My Favorite Leg and Butt Workouts

 

 

 

 

 

 

From here on out, on Monday’s I am only going to be posting about fitness and health. Some #motivationmonday to start your week off right! 🙂 For the first post in this series, I want to share my favorite leg and butt workouts. Legs are something I have always focused on keeping in shape since my legs are fairly long and I have been a dancer my whole life. I have found workouts I LOVE and some that I am not the biggest fan of. 

Here are some of my favorite ones: 

 

I could rave about squats all day long, because they are my absolute favorite move to tone my lower body. I make it a goal to make sure I do squats, no matter how many, every single day.  The key to building muscles with these: weights. By adding weights, you are really sculpting your leg muscles as well as that booty! Do 40 three times. 

 

This exercise is killer y’all. You have to keep your balance as you walk and lunge, as well as sit deep into your lunges with weights hanging by your side. On lunges, you want to be very careful that your knee is directly over your toes and not further, as you could injure your knee. Really make sure to sit nice and deep into each of these lunges.  If these become extra difficult, you can remove the weights and just lunge! I typically will do 24 walking lunges (12 each side) three times. 

Cardio, legs, and butt all into one: does it get much better?! I have a love-hate relationship with these, because about 12 jump squats in I want to fall over.😂  Just a quick how-to in case you have never done a jump squat: start in a deep squat position, jump straight up as high as you can, and land back down in a squat position. Do 15 three times. 

 

These are my go-to butt workouts whether I am in my apartment or in the gym. They truly work all areas of your butt and do not require any extra equipment. Make sure to not arch your back on these and squeeze those abs. Do 20 each side three times of both exercises. 

I started incorporating these into my workout whenever I was doing the BBG workouts a while back. These are amazing for all parts of your butt and legs, because it requires you to use ALL of your muscles in the working leg to step up onto the elevated surface. Some people may say you can only do these in a gym where there is a bench, but I have definitely used my couch before so no excuses! 🙂  If you really want a challenge on this move, add some weights. Do 24 total (12 each side) three times. 

 

I don’t really need to explain much about this exercise, because I feel like everyone has probably done this before. If you want to add a little bit more of a challenge, set a weight (or a heavy object if at home) on your legs while doing this! Do this 3 times for one minute at a time. 

 

I LOVE these since they are a dance move! I do them with both my feet parallel, one footed, turned out with both feet, and turned out on one foot. Do 16 each way and hold for 20 seconds at the end of each set. 

 

 

Here are the circuits I perform these exercises in:

 

40 weighted squats

24 walking lunges with weights

20 Donkey Kicks (R & L)

20 Fire Hydrants (R & L)

 

15 jump squats

1 min wall sit

24 step ups

16 calf raises each way (reg, one footed, turned out, turned out one foot)

 

 

Start your Monday off right and get moving today y’all! Hope you all have a wonderful day. 

 

XOXO, Nikki