5 lower body exercises you should be doing

What is lower body training, what types of principles are there and which exercises work best?

To keep it simple, lower body training is generally thought of from the hips or glutes down.

At Movement HQ we try to add a variety of principles and approaches to our lower body programming.

Compound movements involve a multitude of muscle groups like a squat or a lunge which engage the glutes, quads and hamstrings predominantly.

These types of movements are what I like to think of as ‘context building’ or ‘life specific’ which enable us to be able to maintain or improve our ability to sit, get off the ground, walk, run and climb stairs etc.

Lower body training can be segregated into a lower body specific program, or be included in a total body format with exercises like a dumbbell / barbell squat thrust, dead ball slam, kettle bell swing, kettle bell clean or snatch just to name a few.

Lower body training doesn’t always need to be loaded. Bodyweight movements such as air squats and lunges, and plyometric exercises like vertical/broad jumps and single leg movements like pistol squats, Nordic hamstring curls and Cossack squats involve plenty of strength, coordination and skill, and definitely have their place in achieving more global athleticism and strength.

A few hidden or less thought-of benefits of lower body training are things like a higher caloric burn or metabolic demand than most upper body exercises.

And as you exercise, your brain releases serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, which all promote happiness and lessen feelings of depression and anxiety.

These benefits are increased through lower body training being generally more demanding.

Some classes on offer at Movement HQ that have significant lower body content are:

• Movement Strength
• Bodyweight Strength
• Hips & Hammies (purely leg focused)
• Animal Flow
• Kettlebells
• Reformer Pilates.

Turning all that into practice, my 5 favourite lower body exercises that I think we should all be doing are:

1. Pistol squats

2. KB front rack squats

3. Nordic hamstring curls

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