Lower Body Circuit Workout

It hurts to climb up the stairs of my three story townhouse, if I drop something I dread bending down to pick it up, and getting in and out of the car, ahhhh! But I love that these simple everyday activities are a struggle sometimes because that means I had an awesome leg day workout. Don’t worry, if you’re not like me and you hate the ‘beautiful pain’ instead of loving it, you will be glad to know that it only lasts for a day or two. Don’t get me wrong, until I became accustomed to this pain, I used to hate the aftermath of a leg workout because my muscles would ache like they have never ached before. In fact, they ached so much that I even thought about taking my friend’s advice and trying the best CBD oil in UK brands and products to see if this would help to relieve some of the discomfort that I was experiencing. It worked for her and I longed to be free of the aches too. In the end, I tried some stretching, so both these options could be worth considering if you want to ensure that your legs aren’t aching as much after a long and tiring workout.

I don’t know about you, but lower body workouts are one of my favorite things to do when I come to exercise. So I thought it would be appropriate to link up with Heather today and share this circuit as a Friday Favorite.

I love starting the week working my lower body. Your legs are the largest muscle groups and you burn the most calories by doing exercises that use them. When I do a lower body workout I typically add a few ab exercises in between to give my legs a little rest. I wrote this workout months ago and have been doing it or something similar for months now so I figured it was time to share with you. I use a set of medium weights for most of the moves in this workout, I would suggest 8 or 10 pound dumbbells along with a mat if you’re on a hard surface. All of the moves can also be done just using your body weight though. Be sure to read through the entire post to see a description of each exercise and read how you could challenge yourself by adding weight to some of the moves. Let me know if you give this workout a try or tag me in a sweaty selfie, I would love to see it! And be sure to follow be on Snapchat at Sweetnstrong where I’ll post pics of me doing this workout Monday morning.

Be sure to complete a proper warm-up before completing this workout and cool down and refuel your body with protein and carbohydrates after.

Jump Squats: You could do traditional jump squats and squat down and then jump up or any variation. I like doing squat jacks. And I put these at the beginning of the workout to help warm up my legs for everything coming up.

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Curtsy Lunge: I actually usually do a step up on the bench then a reverse lunge when I initially wrote this workout, but since I figured most of you might not have access to a bench I modified it. Lunge back with your left leg, keeping the right leg on the floor and bend into a 90 degree angle (knee shouldn’t go over the toes). When you come back to start instead of tapping the left foot to the ground bring in front of your body in a high knee position, trying to keep your balance on the right leg and repeat. I highly suggest holding 8 or 10 pound weights at your side as you do this move.

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Runners Crunch: Make sure to do a little one second hold each time you bring a leg up. For an extra challenge try to keep your feet off the floor the entire time, but make sure your lower back is completely touching the ground, don’t sacrifice form!

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Surrenders: I love this move! Always make sure you’re pushing yourself up using your heels. Add weights and hold them at your shoulders to make the move more advanced.

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Sumo Squat Jumps: Similar to the first move, but your legs are wider and feet are pointing outwards. To make this move more challenging hold one weight up by your chin or between your legs.

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Low to High Wood Chops: One tip for this exercise is watch the weight move with your eyes, that will make you squat deeper and turn more into the oblique twist.

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Jumping Lunges: I sometimes do two pulses in between jumping and switching legs and again hold weights by your side to make them more difficult.

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Side Elbow Plank with a Twist: This is a newer move for me, but I love how it works your obliques just by holding the side plank, and the twist is an added bonus move for those muscles.

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Phew I’m tired just thinking about this workout! When my legs are sore after leg day I usually go for a short run or work only my upper body the following day, here’s one of my favorite upper body workouts.

Do you prefer upper or lower body workouts?

How do you relive sore muscles after a workout?