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When starting a new workout regimen, it can be stressful trying to figure out what exercises to prioritize. With the hustle and bustle of life, it’s important to find ways to get moving that are efficient and maintainable. Knowing which workouts will get the most bang for your buck is an excellent tool that will set you up for success.
One group of muscles you don’t want to neglect are the ones in your legs, according to Ronnie Lubischer, CSCS, owner of Lubischer’s Burn and Blast Training. “One of my cardinal rules to a successful fitness program, and a phrase every single one of my clients has heard me spout out continuously over the last 20 years is, change your legs, change your body.” He says. “If you think of your body as an army and your largest muscles being generals down to your smaller muscles being infantry men, your leg muscles would be the 4 star generals leading your body. This is significant as your body takes metabolic cues from the use and energy produced by its largest muscles down so plainly speaking on a physiological level if you can “mobilize” the large muscles of your legs then the smaller muscles in your body will take a cue and change as well.”
Understanding the makeup of the muscles in your legs can be helpful when understanding how to make them stronger. One of the biggest reasons leg workouts are so important is how many calories they can burn in just one session. “In each leg you have four large quadriceps muscles, three large hamstring muscles, and three large gluteus muscles, that’s a total of twenty metabolic furnace type muscles just in your lower body,” Lubischer says, “In comparison, the upper body only boasts the lats and pecs as large groups, literally two muscles, with those same sort of metabolic properties so it’s much easier to supercharge and rev up your workouts as a whole from a lower body workout than an upper body workout.” Put concisely, lower body workouts provide more bang for your buck when it comes to intensity.
However, it’s important to make sure you’re exercising all the muscles in your legs. “If you want a bikini body type booty right out of the pages of your favorite fitness magazine then you must remember that you have to work all three gluteal muscles, that is the: gluteus maximus, gluteus medialis, and gluteus minimus,” Lubischer says, “To get what I’ve coined to my clients as that “3D Booty,” each muscle plays an integral part as the maximus gives you the depth or “shelf” at the top of your booty, the medialis gives that “pop” or side booty, and the minimus will give you the lift and perkiness thus all three of those muscles combined will give you a full, round, high, and lifted “3D Booty” to die for.” Lubischer shared with us some of his favorite workouts for achieving a “3D Booty.”
Hip Thrusts
“To perform a proper weighted hip thrust start by propping yourself up on a bench using your shoulders as support, not your neck, with your arms relaxed to your sides. Next let your knees bend at a close to 90* angle and plant your feet firmly on the ground trying to distribute your weight evenly on your big toe, pinky toe, and heel like a strong triangle. Squeeze your glutes, press through your heels and drive your hips up so you form a straight line from your knees to your shoulders. Hold for a second at the top of the move, then lower slowly with a barbell or dumbbells on your lap.”
Banded Reverse Hyper Extensions with Adduction
This exercise is one that many people neglect, but will definitely give you a fuller, rounded booty. “First, place a band just below your knees on the patella tendon (soft spot in knee). Next assume a prone position either in a hyperextension machine or on the glute-ham raise developer, or even on a bench or floor if you don’t have access to either piece of equipment. Whichever piece of equipment you choose, your legs should be dangling off the end of the bench. Your hips should be set at the end of the pads so that they can flex freely without the lower back extending and flexing excessively, keep it in the butt and not the back.”
“Next, brace your core and straighten your legs while simultaneously spreading your legs from in to out (adduction) as if performing the lower portion of making a snow angel. Flex the muscles in your hamstrings, glutes, and lower back to raise your legs from below your hip line to above the hips. Hold the top position of the movement for one second, and then lower your legs back down with control. It’s ok to use a little momentum to get your legs from the starting position to the contracted position. Do not, however, jerk your lower back to raise your legs. Let your legs gently bounce back up after your first rep, again use and squeeze your butt, not the lower back.”
Single Leg Romanian Deadlifts
This exercise will sculpt the space between the bottom of your butt and the top of your hamstring, giving a “lift” effect to your butt. Start this exercise by having both feet firmly placed on the ground, this makes it easier to have control while doing the movements. “Using a wedge or weight plate, put your forward leg with the toe on the ground and your weight on the elevated heel and let your “off leg” line up with your big toe staggered in the sole of your elevated foot. Both legs should have a slight bend in the knee and from here while holding either a single dumbbell or kettlebell you can continue by queuing all the mechanics of a normal deadlift, that is get into a position incorporating soft knees and soft hips. This means relaxing these joints as you stand comfortably.”
“Next, extend both arms out as you reach forward with your weight while at the same time “driving” your hips back. Your chest should be facing toward the ground at the end of the movement, your body should be in a straight line. Hold this position for a strong contraction at the bottom; think as if you’re doing a strict hamstring stretch on the way down and squeezing the life out of your muscle trying to become as hard as a rock on the way back up driving your knee and hips forward and clenching your glutes tight. When returning to your starting position, don’t rush the movement. Drive your hips forward in a slow, but controlled manner.”
