but that glute one, it just threw me off for a second. you're going to realize this is chat GPT. They're drawing from the internet. right now that's a very popular exercise. You're going to see it a lot on Instagram YouTube and, in articles In fact, as we jump into The list from men's journal, number 10 is the glute bridge. we've already talked about why we think that is probably not necessary on the top 10 list. Their number nine is walking lunges. Again, why walking lunges rather than a standard lunge? when I see people doing walking lunges that are beginners, I see very poor technique. I see really driving that knee over the foot far too far. A lot of lacking lateral stability. I would prefer doing a standard in position lunge and then progressing from that where walking lunges can be a way of developing a little bit more explosiveness in your lunge. what are your thoughts on walking lunges? Well, with my list, I used the backwards lunge to prevent an individual from stepping too far forward. the reason people step too far forward is they're used to the lunges they did in school to stretch. their groin area out. And that lunge is way different than an actual strength building lunge, a strength building lunge. You're not necessarily focusing so much on the stretch. You're focusing on activating the quads, the hamstrings, and the glutes while the actual long stretched out where you're just kind of holding that lunge. I think an individual who's a beginner, I don't think that they can. compartmentalize the two, and I think they're blending it all together. And I also think when it comes to walking lunges, not a lot of people like it. so they're like, I just want to get this done. And if I go really fast, then I'll just get down to the end and it won't be that bad. but in reality, without them using that slow and controlled technique, they're, they're taking the pressure. And placing it on their knee versus actually having the resistance go into the muscles needed for that. And so that's why on my list to eliminate I suggested the backwards lunge, because one that forces people to slow down and two, that removes that stress and strain on the actual knee. Well, I think all of what you just said there really comes down to coaching cues. It's not the fault of the exercise. It's the fault of the exerciser or the coaching they're getting about doing that exercise that's going to create the problems within those particular exercises. when I look at lunges, I'm going to look at those in terms of the overall progression. from a good basic lunge where you're able to drop down to where essentially the front knee and the back knee are both flexed to about 90 degrees and then return up to a more standing position. And then you can look at being able to step back into that same position or step forward into that same position. And you can do, you know, all right legged at a time and then left leg or you can alternate legs. There's so many different things that you can do with the lunge exercise. So I just kind of put the lunge as a lunge. Number six is the dumbbell deadlift. essentially to me, that's the same as a hex bar deadlift. you're just going to be able to weight them differently. Yeah, not a bad choice, but there are other choices. The deadlift is the exercise the dumbbell versus a barbell versus hex bar is really more of a matter of how you are waiting the exercise. I mean, you can even do a landmine deadlift which would be as effective as well. thoughts on that? no, I mean, kind of going with you. I don't really see. The difference with the dumbbells, unless someone just doesn't have access to an actual, Olympic bar. But I think the standard deadlift with the Olympic bar is superb. I know you're more of a fan of the hex bar, but I think the standard one is For me, at least it's way superior. hex bar. It's great, but I feel it more in my upper back, just from that position versus in my legs having the bar in front, I feel it way more in my glutes, hamstrings, and quads. I would kind of disagree with you and I think most, when you look in the strength and conditioning community would probably disagree with that. The difference in those exercises and the benefits of the straight bar versus the other bar. But let's go on to number five, which is the Swiss ball hamstring curl. Decent exercise. For beginners. Is it really necessary? to have a Swiss ball or physio ball for one, it's not as progressive. as other exercises might be. If you have access to a leg curl machine, I think would be much, much better. I would also argue that the RDL is a better exercise in that regard. Your thoughts? No, I don't have any thoughts on this one. next is number four, the Bulgarian split squat. I think that was on my list. I don't know if you had it on your list. Reasonable beginning exercise. I'm not going to comment on that much more because we've already talked about the split squat. Split squat lines, I think, are rather similar. I mean, really, you can look at the Bulgarian split squat is being a rear elevated lunge. number three step up. that's been on all four lists. So Pretty reasonable there I don't understand the differentiation and we don't have to kind of go all the way in the article in their explanation, but the difference between a split squat Bulgarian split squat. I mean, it's it's all in the name. when you talk about a split squat. maybe they're talking about doing a barbell squat with one leg more anterior to the other, or you could do that with a hex bar. I don't see any huge difference between a Bulgarian split squat, a lunge and a split squat. Do you? the only thing I can think of is you're a little bit more static versus actually moving, but one, your legs raised and the other one, not, I don't see that much of a difference. you could do a split squat. I was also talking in split squat in terms of having a front foot elevated, which it's just really, again, it's the same thing. You're just changing your range of motion. It's a variation of the exercise. And then finally, they have the Swiss ball wall squat, a physio ball, Swiss ball wall squat. That was on the list from chat GPT. I would not have that as a number one, but if you're really, really getting down to that true beginner, somebody with very weak legs, very poor squatting motion, that may be a reasonable alternative. I think as we look at this list, the biggest things to understand are that when we look at exercises for beginners. We want to stick to that basic five where we have a squatting motion. We have some form of hip hinge motion and that, would entail the RDL, the deadlift, the glute bridge exercise, those types of exercises. I would also include adductor exercises, working the hip a little bit more. It's just a different angle of the hip hinge. then we get into our upper body exercises, our presses and our pull exercises. Looking at lower body, those are the primary things we want to be focused on. We want to be looking at what's working on the ankle joints. So that's our calf raises. for the quadriceps, the knee hinge, you have curls and extensions that can be done with varying squatting exercises. beyond the basic movement patterns, what's important when we look at what exercises are best for a beginner, we have to look at the principle of individuality. where is that individual at? What are their mechanics? What is their movement history to perform specific movements and then build off of that. And then we need to consider the principle of specificity, you know, specific adaptations to impose demands. That's going to where we get into not necessarily the movement itself, but how do we implement that movement, the tempos, the loads. the number of repetitions that we do, that becomes very critical. And then we get into progressive overload, which is the most important thing. as we look at a beginner, what is the minimal movement pattern necessary to activate the essential muscles? And then how do we progress from there? with my list, what I attempted to look at was things that I can take from a beginner progress on to an intermediate, even to an advanced lifter. Any final thoughts as we wrap up our list of the 10 best leg exercises for beginners? no matter where you are in your journey, if you're a beginner or if you're advanced, start with a goal in mind and try to advance yourself as much as possible. Don't just be stagnant with that one particular exercise. Look at it as a Stepping stool to advance yourself and move forward. the goal is to always age well. So no matter what exercise you're doing, do it with a purpose. Thank you for listening. I hope you benefited from today's podcast. Until next time, keep aging well.