The holiday season may not be totally here yet, but that doesn’t mean you might not want to get a jumpstart on your new year resolution to get more exercise. (You can also check out our past articles on workouts and exercise, like the one about the best exercises to help burn those holiday calories. Today, we’re going to focus on some specific exercises for your lower body workout. We will focus on some resistance exercises, some with additional weights and some with just bodyweight. Lower body exercises have a lot of benefits. Like any resistance exercise, they can help build strength and muscle. But, because you tend to be moving around heavier weights in some types of lower body exercises (even just bodyweight exercises) they also tend to elevate your heart rate, leading to some useful cardio benefits.One last caveat. We’re going to stick with exercises that a good percentage of people can attempt. As with any exercise program, you should consult a physician or other expert before starting up a new program that may be particularly challenging for you. With that said, most of the exercises mentioned in this article can be done with varying amounts of weight, making them accessible to a large number of people.
1 – Leg Press
For this exercise, you will need a machine at your local gym. The leg press machine comes in lots of shapes and sizes, some where you stack weights on each side, some where you just select a weight and inset a pin. You may be seated and leaning back, with your legs pushing a sled away from you, or the opposite, where you extend your legs down and raise your upper torso against resistance. Each style of leg press machine may hit your leg muscles (largely your quadriceps, and also your glutes and hamstrings to a lesser extent).
Personally, I like one where you are seated and pushing the weights away from you at an upward angle. That one takes the most pressure off of any other part of your body, other than the muscles you are planning to work. One big benefit of the leg press machine is that you can choose as little or as much weight as works best for your body and your goals. But, I do recommend starting light, if for no other reason than to get a feel for the machine and how it works your muscles.
Your approach to repetitions and sets is entirely up to you. I often do 4 sets with 15 reps in each set, going up in weight for each set. But, plenty of people have very different routines. Find one that works for you. One other note, if the machine allows you to position your feet in a range of ways (close together, wide, etc.) try working on some different widths in your leg press, to add some challenge and variety to the exercise.
2 – Lunges
I really don’t enjoy lunges. I think a lot of people share that point of view. But that doesn’t mean we don’t do them anyway. Lunges (weighted or just bodyweight) can be great lower body exercises. They have some of the benefits of the leg press, but actually hit more of your leg muscles more actively. In addition to quadriceps, you will most definitely activate your glutes, hamstrings, and calves. This also makes lunges one of those lower body exercises that can get your heart rate up.
Lunges are incredibly versatile. You don’t need any equipment, as you can simply do lunges with your own body weight. You can also hold dumbbells at your sides or a bar on your shoulders. This lets you easily increase the intensity by adding weight if needed.
But, you can make a bodyweight lunge exercise plenty challenging. You can alternate legs, do one leg at a time, do pulses (a larger number of reps without full extension at the top), or walking lunges. Like them or not, they are one of the best lower body exercises you can include in your workout.
3 – Bodyweight Squats
We’ve already addressed the leg press, but I bet when some of you were reading that you were thinking “what about squats?” Of course, you’re absolutely right. Squats are the foundation of many lower body workouts. However, I left them off of the big list because they can also be hard for many people to execute. Even just the bar can add enough weight to make squats problematic for some folks. But, I don’t want to ignore squats completely. So, I’m including a bodyweight-only version.
To execute a squat, you pretty much do what the exercise is called. I actually like doing these as a warm-up before any other leg exercise because they really fire up your entire lower body. All your leg muscles get engaged to various degrees, but particularly the glutes, hip flexors, and quadriceps. But, your calves, hamstrings, abs, and lower back will all get a workout as well.
Even with no weight, if you are coming to a good ‘seated’ position at the bottom (just without a seat under you) and not quite coming all the way up (don’t lock your knees at the top), you will feel this exercise. It can be a great warmup, or simply a good exercise to include in the middle of your legs workout.
4 – Deadlifts
Deadlifts are another one that people tend not to like. They can be difficult and exhausting. When well-executed (as always, form matters a lot), they hit your hamstrings, glutes, hips, abs, and even your trapezius.
Most deadlifts are done with weights. You can use a barbell, a specific deadlift-designed trap bar, or two dumbbells, or one of the handful of deadlift machines. You can also perform these with no weight, but a bit of added weight is part of the exercise.
They also come in a few varieties, from straight leg deadlifts to Romanian, Sumo, Hex/Trap Bar, Snatch Grip, and Old School are just a few of the options. Just remember that you don’t need to go with a ton of weight on this one unless you’re a bodybuilder or powerlifter.
5 – Leg Curls
We’re wrapping up with our first and only isolated leg exercise. While I could have indeed leg extensions or any number of calf raise-style exercises, I’m sticking with leg curls. These will engage your hamstrings, and calf muscles most directly. The easiest way to do them is in a gym with a leg curl machine.
Like the leg press, leg curl machines come in some very different styles. Standing, seated, or lying down on your stomach. One leg or two. I find some leg curl machines more comfortable than others and some more challenging (but not uncomfortable).
I like these because they focus on the hamstring, which while included in many other leg exercises, may not be the primary muscle being activated. Here, the hamstrings get no help from any other muscle and have to mostly go it alone, leading to a good isolation exercise.
