Lower Body Basics

• Squats. This exercise targets two of the largest muscles in your body, your quadriceps and your glutes. As an added bonus, squats also help your hips, calves, hamstrings and obliques and also help to strengthen tendons, bones and ligaments that will help prevent injury!
• Lunges. Quadriceps, glutes and hamstrings are the three major muscles that you will work with lunges. You have to engage stabilizing muscles when doing this exercise as well, which helps to improve balance. They are perfect for anyone but especially those in their 40's, 50's and beyond!
• Glute Squeeze. This exercise target tones your (you guessed it!) gluteus muscles. The great thing about this move is that there are several variations. If you are just beginning your exercise journey, hold on to a chair or the kitchen counter for stability. The next level would be to balance while doing the move, this will engage stability muscles and your core. And for an advanced version, lay down on the ground with knees bent and a heavy dumbbell on your hips, drive your hips to the sky and squeeze those glutes!
• Deadlift. Hamstrings and glutes are the two main muscles that are worked with a deadlift. Strengthening these two muscles will in turn strengthen your back. I love to say "let's work your back side and make it your best side!" when doing this exercise!!

Okay, now that you know some great exercises to tone your lower body, let's get moving! I have a quick 5-minute workout for you all today. All of the exercises mentioned above are included in this quick routine. Give it a try today and see how you feel!!

If you love this workout and want to take it to the next level, there is a 10-Minute Full Body Sculpt in my Denise Austin membership!! Download my app today and start a free trial to check it out!!

Let's live FIT, HAPPY and HEALTHY - together!!

Denise

Lower Body Sculpt Transcript:

Welcome to your five minute lower body workout. If you would like to have a full 10 minute total body workout, go check me out at deniseaustins.com. Let's tone and tighten up the lower body and if you have some weights, go ahead and grab them. You will need them. The first exercise is with just one weight. Now we're gonna take a squat down and come back up. A squat and come up. That's it. Sit way back there. Notice my hips are going way back and lift back up. And as you come up, squeeze your bottom. Tighten up that tushy, firm and lift your bottom half and make it your better half. That's it. Lift. We got two more. Last one. Great. And switch your arms down and lift up. That's great. Thinking about good posture, sit back. Notice my weight is in the back of my heels. That's it. Great. This is a full body workout. You work your arms but also target toning the lower half. Great sculpt your legs, your hips, your thighs. That's it. Last one. 

Alright, now let's take it forward, lunge it forward and push away. Lunge it forward. Push away. We're now target toning the quadriceps, the front of your thighs. That's it. Just push away. Feel as though your back is nice and straight. And your tummy's in. Think good posture. And then push away. That's it. Great for your thighs. Excellent. Reshape those thighs. Last one. Okay, now let's launch to the side. Thinking about good posture too. Think about sitting back way back there. There you go. Sit way back there. Shift your hips so you're further behind. That's it. Good. Working the inner and outer thighs right now. Excellent way to really shape and sculpt your legs. That's it. Last one on this side. Great. Let's switch legs. Take it down and pull up. Down. And really feel it through the tummy too. You got this. This is now firming on the inside of your legs. Great. Also, it really shapes that back half. Sit way back there. Sit down, push away. Excellent. Two more. You got it. Last one. Okay, let's grab both weights and let's begin little baby squats. We're going to take it down and squeeze the tushy. Stay on this one leg. That's it. Thinking about good posture, push away. Good. This is now target tone in the back of your thighs. No more jiggles. That's it, tone it. Tighten up those legs. Good. No more of those saddle bags. Firm it up. Last one. Good. And let's turn to the other side. And squat and squeeze. That's it. Squat. This is great. Lower body sculpt. Good. If you're just starting out, you don't need weights. That's okay. The weights just really challenge those muscles. Muscles work miracles on your metabolism. Squat and then squeeze. That's it. Last one. You got it. Great. Okay. Now it's time to really firm up those inner thighs. We're just going to shift side to side. Side to side. Great. Feel it in the inner thighs. That's excellent. Great way to really target tone your inner thighs. We got two more. Last one. Okay, now turn your toes out and we're gonna do plié. So we take it down and pull in. Great. Take it down and pull in. Now we're reshaping and sculpting the entire thigh area. And it also helps lift the bottom, the tushy, your buns. Look great from behind. Good. Take it down and really squeeze through the tummy and squeeze through the inner thighs. Squeeze last one and down. We hold it. Stay down there. Come on. Really feel in the inner thighs. Now pick up one heel. Do you feel it extra? Great. And to the other side. Lift that heel up. Get down. Feel it, stretch it. Good. Last one. Okay. And just take nice deep breaths in. Inhale and exhale. Good. Take it down and relax. A little full body thigh workout here. Good. We got one more last one. Deadlift. And come on. Beautiful. Thanks for working out with me. Woo. If you love this workout, I have so much more at deniseaustin.com. Try my free trial that you get to do all kinds of different workouts and recipes. Eating plans. You will love it. All you have to do is visit deniseaustin.com. Sign up for your free trial now.