You’ve probably heard it said before but your positioning and form while you exercise affects half of the workout routine you do. Starting out your exercise routines with poor form weakens the exercises and affects the way your muscles will be developed. If the muscles aren’t trained in the proper manner, they won’t be as effective at lifting and supporting weights that you use in your total body workout.

It’s very hard to unlearn bad lifting and form habits and that’s why it’s so important that you start out with the right form right from the start. These five upper leg exercises will help you develop good form so that you can get more out of the workout routines you perform. You can pick and choose which ones you do in your own routine depending on the workout level you want to achieve. Lunges This exercise works great for strengthening hamstring, glute and quad muscles as well as many smaller stabilizer muscles that get worked out while trying to keep you balanced. This is a simple exercise but requires some practice to get the balancing down. Start this exercise with either a barbell across your shoulders or while holding onto dumbbells at your sides. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and take a step forward of a few feet with one leg. Your toes should stay pointed forwards and keep your foot flat on the floor. Bend your front leg until your knee is at a ninety-degree angle, which will also make the back leg follow suit. Don’t allow your back leg to touch the floor before starting to move back to the starting position. Keep your back straight and your abdominal muscles tightened throughout the motions. Repeat this for the other leg for the desired number of reps and sets. When returning to the start (standing) position, you’ll feel the force on your front thigh muscles the most. Squats This exercise works the quads, glutes, hamstrings, and hip muscles as well as the upper and lower back, and abdominals. Start by turning your back to a barbell on a rack with your hands gripping it at a position slightly wider than your shoulders. Rest the bar across your shoulders, behind your neck. Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width, with your toes aiming forward. Look straight ahead as you begin this exercise. Bending your knees slightly, squat down slowly with the bar across your trapezius muscles. Keep your knees over your toes as you do this and your body as straight as you can. When your thighs are parallel to the floor, arch your back and straighten your legs until you’re back at the standing position. Repeat as often as your routine calls for. Box Squats This is an advanced variation on the squat exercise above which is harder to do but trains the body to have better form and balance throughout the entire range of motion. It also places less stress on the knee joints and targets the hamstrings, glutes and hip muscles better and more effectively. While performing this exercise, you sit back on a box at the bottom of the squat, pausing for a second before coming up again. Start out by using a higher box until you’re used to this maneuver. A built up stepping box works well for this exercise. Though upper legs are the power house of the body, we must not forget to pay attention to lower legs. Check out some lower leg exercises here.