Blog Post: The Perfect Lower Body Exercises

There are a couple of exercises that even a beginner can do to help shape, tone and strengthen the lower body. It is important to have strong legs as they are your base and foundation that almost every other exercise you perform will be counting on to have proper form and posture. There are four basic exercises I want you to try to see how you feel.

There are a couple of key points to always be aware of in all four exercises mentioned below.

1. Always have your knees right about your feet like the individual in the photo above is demonstrating. You never want you knees jutting over the toes or over time, this could really wreck the knees.
2. When pushing yourself up to standing, always push through your heels like you could lift your toes up (your toes don't actually come up off the ground, it should just feel like you could lift them because you are pushing so much through the heel).
3. Keep your abs contracting at all times through the exercise.
4. Keep your shoulders back and your chest up (this is proper posture for your upper body)

Basic Squat:
Stand with feet hip distance apart. With shoulders back and back slightly arched, tip from the hips to lower the towards the floor (according to your flexibility) and slowly raise back up, squeezing glutes, weight in the heels. You will be targeting your glutes, hamstrings, and quads with this exercise. It is a big time calorie burning exercise. Do 3 sets of 12 reps to start and work up to doing 20 reps.

Deadlift:
Stand with feet hip distance apart, keep your shoulders back and back slightly arched, tip from the hips to lower towards the floor (according to your flexibility). Make sure you are not rounding in the spine but hinging form your hips. Slowly raise back up by squeezing your glutes, keep your weight in the heels. You will be targeting your hamstrings, glutes and lower back with this exercise. Do 3 sets of 12 reps to start and work up to doing 20 reps.

Plie or Sumo Squat:
Stand with your feet wide, toes out. With knees in line with toes, lower into a squat. Knees should be behind toes. Push through the heels and lift back up. When you lift back up really squeeze your glutes at the top almost doing a hip thrust, feel as though you are pulling your heels together. You will be targeting inner and outer though, your glutes and quads. Do 3 sets of 12 reps to start and work up to doing 20 reps.

Lunge:
Stand with feet apart about hip width and toes forward. Slowly lower into lunge position, keeping body erect and abs in, knees at 90 degree angles. You want to feel as though you are sitting back into the lunge (make sure you are not leaning forward). Push through the front heel, squeeze your butt and slowly lift up to starting position (without locking knees). You will be targeting your quads, glutes, hamstrings and calves. Do 3 sets of 12 reps to start and work up to doing 20 reps.

Practice these four different exercises with no weight and work on your form. As you start increasing the reps and this becomes easy, start adding weight with either dumbbells or a barbell. Make sure when preforming these exercise you are properly warmed up by doing 5 to 10 minutes of cardio and/or some dynamic stretching to get the legs loose and warm.

These exercise are great for toning and shaping the legs. There are many different variations to these exercises and if you are interested in learning more, come on over to ferrum fitness and we can show you how to change up your workout routine and give you more dynamic movements to work on. Remember, proper form is the most important aspect of every exercise, so make sure your form is right before you move onto a more advanced stage of the exercise or add resistance to the exercise.

Jessica Unbewust
co-owner
ferrum fitness