This is my third in a three part series on how beginners can boost lower body strength with an easy to execute at home workout routine.
Don’t worry if you haven’t tried the other two routines yet, this one is challenging all on it’s own.
These are, for the most part, straight forward and easy to do exercises that a beginner can incorporate into an at home workout routine that can be done, well, at home or anywhere else for that matter.
The best part about these routines I think is that they don’t take much time.
So if you’re in a hurry but still want to get a good effective workout in before you leave to go wherever you think you have to be, these will do the trick.
For this routine, I put together a few classic moves that will really help you to build power and tone your legs.
You can always add to them if you feel you need to do a little more or you can incorporate one of the other routines I posted earlier.
They’re all great for building up your lower body.
The movements I’m focusing on for this at home workout routine go back to my days of team sports and I still use them today.
I usually incorporate variations of each of these moves into my legs day and I will also use them as part of my warm up occasionally as well.
These three moves are great and I think you’ll sort of enjoy them if you’re looking to start building leg strength and agility.
I say sort of because come on, let’s be honest, it’s still a workout.
Oh, and another great thing about this at home workout routine is that you don’t need any kind of equipment for any of these exercises. That’s right, it’s absolutely free!
This workout can be completed using just your bodyweight.
As you begin to progress, you can start to include weights and other equipment if you so choose.
However, as a beginner, I think you will find that doing these movements with just your bodyweight should be a pretty good challenge.
We’ll talk about increasing your level of difficulty a little later.
But for now let’s get started!
Related Article: Full Body Workout In Minutes
The Bodyweight Squat (A Must For Any At Home Workout Routine)
The bodyweight squat is definitely one of the granddaddies of lower body exercises.
It has probably been around since the dawn of time. I’d bet it was one of the first exercises early human civilization ever did.
Probably without even knowing it because what did we know back then seriously.
It’s an easy exercise to do once you get the basic technique down right. And the benefits are huge.
Start by standing straight up with your feet slightly more than shoulder width apart.
Allow your arms to hang loose by your side.
Now gradually begin to squat down as if you were sitting into a chair. You can bend your arms at the elbow allowing your hands to come up but keep your elbows down and in front of you.
As you come down, try to get your thighs parallel with the floor. Hold that position for a moment and then press up through your feet until you return to a standing position.
While you are squatting down you want to keep your head up and your chest out. This will help you keep your back straight and maintain good form throughout the squat.
This exercise really targets your quadriceps and hamstrings. Those are the large muscles on the front and back of your thighs.
It also works your glutes. AKA your butt.
If you want to alter the movement slightly to get all of your lower leg involved, once you return to the standing position, continue to press up through the balls of your feet until you are up on your toes. Then slowly lower yourself back down until you’re flat on your feet.
With this small variation you’ve just incorporated your calves into the move and are working the whole leg.
This move is great for building lower body strength, power, balance and agility.
Try and repeat the full movement 10 times.
Here’s my favorite demonstration of the proper way to do the squat with Anna Renderer and the good folks over at Popsugar Fitness.
She includes some other great tips in there as well.
If you’re having trouble with the basic squat at first and maintaining form, try doing it by actually squatting into a chair.
This will help you with basic form and give you some extra support. After doing it like this for a little while, you should have no problem with the regular squat.
Related Article: Bodyweight Strength Training For Beginners – Isometrics
Reverse Lunge
This is a great move for building up your legs. I used to do it all the time when I played baseball as part of our regular workout.
I still do it. It’s a movement that even after you are no longer a beginner you’ll probably keep doing with variations to keep it challenging because it is that awesome.
The good news is this is another move that’s pretty easy to get good at.
Start by standing straight up again. Allow your arms to hang loosely by your sides. Your feet should be just as they would be if you were about to start walking.
Now step backwards with your left foot allowing both knees to bend.
As you are stepping back allow your left knee to come down and almost touch the floor. This should have you forming 90 degree angles with both your left and right legs.
Your right thigh at this point should be almost parallel with the floor. Keep your shoulders up, chest out and your back straight.
Then simply step back up and forward with your left foot so that you can return to the standing position.
You should really feel it in your leg as you press through your right foot. Repeat the same movement with your right leg because we don’t do just one leg ever.
Nice try though.
Congrats! You just completed the reverse lunge. Try to do 8-10 repetitions with each leg.
This is a great exercise for your entire leg and glutes and really helps you build strength, balance and coordination.
Here’s a great demonstration of the reverse lunge from the good folks at Prisma Health Upstate.
Pretty great that she includes variations to make it a little harder or a little easier depending upon your level of fitness.
Don’t worry so much about keeping your hands on your head in the beginning. Just keep good form with your body.
Also make sure that you are lunging back the correct distance and not leaving your front knee out over your toes. That puts a little too much pressure on the knee and you don’t want that.
Related Article: 5 Great Exercises For A Beginner’s At Home Workout
The Classic Jumping Jack
If you’ve been following my other lower body beginner routines, you probably noticed that I like to include a movement that has a powerful lower body component but also incorporates a full body conditioning element.
