Overview of Lower Body Workout
You can’t ignore the importance of the best lower body workout plans. Science shows most of your muscles are in your lower body. So, you need to maintain your lower body strength to ensure you are fit and healthy. Keeping your lower body strong enhances the coordination of your body movement.
The Benefits of the Best Lower Body Workouts
Each of the lower body workouts has several health benefits, which include:
- Strengthening your bones and hips. Studies show the benefits of lower body exercises are far reaching, which also improve bone density and health.
- Enhanced circulation and cardiovascular fitness. Moving the lower body, particularly the legs, improves circulation and maintains a healthy heart.
- Weight loss. According to research, lower body exercise is among the fastest ways to lose weight.
- Injury reduction. Having a strong lower body makes you stout, tough, resilient, and you will avoid falls and other similar injuries.
- Boosting your mental wellness. Your mind cannot be at peace when you are not part of things you want to be involved in due to a lack of strength or balance.
- Better performance in sporting activities. To be active in sporting or aerobic activities, you need better movement, endurance, and sustained ability.
Lower Body Workout Routines
While there are many lower body workout plans, here is our selection of the 18 best lower body workouts you may add to your routine.
1. Bulgarian Split Squat
Here, you focus your effort[1] on one leg at a time. And you raise one leg to balance the weight on the other leg. Bend your left knee, lowering your body into a leg exercise lunge. This challenges your stability and requires you to be at your best. Then, lift your right foot and place it on the bench behind you while holding a dumbbell in front of your chest.
2. Deadlift Exercise
A deadlift is usually performed with a barbell. But if a barbell is not available, use a dumbbell. It is advisable to learn the movement first before adding the weights.
In this leg weight exercise, stand tall with feet hip-width apart with a barbell at your feet. Bend your knees and grab the bar with an overhand grip, and move it parallel to your shins and up the chest.
3. Skater Squat
To perform this skater exercise[2], stand on your right leg and pick your left leg off the floor. Raise your arms in front of you for stability, and you can use lift weights to help maintain your balance in this leg weight exercise. You then bend your right knee as low as possible and then come back up. Repeat several times for both legs till you feel the effect.
4. Swiss Ball Leg Curl
In this Swiss ball leg curl routine, you support your abs with heels on a stability ball. Then, keep your knees straight and raise your hips. Roll the stability ball towards you with your knees bent in this leg weight exercise.
For the best results, you should ensure that you raise your hips throughout the drill. This way, you reap the benefits of lower body exercises.
5. Supine Leg Stretch
To perform the supine leg stretch exercise, bend your knees, lie flat on your back, and lift your feet off the floor. Bend one knee and clinch it into your body and slowly kick that leg upwards and pull it towards the chest until you feel some tension on the hind leg. Point and arch the foot four times and perform four ankle circles in all directions. This lower body workout is great for your health.
6. Inner Thigh Stretch
This helps keep your hip and knee joints stable. The main focus of stretching your inner thighs is to help you tone and make your legs stronger.
This leg stretch exercise stretches your inner thighs. Stand with legs wide, bend one knee and shift your whole body weight to the leg with the bent knee. Do this till you experience a stretch in your other leg.
7. Hip Thruster
The hip thruster[3] barbell has recently become the preferred leg stretch exercise to train the glutes.
Bend your legs and raise your back, preferably on a raised surface. You may hold your hips with your bent arm. Raise your lower body, or just stretch back and forth. You may use a machine or just a weight bench to activate your three gluteal muscles in this leg weight exercise.
8. Side Lunge
You may do a side lunge[4] to make your lower body workout fruitful. Lunges also ease movement and help you prepare for several sports activities.
In this leg stretch exercise, place one leg forward, bend it to a 90-degree angle and make sure the other leg bends parallel to the ground. Your front leg shouldn’t go past your toes. Next, return your front leg and place the other one in the same way.
