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How to calculate the correct load on your feet
Last reviewed: 06.07.2025
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The load on the legs should be distributed correctly and wisely. To keep your legs healthy, you need to move more. Namely: dance for half an hour (or do aerobics) every other day, and on the other days do leg exercises for 40 minutes in a row. But these are powerful loads for a beginner, so to start exercising, they need to be calculated differently. How exactly?
Warm-up
It lasts about 5-10 minutes. The leg muscles need to be warmed up first, otherwise it will be difficult to do the exercises. In addition, it is possible to stretch the muscle, tendons and ligaments.
If you doubt the health of your legs, consult a general practitioner about your loads. The doctor will also help calculate the load at the initial stage and at subsequent stages of leg hardening and strengthening.
The best pace of exercise is slow, with a transition to a faster one. This will allow you to burn calories faster and achieve smooth skin more effectively.
How to control the load on your legs?
If you don't calculate the load and overstrain your leg muscles, you can stretch them and injure them. Therefore, you can control the training process and not let your legs get overloaded. How to do this?
Elementary - check your pulse. Of course, compared to a calm state, it is faster. But you can calculate the optimal load by pulse mathematically. The formula will help with this: 220 minus the number of full years that you have turned, multiply the result by 0.75. You will get the number of contractions of the heart muscle in 1 minute, which should be during normal physical activity.
To properly control your pulse, you need to measure it every 5 minutes after you start exercising. If you notice that your pulse is accelerated when monitoring it, you need to reduce the load during exercise. You cannot stop abruptly - this will increase the load on the heart and blood vessels, and their diseases are possible.
How to control your pulse?
Based on this data, you can accurately determine what your pulse should be within 10 seconds of starting your workout.
At 20-25 years old, the number of heartbeats in 10 seconds should be from 20 to 28.
At 25-30 years old, the number of heartbeats in 10 seconds should be from 20 to 28.
At 30-35 years old, the number of heartbeats in 10 seconds should be from 19 to 26
At 35-40 years old, the number of heartbeats in 10 seconds should be from 18 to 25.
At 40-45 years old, the number of heartbeats in 10 seconds should be from 18 to 25
At 45-50 years old, the number of heartbeats in 10 seconds should be from 18 to 24
At 50-55 years old, the number of heartbeats in 10 seconds should be from 17 to 23
At 55-60 years old, the number of heartbeats in 10 seconds should be from 16 to 21
Warm-up and pulse
To start exercising normally and not to damage your legs, you also need to control the warm-up time. It should be from 5 to 7 minutes. Then you can start exercising. If you do them at the right pace for more than 20-22 minutes, and then rest for 3-5 minutes, you will experience the effect of burning fat.
An even better effect can be achieved if you exercise for 30 minutes, then rest for 5 minutes, then exercise for another quarter of an hour, but at a slower pace.
An indicator that you have exercised correctly is a slight pain in the muscles. And also – a correct pulse.
How to distinguish between right pain and wrong pain?
The correct pain is light and pleasant, the muscles are warmed up. In addition, the muscle group that a person has trained will feel as if it is separate from other groups.
Incorrect pain, which indicates overload and exhaustion, is a feeling of exhaustion, extreme fatigue, as if a person has been squeezed out. Incorrect pain takes a very long time to pass. If you have abnormal pain after training, it means that you have poorly controlled the load and pulse. This should be done more carefully at the next training session.
Over time, with practice, you will come to the optimal load and learn to distinguish between wrong pain and right pain. This will help the health of your legs and the whole body.
How to prepare for sports activities
Before doing sports exercises, you need to make some preparations. A very important point in preparing for classes is to eat at the right time. If you exercise in the morning, breakfast should be no later than half an hour before the load. If in the evening - no less than an hour before the exercises.
Food should be light, as it is quickly digested and absorbed. If a person has eaten heavy food, such as fried meat, it will take much longer to digest and absorb than a light salad of raw vegetables.
This means that it will be extremely difficult for you to exercise, since the body spends its energy on digesting and assimilating food, and it no longer has energy left for exercise.
It is better not to consume sugars and fats before training, since they provide little energy, but a lot of heaviness in the stomach, and it is very difficult to burn calories from them.
Exercising on an empty stomach is also very undesirable. The body does not receive enough energy, so it becomes exhausted and does not perform even basic functions. Such exercises will not do any good to the skin, muscles or circulatory system, which means that there can be no talk of fighting cellulite.
You can drink water BEFORE and during training. Preferably purified water, because the body throws out toxins through the skin, and cleansing the body of toxins should be done with purified water. If harmful substances and additives remain in the water, drinking it will only add stress to the body, saturate the muscles and ligaments with harmful substances.