That’s what you get with the classic jumping jack. It works your legs while giving you a full body benefit.
I think this is a fantastic movement that should be a part of any beginner at home workout routine.
Again, start by standing straight up with your feet together and your hands hanging loose at your sides.
Next, with a slight bend in your knees, jump straight up allowing your legs to come apart slightly wider than shoulder width.
As you are jumping up, keep your arms straight and swing them up at your sides, coming together over your head.
At this point, you should be standing with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart and your arms straight up over your head.
From this point, with a slight bend in your knee, jump up again now bringing your legs back together and keeping your arms straight, swinging them back down to the starting position at your sides.
The movement is completed when you return to the position where you began.
This one ticks all the boxes for all the muscles in your legs. Hamstrings, quads and calves. And it will also work your glutes.
As an added bonus, increase the speed a little and it becomes a great full body conditioning exercise. Try and do 15 of them in a row.
The movement is great for building stamina, endurance and agility.
Here’s a good breakdown of how to do the jumping jack from the folks over at XFit Daily.
So you there you have it. The third “leg” of this awesome lower body workout routine for beginners.
See what I did there with the “leg” thing?
Related Article : One Of The Greatest Exercises To Get In Shape
Put It All Together
So let’s put it all together and see how it looks.
- 10 Repetitions Bodyweight Squat
- 8-10 Repetitions Reverse Lunge
- 15 Repetitions of Jumping Jacks
If you’re looking for a kick butt lower body at home workout for beginners, this is going to get you where you want to be.
Give yourself a minute or two rest between each exercise and try going through the full circuit of movements 3 – 4 times.
I’m pretty sure if you’re a beginner, you’re going to be feeling a good burn with this routine.
Of course, there’s always the chance that you sail through this workout and feel like you’ve barely warmed up.
If that’s the case it’s probably because you aren’t quite a beginner anymore.
But if you still like the routine and just want to try and boost it up to another level, go ahead and …
Make It Metabolic!
Wait! What?
You heard me.
This routine can be turned into a great metabolic workout for beginners.
If you haven’t heard of a metabolic workout before and want to know what it is, here’s a general breakdown for you.
A metabolic workout tends to involve compound exercises. Compound exercises utilize multiple joints and multiple muscle groups at the same time.
So for example the bodyweight squat in this routine is a great compound exercise incorporating the quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings and core. As you can imagine, it works multiple joints for these muscle groups to work together.
A good metabolic workout will have you boost your metabolism with a good calorie burn. Your metabolism is generally measured by how many calories you burn while at rest.
The faster your metabolism the more calories you burn. The more calories you burn the better your chances of burning fat and losing some weight.
Metabolic training tends to incorporate large muscle groups in the body. Though it can be done with smaller muscle groups as well. It utilizes high intensity and you’ll definitely feel the burn in the muscles you are working.
The high intensity also means you’re able to workout for a shorter period of time to achieve the same results.
The benefits of a solid metabolic workout routine for beginners include improved cardiovascular performance and strength training. There also tends to be a boost in fat loss as a result of increased calorie burns.
Some studies indicated that following a good metabolic workout routine, a percentage of the increased levels of calorie burns continue while at rest. This has been referred to as the “afterburn effect”.
Also known as the excess post exercise oxygen consumption or EPOC. It’s really just a fancy way of describing the increased number of calories burned after exercise.
Related Article: Best Bodyweight Exercises To Build A Lean Strong Physique
So How Do We Make This Workout Routine Metabolic?
No problem.
If you’re looking to turn this into a metabolic workout routine for beginners the best place to start is with your rest period in between exercises.
This is one way to boost the intensity. So instead of resting for a couple of minutes between each exercise, cut your rest down to 30 seconds.
If that still doesn’t do it for you, take the rest out completely from in between exercises and go straight through from one movement to the next.
Save the rest for after completing all three exercises.
And whatever you do, don’t slow down.
You want to maintain a solid pace all the way through because this will keep your heart rate up and allow you to get the most out of it.
By boosting the intensity in this fashion you’ll reap the benefits of this bodyweight strength training routine in less time and effectively turned it into a great metabolic session for your at home workout.
If you want to take it to a whole other level, try adding in a jump rope session in between each exercise for 30 seconds.
Talk about a metabolic workout for beginners!
My guess is you won’t want to reach for the jump rope out of the gate but it is definitely something you can shoot for as you begin to dominate this routine.
The Wrap Up
So there you go! A great at home workout routine for beginners to build a powerful lower body with a full body conditioning component thrown in for good measure.
If you’re able to jump right to the metabolic workout, I’d imagine you’re not quite a beginner and may be ready soon to take this workout to the next level by adding weights and additional sets.
If you are a beginner, this routine should get you on track to building your strength and toning your body. Try and do it at least a couple times a week until it gets considerably easier.
At that point you won’t be such a beginner anymore. You’ll be on your way to the next level. Way to go!
