Your Lower-Body Workouts Must, Must, Must Include Single-Leg Exercises
Bodyweight exercises are great, but if you want to really push yourself, get stronger, and see those muscles pop, adding weight to your strength training game will fast-track your progress.
Whether you work out in a gym or in your living room, dumbbells will turn up the heat and increase the load or strain on your body. As far as weights go, they're also a lot easier to come by (and often easier to use) than resistance machines, so you can work up a sweat and build muscle anywhere—without any fancy equipment.
Plus, adding load to your standard bodyweight lunges and squats is a surefire way to take your leg workouts to the next level. Not only will they jump-start your results, but they'll also make your lower-body workouts more functional, meaning they'll better prepare you for everyday life. With regular dumbbell leg workouts in your routine, you'll haul heavy bags out of supermarket no problem and scale flights of stairs without thinking twice.
A good lower-body training sesh targets all of your muscles, from your glutes to your quads to your hamstrings to your calves. It also incorporates dumbbell leg exercises that train one leg at a time, like split squats or lateral lunges, so you can build balanced strength and stability.
When in doubt, pull from this list of exercises I incorporate into my own dumbbell leg workouts and you'll be shaking—and stronger—in no time
Time: 10 minutes
Equipment: mat, dumbbells
Good for: legs, glutes
Instructions: Choose six exercises from the list below, including a mix of double- and single-leg movements. Perform each for 30 seconds, resting for 15 seconds before continuing on to the next. Once you've finished all six moves, rest for one minute, then repeat once more for a total of two rounds.
Get started with these foundational dumbbell moves.