9. Squats
Squats are among the best lower body workout plans. You have to stand with your feet at shoulder width and your toes slightly out. Then you clasp your hands and move down slowly to a squatting posture. Ensure the thighs in a squat are parallel to the ground.
This leg stretch exercise helps in activities like climbing, walking, and carrying weights.
10. Dumbbell Step-up
This dumbbell exercise provides many benefits of lower body exercises by helping the glutes, the calf, and the hamstring.
Stand behind a raised ground with your other thigh parallel to the floor as you raise your other leg onto the elevated surface. Repeat this back and forth movement several times. Make sure the surface is raised to a comfortable height. You may also hold a dumbbell to gain more from this leg weight exercise and leave one leg hanging as you step on the bench.
11. The Hamstring Muscle Stretch Workout
You have the hamstring muscle at the back of your upper leg from the knee to the thigh.
For this leg stretch exercise, lean at the waist, bend your supporting knee, and move your upper body forward. Hold for a few minutes and repeat the upper body bends.
To get more benefits of lower body exercises, you may flex your toes to exercise your calf muscle.
12. Good Morning Workout
These good morning exercises may involve a barbell placed across your shoulders. You have to keep your legs wide (shoulder width) and place your hands behind your head to hold the barbell. Then you may pull back the shoulders, take a deep breath, and move slowly with your knees bent slightly.
This leg stretch exercise works on the hamstrings, the core, and your lower back. Before adding weights to this exercise, you have to practice to get proper form.
13. Aquatic Workout
If you like swimming, walking, or running in the water, you’re doing your body and heart a favor. You get the benefits of lower body exercises for your body muscles and joints as you try to beat water resistance. This is especially so when you swing your legs to thrust forward or just walk or run back and forth in deep water.
14. Kettlebell Swing
Hold the kettlebell with your hands facing you and legs at hip-width. Ensure your lower back remains flat as you raise the weight from the floor. You may take a deep breath, let the kettlebell swing back between your legs, and move your hips backward. As you breathe out, lift the weight to your shoulders. You then lower the weight slowly to the floor.
15. Leg Press Machine Lower Body Workout
This workout on a leg press machine benefits most of the lower body muscles. To do this leg weight exercise, you need to adjust the machine to your comfort.
Place the hips beneath your knees and your knees in line with your feet. Make sure you lower your knees and bend them towards your chest to a 90-degree angle. Now, you can press the weight for the best leg exercise and pull back as necessary. Ensure to move at a moderate speed so you won’t come off the seat and get injured.
16. Leg Calf Raises
Calf raises are among the best lower body workout routines to strengthen the calf muscles. You stand with your feet width-apart next to a wall. Then, make sure your knees and hips are vertically aligned to avoid injury to the joints. As you press your feet, raise your body upward.
Another calf raise requires you to lie on your back and bend your knee so that the knee lies on your chest. Ensure the heel of the other foot touches the floor. Repeat this with the other foot in a repetitive motion.
17. Walking Lunge
This lower body workout involves taking purposeful forward steps or lunges. You move one leg forward, bend at the knee, then move your bodyweight together with the hind leg. The leg behind must bend, while the knee touches the ground as it carries your weight.
Ensure you put your hands together, or you may hold some weight. This makes the core, hips, and leg muscles strong.
18. Glute Bridges
For glute bridges, lie on your back on the floor and bend your knees, so your feet rest on the floor close to your butt. Brace your abs and drive your heels into the floor and raise your hips. From there, walk your feet out in a V shape, taking small steps with your heels forward and away from the midline of your body. Continue until your legs are extended, and then walk them back in.
Conclusion
Working out is an essential part of healthy living. But you need to do the best lower body workout routines to get the benefits. Having a strong lower body helps you move through your activities with ease. It improves your sports performance, balance, walking, climbing, running, and weight loss.
Furthermore, lower body workout activities contribute to your overall health, helping you to avoid many chronic diseases like heart disease.