Workout of the week: 35-min lower body strength workout

ALL LEVELS / lower body strength workout / 35 minutes

Equipment: Dumbbells, lower back bench & leg extension machine

Never skip leg day. If you have any gym experience, you definitely heard this one. There are even memes about it. Jokes aside, the fact remains: lower body workouts are sometimes neglected in favour of upper body ones. But they shouldn’t because they’re crucial for a balanced, whole-body routine. Plus, strong leg muscles help you build a strong and stable foundation, maximising and boosting your fitness performance.

To bring a little diversity to your workouts and get all the benefits above, we bring you this lower body strength workout. It has 5 exercises with 12 reps each. You’ll perform 4 rounds in total, and rest 45 seconds between each round and exercise. All combined, this workout should take you around 35 minutes to complete. Since this is a strength workout with a fairly low number of reps and plenty of time to rest, make sure you add a little more weight than usual to each exercise.

Dumbbell sumo squat
Dumbbell deadlift
Hyperextensions
Reverse lunge into front lunge
Leg extensions

When you’re ready, let’s start this workout!

WORKOUT SETUP

5 exercises
12 reps
4 rounds
45-sec rest between rounds and exercises
35 minutes total
Equipment: Dumbbells, lower back bench & leg extension machine

WORKOUT EXERCISE LIST

4 rounds

1 – DUMBBELL SUMO SQUAT

12 reps

Grab a dumbbell and hold it with both hands. You should stretch your arms, and the dumbbell should be in front of your waist.
Feet apart (about twice your shoulder width) with your toes pointing out slightly.
Lower your body as far as you can, hips back and knees bent.
Pause before pushing yourself to the starting position.
Maintain your core tight and your torso upright.

2 – DUMBBELL DEADLIFT

12 reps

Begin by standing, holding a dumbbell in each hand. As the video shows, the dumbbells can be positioned in front of the body; however, if this puts too much stress on your low back, hold the dumbbells by your side.
Engage the core and begin the movement by bending the knees slightly and hinging the hips. Then continue the bending by pushing the hips backwards, lowering the dumbbells as far as comfortable.
At the bottom of the movement, actively engage the glutes, push the feet into the floor and drive the hips upwards and forwards to return to the start position.
Repeat for time or reps.

3 – HYPEREXTENSIONS

12 reps

Lie face down on the bench, tucking your ankles under the footpads. With your body straight, interlace your fingers behind your head.
Bend forward slowly as far as you can while keeping your back flat. Keep moving forward until you feel your hamstrings stretch.
Slowly raise your torso back to the initial position.
Repeat.

4 – REVERSE LUNGE INTO FRONT LUNGE

12 reps each leg

Stand tall, holding two dumbbells.
Firmly plant your left foot on the ground and take a step back with your right.
Now, push explosively with your front foot to perform a forward lunge.
Make sure you’re always looking straight ahead and that your core is engaged.
Repeat with the other leg.

5 – LEG EXTENSIONS

12 reps

Sit up straight on the leg extension machine.
Adjust the pad so it sits on your lower leg and just above your feet.
Extend your legs straight out in front of you, making sure you’re using your quads to power the movement.
Then slowly lower them back to the starting position.
Repeat.