Clothes for classes
To ensure that your workouts do not cause you any discomfort, you need comfortable clothes. The best option is a training uniform made of natural materials or special clothes made of elastic materials. For aerobics, swimsuits and leggings are good, for running - a tracksuit with shorts or pants, depending on the weather.
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Equipment for classes
If you are doing dance steps for your legs, it would be a good idea to do it in a special dance room with mirrors and a barre. Barres (like for ballet) are very good for stretching your legs. If you don't have this equipment, stools and chairs with strong backs to lean on will do. This way you will not only train your legs, but also straighten your posture, which is often the cause of cellulite.
You can also use balls, gymnastic sticks, gymnastic sticks, and light dumbbells for leg strengthening exercises. They will give you the opportunity to diversify your movements, load different muscle groups, and make your exercises more interesting.
To make your cellulite-fighting exercises easier, use music. It should be rhythmic, but not too fast, so that the load is not excessive. Your pulse should not be more than 120 beats per minute with the music you choose.
Easy 6 Week Warm Up This warm up is good for getting your muscles warmed up and ready for the leg workout you choose.
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Exercise 1
Starting position: hands in front of you, they need to be held straight. Keep your back straight, the activity of blood flow and the receipt of energy for the whole body depend on this. We begin to work with the legs - lift the right one, bending the knee to pull the leg to the right hand.
Then the left one - we lift it to the left hand. There should be 60 such leg lifts and lowerings. But if it is difficult for you to do it right away, twenty will be enough at first, then every week you can add 10 leg lifts and lowerings.
Exercise 2
Starting position: stand straight, legs straight, arms spread out to the sides. Raise your arms above your head, arms remain straight.
Lower to shoulder level - arms straight. At the same time raise the knee of the right leg, then the knee of the left leg.
The movements are as follows: arms up – one knee to the chest, arms down. Arms up – the other knee to the chest – arms down. This needs to be done 60 times, but if it doesn’t work, you can start with 20 times, adding 10 leg lifts each week.
This will help train your hips, buttocks, and stomach.
Exercise 3
Starting position: straight back, feet shoulder-width apart. Legs slightly bent at the knees. Spread your elbows out to the sides, and press your hands to your shoulders. Tighten your buttocks. Now bend to the right, then bend to the left. Elbows should be directed toward the floor. Each movement – 20 times.
This will help to circulate blood in the shoulder girdle and also improve posture.
Exercise 4
We do the stretch from a standing position, resting our palms on the floor. If you can’t rest your palms on the floor yet, bend over as much as your flexibility allows. Keep your knees straight, and transfer your body weight to your toes.
Stay in this pose for as long as your flexibility allows you. Ideally, you should slowly count to thirty. Then straighten up, rest for 2-3 minutes and use this pose again to stretch the vertebrae of the back, as well as the legs.
Repeat this 10 times. This exercise will improve blood flow in all parts of the body, increase flexibility of the back and warm up the muscles of the legs.
Exercise 5
The position is the same - you stand with straight knees, leaning forward, no need to move your hips. Transfer your body weight to your toes. In this position, you need to touch your left knee with your right hand fingers.
At this time, the left hand is behind the back in an extended position. You need to bring your face to the shin of the left leg, then to the knee of the left leg and stay in this pose, counting to thirty. Then do the same with the right hand. Again, count to thirty. Do this several times until you feel a slight pain in your legs and a pleasant warmth in the muscles.
This exercise helps to strengthen muscles, ligaments and tendons, it is an excellent prevention of cellulite.
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Exercise 6
Starting position: half squat, knees bent. After warming up your leg muscles, you will be able to do the splits. If you can't do the splits yet, do the half splits. Your knees should be straight, your toes pointing up vertically.
The next operation is to bend the torso between the legs, arms stretched out in front of you. In this position you should stay until you count to thirty. During this time, the stretch will increase, as will the flexibility.
This exercise is very good for improving the flexibility of ligaments and strengthening tendons, as well as muscles. After this exercise, the condition of muscles, bone tissue and the circulatory system improves.
The walls of blood vessels are strengthened and metabolism is activated.
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Exercise 7
Lie down on the floor, try to crawl along the floor with your hands to your left leg. Your chest should lie on top of your leg, and you need to hold this position, slowly counting to thirty. Then take a break for 1-2 minutes and do the same towards your right leg. This warm-up will perfectly replace a set of exercises for slim and toned legs, improve your metabolism, pump up your muscles, activate blood flow, and help fight cellulite.