How Do I Target my Lower Body?

Some Exercises for the Lower Body

Whether it’s legs day in the weight room or working on your thighs on the mat at home, lower body workouts are a great way to tone or bulk up your legs, your butt, or around your waist. Exercises that target your lower body are designed to build up muscle and sculpt the tone of those areas, but they are also designed to give your upper body a day off. Most weight training experts suggest that you alternate between upper days and lower days, in order to give your body time to recovery from each—this is true even if you are targeting one specific area of your body. The process of defining tone and building muscle depends first on tearing that muscle down, which means it needs time to heal.

For those interested in targeting the lower body, you can generate some really excellent results. You can contour the look of your legs: either bulk up your muscles or tone the shape. You can contour the look of your rear end—get it as round and firm as possible. And, of course, you can exert some control over the size of your waist. Your goals will, to a large degree, dictate the types of exercise regimes you pursue.

How Do I Target My Legs?

Targeting your legs with a lower body workout might be easier than it sounds. If you’re in a weight room, there are any number of machines you can use that will build or tone muscle in the legs. If you’re looking to build muscle mass, you’re going to want to focus on intensity. On the other hand, if you’re trying to tone your legs, you’ll want to focus on endurance. If you’re in the gym, you can try one of the following exercises:

• Leg Extensions: Performed either with one leg or both legs, this exercise works out the front of the thigh and the quadriceps.
• Leg Curl: You can perform this exercise in a seated or prone position. In the seated position, it strengthens the back of your thighs and your hamstrings. The same is true in the prone position.
• Leg Press: If you’re looking to build strength in the leg, there aren’t many better options than the leg press or incline leg press. Usually, a leg press will target your quadriceps and your glutes.
• Calf Raises: You can actually perform this work out on a number of different machines. On a leg press, for example, rather than using your entire leg to lift the weight, you simply flex your feet, exercising your calf instead of your thigh.

There are, of course, many more exercises you can do. The best place to learn these exercises is at your local gym or fitness center. If you find yourself crunched for time, or don’t necessarily want to go to the gym, you can find any number of exercises to do at home that will target the same areas.

How Do I Target my Butt?

Given the fashions of today, many people want to exercise control over how their buttocks look—many want to have a round, firm, sexy butt, and there are several exercises you can do to get one. If you’re going to the gym, you can try squats or variations on squats. These exercises almost exclusively target the glutes and the butt.

If you’re at home, there are also exercises you can perform. You can do single leg hip rises, in which—with one leg raised in the air—you simply lift your hips off the ground. You can also do step-ups, which are pretty self-explanatory but work wonders. Or you can do something called a reverse lunge. All of these exercises can be performed in the comfort of your own home and, with dedication and determination, will yield results.

Start Working on Your Lower Body Today!

There’s no reason to wait to work on your lower body. Whether you’re more interested in toning your legs or building some muscle mass, there are definitely exercises and routines out there that can get results. So start working today to get the body contours you want tomorrow!