Looking for a way to improve leg strength without going to the gym? Check out the PT Pros Push-Up Board and portable gym.
This handy piece of equipment can be used at home or on the go to help you get in shape. The Push-up board is a simple yet effective way to work your legs, core, and upper body.
It’s more obvious how this equipment can strengthen the upper body; however, there are many challenging and fun exercises that you can do to train the lower body.
In this blog post, we will discuss some of the best exercises to do with the board and how to use it for maximum benefit.
What is a Push-Up Board?
A Push-up board is a board with two handles and multiple holes to place those two handles to perform variations of push-ups. The different handle placement allows you to target other muscle groups.
Some push-up boards also have additional features that make it more of a portable gym. These portable gyms help you do leg strengthening exercises without weights or other equipment.
Our favorite push-up board is the PT Pros Push-Up Board because it also comes with a workout bar, 2 sets of long resistance bands, and mini-loop bands.
The design and the additional features are more like a portable home gym and make getting a full-body workout easier.
When referring to the exercises below, we are implying and providing instructions for the exercises as if someone were using the PT Pros portable gym.
See Related Topics:
- 7 Bosu Ball Step Up Variations For A Killer Leg Workout
- The Best Bosu Ball Exercises for Stronger Legs and Better Balance
- The 5 Best Mini Band Sets for Stronger Legs, Hips, and Glutes
Can you Strengthen Your Legs Using a Portable Gym?
The simple answer is yes; you can build leg strength with a simple portable workout device.
Leg strengthening exercises often don’t require expensive equipment and are easy to do in a small space. Your legs can gain strength from bodyweight exercises, weights, resistance bands, and plyometrics such as jumping.
There are several leg exercises that you can do with the PT Pros portable gym. We’ll go into more details about our favorite exercises below, but these exercises will help strengthen your legs and improve your balance and coordination.
Do Push-Ups Strengthen Your Legs?
The handles, workout bar, mini-loop bands, and long resistance bands all provide the additional features needed to get more of a workout to strengthen your legs.
While push-ups primarily work your arms, they also engage your leg muscles. When you do a push-up, your legs support a portion of your body weight.
Push-ups do not work the legs enough to grow or strengthen the legs to the needed levels.
We wouldn’t count on push-ups being the only leg exercises we performed for the week.
There are different variations to the push-up that can add more leg strengthening, such as adding leg extensions or a mini-loop band to the exercise.
Can you Perform Leg Exercises with a Push-Up Board?
Yes, there are leg exercises that you can do with a push-up board. In the traditional sense, you won’t be using the push-up board to do this but modifying the position and the resistance to work the legs.
Some of the best leg exercises that you can do with a push-up board are squats, lunges, split squats, heel raises, and squat thrusters.
These exercises target different leg muscles and can be done with or without weights. The push-up board offers an excellent platform to stand on and a way to provide resistance to these exercises, as you will see below.
9 Great Portable Gym Leg Strengthening Exercises
Listed below are our favorite exercises to do with a push-up board. Always be slow when starting a workout program and work up the resistance gradually if any of them hurt; back off on the depth of the movement of the resistance for a week before trying again.
Mini-Loop Band Sidesteps
This exercise is a classic for almost all PT clinics. This will help strengthen your glutes and hip muscles and improve your balance and coordination.
This exercise is a favorite because it’s so effective in a short period of work.
To do this exercise:
- Place the mini-loop band around your ankles.
- Start in a partial squat with your feet and take a small step to the right.
- Keeping the tension on the band, take a small step with the left foot in the same direction. You should try and stay in a partial squat the whole time.
- Repeat this movement for 30 seconds to one minute in each direction.
- Avoid letting your body sway side to side, and try to keep your trunk upright.
Forward and Backward Mini-Loop Monster Walks
This exercise is similar to the sidesteps, but instead of taking a small step to the side, you will take large steps forward and backward.
This exercise targets your glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps and is another favorite because of how much it burns and works the muscles in such a short period of time.
To do this exercise:
- Place the mini-loop band around your ankles.
- Start in a partial squat with your feet together and take a large step forward with your right leg.
- Keeping the tension on the band, take a large step forward with your left leg. You should try and stay in a partial squat the whole time and keep your foot fart apart.
- Repeat this movement for 30 seconds to one minute.
- Avoid letting your body sway side to side, and try to keep your trunk upright. You can also increase the difficulty of this exercise by holding dumbbells in your hands.
Squats with a Bar and Resistance Bands
This is a great leg exercise to do if you want to work your quads, hamstrings, and glutes. Squats do a great job of working the entire legs, and by adding the bar, you’ve turned it into a whole body exercise.
The resistance bands will help build up strength more quickly. You can add as many resistance bands on each side of the bar as you need to feel a challenge.
Pro Tip: If the resistance is too easy, loop the band all the way under the push-up board to the other anchor bar.
To do this exercise:
- To start this exercise, anchor the ends of the 2 long resistance bands to the push-up board.
- Anchor the other ends of each resistance band to the end of the workout bar.
- Stand directly in the middle of the push-up board with your feet about shoulder width apart.
- Place the bar on your shoulders and hold the ends with each hand
- Squat down and lower your hips until both legs form 90-degree angles.
