Any time you do lower body workouts, don’t forget to warm up and cool down. Warming up helps you get more from your workout, while preventing injury and cooling down helps prevent aches and pains. Start any workout with warm up exercises like marching, swinging your arms like a windmill, jumping rope, squats or lunges. Cool down with stretches, such as quad stretches, stretching the hamstrings by lying on the back and lifting one leg straight up or other types of stretches.
Body weight exercises are the key to exercising anywhere.
When you’re at the gym, you can add weights to these exercises, but at home or when you’re first starting, do them with only body weight. Start with squats. With your feet shoulder-width apart, keeping the majority of your weight on your heels, bend your knees and squat making your thighs parallel to the ground. Stand back up and squeeze the muscles in your butt as you do. Follow it with a set of reverse lunges. With feet at shoulder-width, step backward with one leg, putting the ball of the foot on the ground, bend your knees with one knee tapping the ground and the other at a 90 degree angle. Raise your self up, lifting the back foot bending the knee until your thigh touches your chest.
The inner thigh will benefit from a plié.
Your feet should be spread wider than your shoulder-width, turning your toes out and with hands in front of you. Now squat, making your thighs parallel with the floor. It’s time for the tough part, it’s time to go up on toe. Lift your heels off the ground in that position and hold. Lower your heels back down and repeat. Jumping helps build leg muscles and there’s no better way to do it than jumping on one foot as you lift the other to tap the chair and put it on the ground. Then jumping on the that foot and tapping with the other.
Side lunges are simple, but effective.
Stand straight with your feet hip width apart, lift your left leg and place it far to the left. Bend your knee, pushing your bottom back at the same time. Bring the foot back to the start position and repeat. Then do the other side. Do a curtsy lunge with the starting position the same as a side lunge. Place your left leg at a diagonal behind the right leg, bending the knees to lower yourself to a lunge, making it look like a curtsy. Push back up to starting position and repeat. Then do it on the other side.
- Side leg raises help shape the legs. Laying on your side, lift your body up to rest on your forearm. Lift the upper leg in the air and return to start position.
- To tighten that inner thigh, start the same way as a side leg raise, but instead bring the foot of the upper leg in front of the lower knee and lift the bottom leg upward.
- An easy one you can do anywhere is a calf raise. With your feet hip-width apart, lift one leg until the knee is at hip level, pointing your toes with your hands on your hips. Now go on tiptoe with the foot that’s still on the ground. It really helps your balance, too. Do the other side.
- Simple things like walking, marching with your knees lifted high and riding a bike can help make your lower body shapelier.