Lower Body Exercises to Help You Tone and Strengthen

Lower body exercises can help you look and feel great.

It's not hard to work your lower body. There's no need for expensive machinery or a gym membership. The right exercises and the correct technique will do the job.

If you're at home, you can work out your lower body any time of the day. Be it 10 minutes or an hour. It all helps.

Check out some of our awesome lower body exercises here.

What you will learn from this article:

• The benefits of working out your lower body.
• Muscles and stuff...
• The dreaded 'F' word and how to beat it!
• It's not hard to work you lower body.
• When you should work your lower body.

Quick links to our lower body exercises:

• Hamstring exercises
• Glute exercises
• Calf exercises
• Thigh exercises
• Inner thigh exercises
• Leg Toning Exercises

Benefits of Doing Lower Body Exercises
	Do you suffer from knee or hip pain? A good lower body workout plan can help strengthen the weak muscles around those areas for added support. This means less pain!
	Doing lower body exercises will help you get a perky butt and toned legs. Now, who would say no to that!?
	If you are involved in a sport that uses your lower body a lot, strengthening the muscles in this area is vital! You will not believe how much your perfomance will improve as you develop your lower body strength.
	Is your upper body bulking up, but your legs and behind wasting away? A lot of people, especially guys, neglect their lower body exercises. This is dangerous as it can cause muscle imbalances.

Muscles and Stuff...

If you've ever seen speed skaters at the Winter Olympics you'll know what a strong lower body looks like. They must do some super serious lower body exercise! The lower body refers to the area below your core. This area consists of many muscles which have long and very strange sounding names. Don't worry about all the technical mumbo jumbo though. We're here to improve your physique, not your IQ :)

We just want to give you a brief overview of the terms which you're most likely to come across:

The Quads - This is a group of four muscles found at the front of your thigh. This muscle group is used to extend your leg, like when you kick a ball. Here are some awesome lower body exercises for your thighs. Hamstrings - These are found on the other side of your leg... hopefully!! You use your hamstrings when you bend your leg. These are the best hamstring exercises ever. Glutes – These form your bum. They help you move your legs and balance on the toilet! They are vital for almost all lower body movement. Check out some of these great glute exercises. Hip flexors - These are found opposite your glutes on the front of your pelvis. They raise your legs to the front, like when you walk up steps. Calves - Their job is to extend your foot at the ankle. Like when you point your toes and dance like a ballerina - thinking nobody is watching! Check out these effective calf exercises to do at home.

The Dreaded 'F' Word.. FAT

Women, more often than men, store fat in their lower body. Especially in their butt, lower abdomen and hips. Shifting this weight can be an absolute pain the ass - excuse the pun. It does take time, determination and perseverance. 'Butt' it is worth it - OK we’ll stop being so punny now! We have a tendancy to go too far :)

Building muscle in your lower body takes place a lot more quickly than fat loss - Phew! So don’t lose your motivation if you don’t see quick results. Under that fat there is muscle building. If you really want to see serious results, you will need to do some aerobic exercise or watch what you are eating. You could even do both if you are super serious about sculpting your lower body!

Is it Difficult to Work Your Lower Body?

Some parts of your lower body are very straight forward to work. Others can seem quite complicated. Gyms have many machines dedicated to this sole purpose. The truth is, a large amount of lower body exercises don't require expensive machines or equipment. Hill walking, lunges and squats for example, are all really good leg and butt busters. They, and many others can be done in your own home or on a nearby hill. There's no sense really in paying for a gym membership. Ahhh, it's such a good feeling saving money.

When Should I Work Out My Lower Body?

Now! Yes! Stand up. Put your back against the wall. Bend your knees to 90 degrees and pretend you’re sitting on an invisible bench. Just like in the picture to the left. Hold that till it burns. That’s the beauty of these exercises, you can do them at home, anytime. Don’t forget everything adds up. We really urge you to add some lower body exercises into your training routine. You'll look and feel better for it. After developing strength and tone in your lower body you'll never look back, we promise!

Summary of all our articles that we linked to from this page:

• Calf exercises
• Glute exercises
• Inner thigh exercises
• Exercises for your thighs
• Hamstring exercises
• Aerobic exercise
• Nutrition
• Great Leg Workout

Keep us up to date with how you're going! If you want personal advice on lower body exercises, just drop us an email.