Three Basic Exercises to Strengthen your Lower Body

If you’re new to exercising, many popular lower body exercises can be slightly intimidating to beginners. And while squatting and deadlifting heavy weights are effective in building lower body strength, there are several simpler bodyweight exercises that can be done that are more tailored to those who are beginners, or not experienced weight lifters. Here’s three basic exercises to strengthen your lower body.

Body Weight Squats

Squats are certainly the best way to engage all the muscles in your lower body and build strength. Before evolving to squatting a barbell with weights on it, it’s important to develop proper form, and this can be done with bodyweight squats. Simply set your feet at shoulder width, drop your glutes until they are parallel with your knees, and then use your quads and other lower body muscles to drive your legs back up until you are standing up straight. For added difficulty, this can be done with some light dumbbells in your hands.

Calf Raises

Calf raises are a simple exercise, but they’re a fantastic way to get your calves burning, and really one of the only ways to isolate the muscle. To do a calf raise, put your feet at shoulder width, and simply use your toes to push your entire body up like you're getting up onto your tip-toes. 20-50 consecutive reps of this will completely engage the calves, and will really strengthen the lower body. To add difficulty, place your toes on a small elevated surface such as a weight plate, and hold dumbbells as you raise upwards.

Hip Thrusts

Hip thrusts are another popular exercise with a weight and barbell, but it can also be done using only body weight and really add to your lower body strength and dexterity. To perform these, lay on your back and place your feet right in front of your glutes. Then, thrust your hips up towards the sky and bring it back down for about 10-20 repetitions. This will greatly strengthen your hips, glutes, and pelvic bowl as well as aid in lower body flexibility.

The best part of these exercises is that they can all be done in an incredibly small footprint with minimal space required. You can do them in your office, kitchen, living room, or basically anywhere else where you have about 6 feet of space. At The Abs Company, our X3S bench will enhance the effectiveness of all of these exercises, all while maintaining that crucial small footprint. And, as well as those basic lower body exercises, the X3S Bench also allows users to perform a vast array of other lower body exercises, as well as hundreds of other workouts to engage the core and upper body. The X3S Bench is perfect for individuals of all fitness levels who are looking to get a great workout while using minimal space.