Every soul needs a strong foundation. That’s why you should regularly include lower-body exercises in your workout routine, says Cody Braun, CPT, and fitness expert at Beachbody.

That said, knowing the importance of your lower soul and working it the right way are two separate matters. Here, we’ll help underpass that gap so you can wilt a pro at training the muscles in your lower half.

Ready to get in your weightier lower-body workout ever? Mix and match the moves unelevated and get started!

Tip: We’ve divided these lower-body exercises by major movement pattern (a.k.a., the squat, the hip hinge, and the lunge) to make it plane easier to diamond a new lower-body workout.

1. Dumbbell Squat

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Stand with your feet hip to shoulder-width apart, holding a pair of dumbbells at arm’s length by your sides. Keeping your when flat, chest up, and cadre braced, push your hips back, wrench your knees, and lower your soul until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Pause, then push yourself when up to the starting position.

2. Dumbbell Goblet Squat

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Hold a dumbbell vertically in front of your chest, cupping the top end in both hands. Stand with your feet hip- to shoulder-width apart. Keeping your when unappetizing and elbows pointed down, push your hips when and lower your soul until your thighs are at least parallel to the ground. Pause, and then slowly push yourself when up to the starting position.

3. Bulgarian Split Squat

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Stand facing yonder from a bench, holding a pair of dumbbells at arm’s length by your sides. Place the toes of your left foot on the seat overdue you. Keeping your torso upright and your cadre engaged, lower your soul until your right thigh is parallel to the ground. Pause, and then push when up to the starting position. Do equal reps on both legs.

4. Lateral Lunge (or Side Lunge)

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Stand tall with your feet hip-width untied holding a pair of dumbbells at arm’s length by your sides, palms in. Keeping your right leg straight and right foot on the floor, step to the left side with your left leg, then push your hips when as you wrench your left knee. Lower the weights on either side of your left knee until your left thigh is parallel to the floor. Pause, and then push yourself when up to the starting position.

5. Glute Bridge: Lie on your back, stovepipe lanugo by your sides. Wrench your knees and plant your feet unappetizing on the floor. Pull in through your navel to twosome your cadre muscles and then squeeze your glutes to printing your hips up so your soul forms a straight line — no arching — from knees to shoulders. Keep your throne on the floor and vision focused on the ceiling. Hold the position for a beat, and then lower and lift, and repeat.

6 Single-Leg Swivel With Loop

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Loop a resistance wreath virtually your left foot, and grip it with your right hand as you rise up to stand up straight with your feet hip-width untied and your knees slightly bent. Keeping your when flat, your cadre engaged, and your left knee slightly bent, raise your right leg off the floor a few inches and swivel forward at your hips until your torso is as tropical to parallel with the floor as possible.

As you lower, your right leg kicks back. Your right hand should lower lanugo as it holds the band, and your left arm can be out to the side for balance. Return to a single-leg standing position and repeat the move, completing all reps on your left leg surpassing switching sides.

8. Forward Lunge

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Stand tall holding a pair of dumbbells at arm’s length by your sides (palms in) with your feet hip-width apart. Keeping your chest up, shoulders back, cadre braced (imagine someone is well-nigh to hit you in the gut), and when flat, take a large step forward with your right foot.

Lower your soul until your front thigh is parallel to the ground and your rear knee is wilting 90 degrees (it should hover a couple inches whilom the floor). Pause, and then reverse the movement to return to the starting position. Repeat, this time stepping forward with your left foot. Continue successive legs with each rep.

9. Reverse Lunge

Stand with your feet hip-width untied holding a pair of dumbbells at your sides. Keeping your chest up and your cadre engaged, take a large step wrong-side-up with your right foot. Slowly lower your soul until your left thigh is parallel with the floor and your right knee is wilting 90 degrees, just whilom the floor. Pause and, pushing forcefully off your left foot, reverse the movement, taking a large step forward to return to the starting position. After you’ve completed your set, switch sides, performing equal reps on each leg.

