2 New Quick and Simple Leg Workouts

Your legs are where all of your strength and power is generated from, not your arms. The legs are the biggest muscle group in your entire body. That's why they always say lift with your legs. When you squat or crouch down to pick up something heavy, you are able to use the strength from your hips, thighs, glutes, etc. while holding it to power back up to standing. 

With that said, I've got another 2 new workouts...

but today they're lower body heavy. Try both with me for an extra challenge. Or do one today and one tomorrow (or another day this week). The possibilities are endless; use these workouts however they fit into your schedule. But try to at least do one workout each day.

​First workout is 5 minutes of:
20 jump lunges
30 squats
20 wide hip raises

(If you can't do jump lunges, do regular lunges. You lose some of the cardio but that's ok.)

Legs legs legs! You're probably feeling the burn after that one, so am I. I was initially going to have us do 40 of the wide hip raises, that would have been brutal. Maybe next time ;) 

The second workout is a 5 minute lower body challenge. It's 2 rounds of:
5 jump tucks
10 second wall sit
10 jump lunges
20 second wall sit
10 v up crunch
30 second wall sit

(For the wall sit, keep your butt even with your knees, not above or below. Was hard to properly demonstrate that away from the wall.)

Two minutes total of wall sitting. After all those pushups we need a break from upper body, I'm still sore! I really want to work on wall sits though, because sometimes moving isn't the hardest part, it's remaining still. Being stationary in a wall sit burns, just like when you're holding a yoga pose; if you've never done yoga, I'm here to tell you it burns, but it works incredibly to sculpt, lengthen, and strengthen your muscles. I hope to share some yoga on here with you in a later post. I know burning sounds awful and painful, but it's actually a very good thing; when you continue to hold a pose while it burns, your muscles get so much stronger, and in turn you get so much stronger. 

Why so many squats and lunges? These are some of the most effective exercises for working on your legs. They train the quadriceps (above the knee/front thigh), hamstrings (back thigh), and glutes (butt, but you probably knew that) simultaneously. They're also very basic and easy for beginners to master; plus they're bodyweight and don't require any extra equipment, so anyone can do them. You don't need special equipment to get fit or maintain your health. It is fun to challenge yourself when you are further along in your fitness journey, but it is not necessary.

I'll talk about my favorite equipment and what is most useful and versatile in an upcoming post. Until then, try out these workouts with me and let me know how you like them and how you did. And keep competing with yourself, see if you can do more reps today than you could in a workout from last week, I bet you can. You probably notice yourself getting stronger and faster with each exercise. These noticeable improvements are what make working out kind of fun. Our bodies adapt so quickly, they're amazing, they want to be active. So keep challenging yourself each day, it will be worth the effort. And anyway, who doesn't love a good challenge?