Clients have asked, “why do we have to work our legs all the time?” While arms, chest and back are more noticeable, we should always train below the belt. Our lower bodies have the biggest muscles.

Try focusing on muscles that challenge your bottom half, which in turn will give you strong glutes and toned quads, hamstrings and calves.

But, of course, it’s not all about looking good. Check out more reasons why every day should be leg day.

• Preventive

Having lower body strength can help prevent injuries in sports and daily movements that will keep you from enjoying your favorite activities.

Performing functional exercises such as lunges and squats and bridges promotes knee stability and can prevent knee-related injuries.

• Burn more calories

Whether or not weight loss is your goal, if you want to maximise your gym workout, incorporate legs into your workout.

Working larger muscles in multi-joint exercises such as deadlifts, squats and lunges requires more work from your heart and brain compared with exercising smaller muscle groups.

Challenging larger muscle groups requires more energy, which means your body will burn more calories.

• Improving balance, stability and mobility

A lot of gym users believe that sit-ups and crunches are the only thing that can improve your core stability.

However, exercises such as side lunges and deadlifts will increase your stability and strengthen your core, which helps with balance — essential for maintaining control of your body during an accidental slip or fall.

Squats recruit muscle fibres from all over the body. By performing these exercises you are increasing mobility and the range of motion for your entire body.

• Relieve lower back pain

If you work at a desk and sit for long periods of time, you probably experience some lower back pain.

Lower back pain is sometimes related to weak hamstrings and short and tight hip flexors.

Weak glutes put more work on the lower back and hamstrings, leading to tight hip flexors that pull on the lumbar spine.

Stretching your hip flexors and strengthening your hamstrings and glutes can help tremendously with lower back pain.

• Increase your metabolism and strength

Lifting weights helps to build and maintain muscle mass. When your body composition has more muscle, your whole body runs faster.

Also, stronger legs and a stronger core means having the ability and strength for upper body lifts.

• Quality of life

This is perhaps the most important reason to exercise. Mobility impacts your quality of life greatly as you age. Lower body training helps to maintain flexibility, strength and mobility.

Being able to continuously accomplish the things we love doing as we age is reason enough to continuously keep our lower bodies as fit as possible.

So grab a friend, burn the legs and B-Active For Life.

• Betty Doyling is a certified fitness trainer and figure competitor with more than nine years of experience. Check her out on Facebook: www.facebook.com/B.ActiveForLife