This lower body workout has been designed to thoroughly burn out the butt and thighs. All you need for this workout is roughly 30 minutes and a set of dumbbells.
We’ve taken some of the best lower body strength exercises and combined them with several carefully selected plyometric exercises in order to keep the muscle building and fat burning benefits high.
Related: 4 Week Butt and Thigh Program
In order to get the most out of this workout, make sure to pay special attention to your form all the way throughout this routine. Once you’re certain that your form is perfect, begin to incrementally increase the amount of weight that you’re lifting. Focus on contracting all of your muscles - even the ones that aren’t directly being targeted. Lower body strength workouts like this one can be one of the most effective ways to target your core; keeping everything engaged can help prevent you from injury and get more benefit from the time you spend exercising.
Workout Structure
After a cardio warm up, we move directly onto those brutal strength exercises, presented in a timed, ABAB interval format. Once we've thoroughly toasted the legs, we finish off with a cool down and stretch.
Warm Up (20 Seconds each)
- Slow Butt Kickers
- Slow High Knees
- Toe Touch and Reach
- Toe Touch Sweeps
- Torso Rotation w/ Knee
- Slow Squat w/ Push Pull
- Side Lunge and Reach
- Leg Swing - L
- Leg Swing - R
- Side Leg Lift - L
- Side Leg Lift - R
- Alternating Lunge
- Boxer Shuffle
- Up and Outs
- Jumping Jacks
Workout (45 on 15 off x 2 for each exercise)
- Sumo Squat
- Deadlift Toes In
- Curtsy Lunge
- Deadlift Toes Out
- Side Lunge
- Deadlift
----- Water Break -----
- Clean and Press
- Squat
- Jumping Lunge
- Alternating Lunge
Cool Down (30 Seconds each)
- Toe Touch
- Quad Stretch L
- Quad Stretch R
- Inside Thigh L
- Inside Thigh R
- Wide Leg Center Stretch
- Butterfly Stretch
- Seated Toe Touch L
- Seated Toe Touch R
- Deep Glute L
- Deep Glute R
- Full Body Stretch
How many times a week can I train my lower body?
Strength training is yet another method of exercise where more is not necessarily better. Especially if you’re trying to gain muscle mass, rest is an important part of your training. Your body and muscles will need time to heal in between tough workouts like this one; you should give yourself at least a full 48 hours in between intense workouts. Basically, if your muscles are sore - even if it’s 3-4 days later - you would be better resting those muscles rather than working them again.
While you’re letting your body heal, you can give your body what it needs by focusing on good nutrition, drinking lots of water, and doing lots of stretching.
If your lower body muscles are still sore but you’re anxious to jump back into training, you can always either do a recovery cardio style workout, or that time period is also ideal for training your upper body (no matter what your goals are or what body part you’re most intent on training, it’s important to keep a well rounded training program that targets the body in a balanced, comprehensive way.