10: Clamshell

• Lie on your right side with your feet and hips stacked, your knees wilting 90 degrees, and your throne resting on your right arm.
• Draw your knees in toward your soul until your feet are in line with your butt. Place your left hand on your left hip to ensure it doesn’t tilt backward. This is your starting position.
• Keeping your abs engaged and your feet together, raise your left knee as upper as you can while keeping your feet together and your right hip on the floor.
• Hold for 1 second, squeezing your glutes at the top of the move, surpassing slowly lowering your left knee to the starting position.
• Perform equal reps on the other side.

12. Standing Calf Raise on Elevated Surface

• Holding a dumbbell in your left hand, stand with the wittiness of your left foot on an elevated surface, with your left heel hanging off.
• Keeping your cadre engaged, raise your left heel as upper as possible.
• Slowly lower your heel lanugo onto the raised surface until you finger a stretch in your calf.
• Repeat and do equal reps on both legs.

13. Seated Calf Raise

• Sit tall on a seat or chair with your feet unappetizing on the ground holding two heavy dumbbells on top of your knees.
• Keeping your cadre engaged, lift your heels off the ground as upper as possible.
• Slowly lower your heels when lanugo to the ground, and repeat.

14. Step-Up

• Stand tall holding a pair of dumbbells at arm’s length by your sides, and place your left foot on a seat so that your hip, knee, and toddle are all wilting 90 degrees.
• Keeping your chest up and shoulders back, push your soul up with your left leg until it’s straight (keep your right foot elevated).
• Pause, and then lower your soul when to the starting position under control. Perform equal reps on both legs.

15. Side Leg Lift With Band

• Wrap a resistance loop virtually your ankles and lie on your right side, propping yourself up on your right forearm.
• Keep your legs straight and stacked on top of each other and your toes pointed forward.
• Lift the top leg, lower, and repeat.
• Do equal reps on both sides.

How to Diamond the Weightier Lower-Body Workout

To create an constructive lower-body workout routine, start with your biggest muscle groups.

• Choose any moves you like, but uncork with recipe (multi-joint) and bilateral (working both sides of your body) exercises that hit your glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings.
• Include a mix of the big three lower-body movement patterns (squats, hip hinges, and lunges). This trio moreover builds functional strength so you can to perform day-to-day feats of strength, like making it through your final round of squats or climbing the stairs while delivering your groceries.
• Then do single-joint and unilateral exercises that target specific muscle groups or have elements of instability. These spare lower-body exercises strengthen the hip abductors (outer hips), adductors (inner thighs), and calves.

This approach, of hitting each movement pattern or muscle group equally, will help prevent muscular imbalances to alimony your lower soul healthy and injury-free.

How Often Should You Work Out Your Lower Body?

Try not to go increasingly than three days without training your lower body. You can do variations of these lower-body movements in a single workout or spread them throughout the week, Braun says.

While it depends on your goals, you should “do lower-body exercises a minimum of twice per week, or up to four times a week,” he says. Just stave working the same muscle group on back-to-back days.

Braun offers these uneaten tips for scheduling your lower-body workouts:

• To indulge unobjectionable recovery between workouts, go with split routines, which work variegated muscle groups on variegated days.
• For example, train your lower soul on Monday, do upper-body pushing patterns on Tuesday, train the lower soul then on Wednesday, and then do upper soul pulling patterns on Thursday.
• Short on time? Aim for two to three total-body workouts per week (that combine upper-body and lower-body exercises). This ensures you’re working your lower soul commonly unbearable to powerfully strengthen your muscles.

What Weights Should You Use for Lower-Body Exercises?

The right weight for lower-body exercises will be variegated for everyone.

Use a combination of moderate to heavy weights for 3-4 sets of 6-12 reps, and light to moderate weights for 3-4 sets of 12-20 reps.

Ideally, you should finish your last set of each exercise unable to perform any uneaten reps. Reaching this level of fatigue will help you build strength, muscle size, and endurance. This applies no matter how often you do lower-body workouts.

The post 15 Exercises to Add to Your Lower-Body Workout appeared first on The Beachbody Blog.