Shape Up Your Legs and Glutes

Do you know what can motivate you like nothing else? Do your exercises in front of a full-length mirror. Pay attention to the position of your knee in relation to your foot during the squats and lunges, and follow the guidelines I’ve given in each exercise.

Today we’re starting with the lower body. Remember that conventional wisdom calls for working the larger muscles first then the smaller ones. If you work the small ones first, you may be too tired to work the large ones effectively when you get to them. One of my trainers used the analogy that it’s kind of like eating dessert before dinner—but what’s wrong with that, I’d like to know? Well, anyway, today we are starting with the lower body.

How Much Weight Should You Use in the Beginning?
If this is your first foray into strength training, start with no weight except for that of your own body. That is, don’t use any dumbbells or barbells to make the exercise harder. Just using your own body weight is the safest way to prepare your tendons and ligaments for tougher workouts to come. Many of the injuries people suffer when they start a strength program occur because they add too much weight too soon; your muscles may be able to handle it, but your joints need time to adapt to the new activities you’re calling upon them to do.

Stretching Resources Looking for the definitive book on stretching? Stretching, by Bob Anderson.

And remember that you’re not using “no” weight; you’re lifting your own body weight, and I often find that challenging enough. You’ll be able to start adding some light dumbbells to these exercises in about two weeks or so.

So, are you ready? Change into some loose, comfortable clothing, and wear layers so you can take something off if you get too hot. Grab a big bottle of water. Turn on some inspiring music—studies show that music really does help people focus and work harder. Position yourself in front of your full-length mirror. Then go!

The Full-Body Strength Workout, Part 1: The Lower Body
Start by warming up with 5 to 10 minutes of some rhythmic aerobic activity. You can take a brisk walk around your house or around the block, jog or cycle easily for 5 to 10 minutes, etc. The goal is just to elevate your heart rate and warm up your muscles, so they’re prepared for the exercises to follow.

1. Squats

The Lowdown on Reps Do you remember what we said last week about how often to do each exercise at first? If not, here’s a quick review: if you’re just starting to do strength-training, do one to two “sets” of 8 to 15 repetitions (“reps”) of each exercise. A set is a group of reps, so two sets means to do 8 to 15 repetitions, rest for 60 to 90 seconds, and then do another 8 to 15 repetitions. Don’t be surprised if you can’t do as many reps during the second set as you could during the first. And remember to go for quality, not quantity. Don’t try to finish 15 reps no matter how sloppy they are; you won’t work the muscle effectively and you’ll be courting injury. Instead, if you do 8 good ones and start to get sloppy on the 9th, stop there.

Squats can be done two ways: “regular” squats with the tailbone back, or as pliés.

Tailbone-back version
Stand with feet about shoulder-width apart, toes turned out slightly (experiment with different amounts of turnout to find what works best for your knees). Keep your weight over your heels at all times. Keeping a natural curve in your back, bend your knees and then lower your torso back and down, sticking your tailbone out like a skier. Keep your head and spine in a straight line; avoid the temptation to look down. Stop when your thighs are almost parallel to the floor; never let your hips go lower than your knees. If you do the squat correctly, shifting your weight BACK, your knees will never move farther forward than your toes; ideally the knees should stay almost over the heels throughout the movement. Lower down for a count of two; hold for two; then tighten the gluteals (butt muscles) and return to a standing position for a count of four. Do not lock the knees when you stand up.

Muscles used: quadriceps (front of thigh), gluteals (butt muscles)

Plié version:
The only difference between this version of the squat and the tailbone-back version is that the back stays straight and the tailbone points to the floor, rather than back. Some people with certain types of back problems prefer the plié. Note that in this version it is much more difficult to keep the knees correctly positioned over the heels. You may also find that it is more challenging to the inner thigh muscles (adductors).

Muscles used: quadriceps, gluteals

2. Lunges

Place the feet about hip-width apart. Take a big step, landing on the front-foot heel first. Now bend the front leg and lower down toward the floor, keeping the front knee directly over the front heel at all times. Keep these shallow at first; as you get stronger, try to lower down until the back knee is 1–2 inches above the floor (but not touching it). Exhale and push back up to the starting position, keeping head up and torso erect. Try not to let the knees move side to side at any point during the movement. Repeat on the same side, then switch legs and do the other side. As you get stronger, and your own body weight is no longer sufficiently challenging, start to add dumbbells, using light ones at first. Hold one dumbbell in each hand and let the arms hang with palms facing your sides; perform the lunge exactly as described above.

Drink to Your Health Hydration is an important part of strength-training, as it is of every other form of activity. Always keep a bottle handy. Drink before your workout, after each exercise, and during and after your cool down.

Primary muscles used: quadriceps, gluteals, and adductors (inner thigh) Secondary muscles used: hamstrings (back of thigh), abductors (outer thigh), gastrocnemius (calf)

Lunge variations
Step-back lunges: Place the feet about hip-width apart. Take a big step back, keeping the weight over the front heel and landing on the toes and ball of the back foot. Now bend the front leg and lower down toward the floor, keeping the front knee directly over the front heel at all times. Exhale and push back up, bringing the back foot back to the starting position. Switch legs and repeat. Continue to alternate sides.

Walking lunges: Travel forward, one lunge at a time. Be meticulous about maintaining good alignment throughout the set.

3. Standing Calf Raise

Stand on a step or phone book using only the toes and ball of the foot. Let your body weight push your heels as far as possible below toe level. Use calf strength to rise up as high as possible on toes. Hold this peak contraction, then slowly lower back down below toe level.

Variations: do one leg only; hold a dumbbell during the exercise.

This is all I’m going to give you for this week because my experience has shown that it’s hard to remember too many new exercises at once. I want you to get these down perfectly before I introduce any new ones. Besides, if I only give you a few exercises, you’ll want more. If I give you ten or twelve, you’ll feel overwhelmed—at least I always do when I read articles like this about workouts to do on your own.

The Mental Side
There’s a mental side to strength training as well as a physical side. Plenty of research has shown that; the more you incorporate the mental aspect, the more results you’ll see. So here are some pointers for the mental part of your strength workout:

• Visualize the exercise before you actually do it.
• Concentrate on every repetition (“rep”) of each exercise; picture the muscles you’re working and try to feel them. (The descriptions of each exercise tell you what you’re working: front of the thigh, outer thigh, etc.)
• Concentrate not only on the working muscles, but also on maintaining perfect form and alignment. This is at least as crucial as doing the actual exercise correctly. Alignment is especially important when you start to fatigue; when you can no longer maintain proper alignment, it means it’s time to stop.