7 Lower Body Exercises

0 Flares Filament.io 0 Flares ×

photo courtesy of pixabay.com

photo courtesy of pixabay.com

A New Kind of Warm-Up

by Stephanie Nickel

Kudos to Kimberley and all the other winter sports-loving individuals! While I do love to take a walk after a snowfall, my camera in hand, mostly I’m snuggled under a blanket inside my warm, cozy house.

I am not a coffee or tea drinker year round, but I do love to warm up with a hot cup of herbal tea (or yes, hot chocolate), but an even healthier way to do so is to exercise.

While waiting for my kettle to boil today, I did a quick lower body workout. It gets the blood pumping, warms me up, and it has long-term fitness benefits.

Below are the exercises I did. (Remember to modify based on your level of ability and your doctor’s recommendations.)

Sumo Squats

  • Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
  • Turn your toes out slightly.
  • Breathe in and sit back (don’t let your knees protrude over your toes); don’t come down past a 90 degree bend at the knee (not even this far if you have knee problems).
  • Exhale and push up through the heels to a standing position.
  • Repeat 12 times.

Lunges

  • Breathe in and step forward with one leg and drop the back knee.
  • Keep your feet parallel and make sure your front knee doesn’t protrude over your toes.
  • Breathe out and push back to starting position.
  • Alternate for a total of 12 lunges on each side.

Knee Lifts/Leg Extensions

  • Exhale as you raise your knee and extend your leg out straight. (Rest one hand on the wall, a chair, or the counter if needed.)
  • Alternate 12 times on each side.

Side Kicks

  • Balance on one leg (knee slightly bent).
  • Exhale and raise your other knee then extend the leg out to the side only as high as you’re comfortable.
  • Repeat 12 times on each side.

For the following three exercises, I recommend resting both hands on a countertop or the back of a chair.

Leg Lifts to the Back

  • Exhale and raise your knee and then extend the leg out behind you before inhaling and returning to the starting position.
  • Repeat 12 times on each side.

Abductor Lifts

  • Exhale and lift your leg out to the side.
  • Keep your toes pointed forward.
  • Repeat 12-24 times on each side.

Adductor Swings

  • Balance on one leg.
  • Exhale and swing your other leg close to and in front of the leg on which you’re balanced.
  • Don’t swing it much past shoulder width when returning to the starting position.
  • Keep your feet parallel.
  • Repeat 12-24 time on each leg.

And yes, I still had a cup of cinnamon spice tea, but I didn’t need it as much to warm up.

 

Tweetable

Warm up with 7 lower body exercises. (tweet this)

 

Read other posts by Stephanie

10 Exercises to Do on a Ball

6 Ways to Intensify your Workout

10 Exercises to Do at Your Desk

 

Want more articles by Stephanie?

Click the image below to access the collection

of over 60 links to health and wellness articles.

Stephanie Nickel

 

Steph Beth Nickel is an author, a freelance editor and writer, a labour doula, and a former personal trainer. She’d love to connect with you on Facebook or Twitter, on her website or blog.

0 Flares Twitter 0 Facebook 0 LinkedIn 0 Pin It Share 0 Email -- Google+ 0 Filament.io 0 Flares ×

1 thought on “7 Lower Body Exercises

  1. Pingback: 9 Upper Body Exercises by Stephanie Nickel | Kimberley J. Payne

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.