Lower Body Workout

Try this lower body workout! No weights required, but feel free to add them for extra resistance. Modify this workout to fit your body! Do each exercise for 45 seconds with a 15-second rest. Repeat these moves 3-5 times.

Gliding Curtsy Lunge

To start, stand with your feet hip-width apart. Starting with your right leg, take a big step diagonally behind you. Your right leg should cross behind your left leg. Make sure your weight is distributed evenly between both of your legs. Then, bend at your left knee so that your left thigh is parallel to the ground. Push off your back leg to return to standing. Repeat on the other leg.

When moving through these lunges, make sure your chest stays upright. You don’t want your upper body to be leaning forward or over your legs.

Don’t twist your hips as you move your leg behind you. You want to keep your hips square.

Curtsy Lunge primarily targets gluteus medius (the middle of your booty) and inner thighs but also works your quads, hamstrings, and calves.

Hold Squat

Start with your feet about shoulder-width apart and your toes pointing forward. Keep your core engaged and your chest up as you squat down. Shift your weight into your heels and push your hips behind you. Squat down until your thighs are parallel to the floor. You don’t want your knees to go past your toes.

In a standard squat your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and abs are targeted.

Jumping Split Squats

Jumping split squats add quick cardio to this lower body workout.

Start in a wide stance. Jump to a shallow lunge position with your left foot in the front, and your right foot behind. Jump to alternate foot position in one move. Jump back to a wide stance and drop into a squat. Come back up from the squat and jump back up into the shallow lunges.

Hold sumo squat with calf raises

This squat variation starts differently than other squats. Stand with your legs out wider than your hips and your toes pointing outward. When doing sumo squats without calf raises, you will lean your weight back into your heels and squat down until your thighs are parallel to the floor.

Calf raises can be incorporated into sumo squats. Once you are in the sumo squat position, raise your heel up and down to target your calf.

This move targets your glutes, inner thighs, and calves.

Jumping lunges

Adding a jump into the classic lunge adds cardio to exercise. Start with your feet shoulder-width apart and move into a standard lunge: step forward with your right foot and lower your body until your right thigh is parallel to the floor. From this position, jump up and switch the position of your feet while you are mid-air. When you land, you should be in a lunge with your left leg in front. Focus on a soft landing.

Jumping lunges target glutes, quads, hamstrings and calves. This move will also help strengthen your core muscles as you work to stay stabilized and balanced.

If jumping adds too much stress to your knees, you can consider modifying this move to a forward and reverse lunge.