August Workout of the Month — Lower Body

It’s the middle of August!! And even though it’s still Summer (and I hate to wish away any time), I have to say I’m super pumped for Fall! With it being a few weeks into August, it’s time for our workout of the month. Like we talked about before, each workout is going to be targeted for a specific part of your body. For this August workout of the month, we’re going to focus on your lower body. Think squats, squats and more squats :)

August Workout of the Month

When people think about working out their lower body, the squat definitely jumps right to the front. And that’s great because the squat is such a good exercise, plus there are a TON of different variations so it won’t ever get old. But one thing I want to emphasize is FORM! Many people believe the squat is great for your quads (that’s the front part of your thighs), however, the squat is actually better for your butt, IF you are performing it properly.

Squat Form

It is very important to make sure your squat is dominated by your glutes (butt), and not your quads. In order to do this, you want to hinge your hips. See the picture below! If you can hinge at the hips before lowering into your squat, you’ll make sure that your butt is taking on the brunt of the work.

Another Tip

One more tip when it comes to working out your lower body — you need to make sure you’re including exercises for several different muscles, mainly your quads, hamstrings, and butt. If you do a bunch different variations of squats (forward and backward lunge, side lunge, sumo squat, etc.) that’s great, but one huge muscle you aren’t working quite as well, is your hamstrings (the backside of your thighs). You don’t want to be imbalanced by only working on your quads. And this is why you need to vary your exercises that target different muscles! Throw in some deadlifts, and lying hamstring curls. Strengthen both parts of your leg and you’ll be much better off!

One final note about this workout — you’ll see I’m not using any weights in the pictures. That does NOT mean you can’t! In fact, I would recommend using weights if you’re looking to make it more challenging! Now without further ado, here’s the workout!

Exercises

• Sumo Squat — Start with your feet in a wide position and toes pointed slightly outward. Squat down to parallel, then push back up.
• Jump Lunge — Start in a normal lunge position. As you push up, jump up into the air and switching the positions of your leg to land slowly in the lunge position.
• Glute Bridge — Start on your back with your knees bent. Push your hips up into the air as high as possible while keeping your core tight. Hold for just a second and then lower back down. Try not the touch the ground with your butt between reps.
• Reverse Lunge w/ Kick — Start with your feet together. Step backward into a lunge. As you come back up, kick that same leg you stepped back on, out in front of you.
• Squat Jump — This is your basic squat but on steroids. Start with your feet about shoulder width apart, then lower down into a squat. Then jump up into the air and land with soft knees sinking right into your next squat.
• Calf Raise — This one is all about balance. Start with one foot on the floor and the other a few inches off the ground in front of you (you can definitely hold onto something for this!). Then push up onto your toes while maintaining your other foot in the air. Slowly lower back down on your heel and repeat.
• Single Leg Deadlift — Another balance exercise! Start with your weight on one leg. With that knee slightly bent, hinge forward to reach your arms down towards your shins.
• Side Lunge w/ Kick — Start with your feet together. Step out to one side and lunge down keeping the other leg straight. Push back up into starting position and then raise your leg that you lunged into up to the side.

I hope you enjoy this lower body August workout of the month, and good luck!