You couldn’t leave the house to go to the gym, so you thought you’d have to skip your leg workout? Think again! This five-move lower body workout can be done almost anywhere, since you don’t need any home gym equipment to do it. Plus, it includes plenty of compound moves that will help you strengthen multiple muscles in your lower body, so you get more bang for your buck.
For those who don’t like squats, we apologize in advance, because this workout includes several squat variations. Although, we’re not so sorry, because they’re one of the best lower body exercises. Not only does the squat pattern translate well to the way we move in everyday life—like picking something up from the floor and sitting down—but a study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that squats lead to higher testosterone and growth hormone levels, which leads to more gains.
For this workout from fitness coach James Stirling, work through the five exercises below, doing 10 reps for each exercise (for single-leg exercises, do 10 reps on both sides!). Rest for 20 to 30 seconds and try to complete three to four rounds. Once you’re comfortable with the moves, you can try doing them with a pair of dumbbells or a kettlebell, as the increased intensity forces your muscles to work harder, helping them get bigger and stronger (this is called “progressive overload”). Here are your exercises:
- Romanian single leg deadlift
- Lateral lunge
- Squat impulses
- One-legged glute bridge
- Wide squat jumps
If you still want to stick with bodyweight training, no problem, we have plenty of them on offer. Try this five-move workout from Arnold Schwarzenegger (don’t panic, it’s not as hard as you think) or this squat-free six-move workout that takes no more than 25 minutes. Alternatively, if you want to try training with dumbbells, here’s a three-move dumbbell workout that takes just 20 minutes.
