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We tend to prioritise upper body muscles like the biceps, chest, shoulders, and back, but what about legs, glutes, and hips?
While many focus on training different muscles, there’s often a tendency to neglect the lower body.
Exercise is one of the key components to a healthy and fit life as it can improve your physical and mental strength and reduce your risk of life-threatening diseases. When it comes to working out, most people immediately think of hitting the gym. While many focus on training different muscles, there’s often a tendency to neglect the lower body — agree?
We tend to prioritise upper body muscles like the biceps, chest, shoulders, and back, but what about legs, glutes, and hips? Leg workouts are crucial for a well-rounded fitness regimen, promoting strength, speed, and stability. They deserve just as much attention. A strong lower body improves mobility and can boost performance in activities such as jogging, cycling, and team sports like football.
Here we’ve mentioned some of the lower body exercises that you must include in your workout regime. Take a look:
Squats
One of the simplest and most effective lower body exercises is the squat, which targets your quads, glutes, and hamstrings, and even engages your core—all at once. Start with bodyweight squats, and as you build strength, you can incorporate dumbbells or a barbell. Squats not only help in building muscle but also improve posture, increase bone density, and, most importantly, burn calories. For those focused on weight loss, performing 100 squats can burn between 30 to 50 calories.
Walking Lunges
Next up are the walking lunges that can help you train your lower body muscles, core and balance. Start with your body weight and once you get to know the correct movement, try doing lunges with additional weights. For beginners, start with 2-3 sets of 10-12 walking lunges per leg, gradually increasing the repetitions as you get stronger. If you’re new to exercising, you can simply begin with just 10-12 walking lunges per set.
Step Ups
This is a lower-body exercise that targets muscles in your legs. To perform this exercise, stand in front of an elevated or knee-length surface such as a box or bench. Place your right foot on the elevated surface and use your right leg to bring your body up onto it. Step down softly with your left leg and repeat the following exercise, leading with your left foot. It helps strengthen the lower body, prevents falls, is a low-risk exercise and could be included in your cardio session.
Deadlifts
This one is considered to be one of the toughest exercises. Therefore, it is recommended to perform it under the guidance of your trainer. It is usually performed using a barbell and if it’s not available you can also use dumbbells. It is important to learn the movement without any added weights. It helps to train several muscles in your body including glutes, hamstrings, core back and trapezius.
Hip Thrust
Hip thrusts are a lower-body workout that strengthens and develops the glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, and lower back. They can also enhance posture and athletic performance. As always, learn the movement first and then put some additional weight for better results. Add these lower-body exercises to your workout routine.