Sculpt Lower Body With These 5 Tips

Many people don’t take their lower body workouts too seriously. In fact I’ve had many clients who seem to skip them altogether. But toning your lower body is just as important as toning your upper body.

First, your lower body really serves as the foundation for all upper body exercises. It plays a key role in balance and core strength. Toning and defining your lower body can also contribute to a more balanced and proportionate physique.

And remember, your lower body is composed of some very large muscles. This means a bigger impact when it comes to boosting your metabolism and increasing testosterone output. So they shouldn’t be ignored!

Let’s look at some tips for toning and sculpting your lower body…

Sculpt Lower Body with these 5 Tips

1. Get Your Squeeze On – This is an easy tip for sculpting your lower body, but it takes a bit of concentration. By squeezing and contracting your glutes (butt muscles), quads, and hamstrings during exercises, you can increase the overall effectiveness of your lower body workout. This is true for all muscle groups, but especially effective for your glutes and legs.

2. Add a Jump to Your Step – Adding jumps to your lower body workouts is a great way to incorporate plyometric exercise into your fitness plan. Plyometrics is all about jump training, and it’s a totally effective way to burn more calories and maximize your output and gains. It also keeps you moving for longer without rest, which is another way to train and condition your muscles.

Take lunges for example. An easy way to incorporate jumping is to move continuously between lunges on either side, jumping as you alternate between legs. Or, consider coming out of your squats with a light jump or simply jumping rope between sets is also extremely effective.

3. Spice It Up – Adding variety is another easy way to sculpt your lower body. Doing the same old lunges and squats over and over again will get boring over time, and the effect will slowly dissipate. Change the angle of your lunges, use dumbbells for resistance instead of machines, or engage in high intensity interval training on a treadmill or elliptical. For more information, read my article on High Intensity Interval Traininghere.

4. Watch Your Back – Leg workouts often focus on your glutes and quads (your front leg muscles) but ignore your hamstrings. Squats and lunges are great exercises for sculpting your lower body, but adding exercises like dumbbell or barbell deadlifts will help balance things out a bit.

5. Keep Your Knees in Line – My last tip focuses on controlling your knees during leg exercises. Next time you engage in a squat, leg press, or lunge, keep an eye on your knees and watch for any inward movement. If you notice your knees moving inward on the way up or down, try to force them back in line with the rest of your leg. By forcing your knees to stay in place, you’ll better engage your hips and side butt muscles, which will result in overall better results.

Sculpt Lower Body Conclusion

If you’re looking for a good leg sculpting workout plan, check out my Killer Leg Workout here. Combined with these tips, you’ll have a sculpted lower body in no time!

And don’t forget about recovery. Leg muscles are notorious for requiring longer recovery time, since we use them in pretty much everything we do. For optimal recovery, take a look at theseMuscle Recovery Supplements.