- Keep your chest upright and try to keep your knees wide.
- Stand back up to the starting position and repeat for 15-20 repetitions for at least 3 sets.
Reverse Lunges with a Bar and Resistance Bands
Lunges are another excellent leg exercise that targets your entire legs, including your quads, hamstrings, and glutes.
Reverse lunges might be our favorite exercise because of how quickly they build strength without irritating the joints in our legs.
The resistance bands will add more resistance to this exercise and help you build up strength quickly.
To do this exercise:
- Anchor the ends of the long resistance bands to the push-up board.
- Anchor the other ends of each resistance band to the end of the workout bar.
- Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart and place the bar on your shoulders.
- Step backward with your right leg into a reverse lunge position.
- Your front leg should form a 90-degree angle, and your back leg should be close to the floor.
- Keeping the tension on the resistance band, return to the starting position and repeat with your left leg.
- Continue alternating legs for 15-20 repetitions for at least three sets.
Split Squat with the Rear Foot Elevated
This leg exercise is excellent for targeting your quads, hamstrings, and glutes. The split squat does a great job of working the entire legs and lower half of the body.
This is another personal favorite exercise that doesn’t require much space or fancy equipment.
The elevated rear foot adds more challenge by making it more of a single leg squat, and it challenges your balance at the same time.
To do this exercise:
- Anchor the end of the long resistance band to the push-up board.
- Anchor the other end of the resistance bands to each side of the workout bar
- Elevate your rear leg onto a box, bench, or a step behind you. You can use anything that is about knee height.
- Start in a split stance position and lower your body down with your front leg in a 90-degree position. Keep your back leg elevated behind you.
- The majority of your body weight should stay on the front leg
- Return to the starting position pushing into the resistance, and repeat for 15-20 repetitions for at least three sets.
Heel Raises with the Bar and Resistance Bands
Heel raises are a great leg exercise if you want to work your calves. The calf raises work the lower leg muscles, which are essential in our balance, walking, and endurance.
The resistance bands add more resistance and will help build up strength in the calves more quickly.
To do this exercise:
- Anchor the ends of the long resistance bands to the push-up board.
- Anchor the other ends of each resistance band to each side of the workout bar.
- Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart on the push-up board and place the bar on your shoulders.
- Slowly rise onto your toes and lower back down until your heels are close to the floor.
- If a double leg is too easy, you can switch to a single leg exercise.
Overhead Squat Thrusters
The squat thruster is a great leg exercise because it works your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves all in one movement.
It also gets your heart rate up and is a great cardio exercise. This is a more challenging exercise but can be easier by using lighter weights or less difficult resistance bands.
Think whole body exercise on this one!
To do this exercise:
- Anchor the ends of the long resistance bands to the push-up board.
- Anchor the other ends of each resistance band to each side of the workout bar.
- Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart on the push-up board and hold the bars at shoulder height with both hands.
- Squat down until your thighs are parallel to the floor, and then press up through your heels to return to the starting position.
- As you press up, raise the bar overhead until your arms are fully extended.
- Lower the bar back down to your shoulders and squat back down into the next repetition.
Do 15-20 repetitions for at least three sets.
Single-Leg Dead Lift with Banded Row
The single-leg deadlift is an excellent exercise for working your quads, hamstrings, and glutes, and by adding the row, you get to work the arms and upper back. This exercise also challenges your balance and stability.
This is also one of our favorite exercises for anyone who has low back pain.
The resistance band adds more resistance to the exercise and works your upper back and arms.
You will likely need to need more resistance with exercise. Loop the band under the board to the far anchor to make the resistance band more taut.
To do this exercise:
- Anchor the end of the long resistance band to the push-up board.
- Anchor the other end of the resistance band to each side of the workout bar.
- Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart on the push-up board and hold onto the bar with one hand.
- Keeping your leg straight, hinge forward at your hips until your back is parallel to the floor and your leg is in line with your back.
- Row the bar up to your chest and then lower it back down.
Repeat for 15-20 repetitions for at least three sets.
Single-Leg Bridge with the Mini-loop Band
The single-leg bridge is an excellent exercise for working your glutes, quads, and hamstring. This exercise also challenges your core and low back muscles.
The mini-loop band adds more resistance to the exercise and works your glutes and core even more to get more of a benefit.
To do this exercise:
- Anchor the end of the long resistance band to the push-up board.
- Anchor the other end of the resistance band to each side of the workout bar.
- Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart on the push-up board and hold onto the bar with one hand.
- Keeping your leg straight, hinge forward at your hips until your back is parallel to the floor and your leg is in line with your back.
- Place the mini-loop band around your knees, and then press up through your heel to return to the starting position.
Repeat for 15-20 repetitions for at least three sets.
Conclusion
These are just a few leg exercises that you can do with the PT Pros Push-up board and portable gym. You can always make these exercises more challenging by adding more resistance or increasing the number of repetitions.
These exercises are great for building strength in the legs and can be done anywhere, which is why we recommend this push-up board in the first place. All you need is a little bit of time and motivation.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below.
We would love to hear from you!
Disclaimer: The information provided in this post is for educational purposes only. This is not a substitute for a medical appointment. Please refer to your physician before starting any exercise program.