How to Do a Complete Lower Body Workout

This Article is about how to do a complete lower body workout. It focuses on warming up, then the individual exercises, and other tips.

This lower body exercise routine is pretty tough, but it's not impossible. I do it. Many high-school or pro athletes do a work-out just like this.

Remember, though: This is only weights. In order to become a successful athlete, you must also do other stuff to get fast and strong, like running, sprinting, plyometrics, hills, dynamics, resistance training, etc.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A gym (school gyms are OK too, but often they lack some equipment).
• Comfortable shoes- like cross-trainers, or running shoes.
• Loose-fitting shorts and T-shirt; synthetic fabrics (like UnderArmour) are strongly recommended.
• A winning attitude, and a willingness to do a pretty intense workout.
• Gatorade (suggested).

1. You should stretch every day, before you begin your work-out. But before you stretch, you must warm-up a little bit first. Everybody is different, but the most effective thing for the most people is this: Jog slowly for about 1/4 mile; then after that, do some jumping jacks, and just gently shake your arms and legs to loosen them up. After that, do a complete stretching routine. In case you don't know what a complete stretching routine is, I will give my recommendation (this is what I, and many pro athletes, do):

2. EVERY STRETCH SHOULD BE 15-20 SECONDS
   
   Standing up, do "right over left", then switch. Then put legs together normally, and go all the way down. Then spread your legs and go to the left, then to the right, then center. After that, rotate your torso, then around-the-world your hips, stretching them out. Then sit on your butt, and do "right leg out"; switch. Then do right over left (on ground, stretching back); switch. Then do butt stretches (left heel on right thigh, pull it in); switch. Then quad stretches. Then calf stretches. Then do "scorpion", and stretch ur abs. Then stretch triceps, biceps, chest, neck, and forearms, and you are good to go. This may seem long, but it only takes 10-15 minutes, and it is VITAL. Your workout will be 10x better after this stretching routine, than before it.

3. SQUATS
   
   The squat is often called "The King of Exercises", because it works the most muscles, and is also the hardest to do.
   
   To do a perfect squat:
   
   1) Take a few deep breaths, grab the bar and put your thumbs right at the points where the spiky part of the bar meets the smooth part. Then put thumbs flat, with thumbnails still at that point; then bring them in and close your grip. This makes your hands evenly spaced.
   
   2) Duck under the bar, and rest the bar right across your shoulderblades. Make sure it isn't resting on your neck.
   
   3) Put your feet SLIGHTLY more than shoulder width apart, in a natural-feeling position, with feet SLIGHTLY turned out, by a few degrees.
   
   4) Arch your back and bring your shoulders back as far as they can, keep head up, and looking up at the ceiling. Keep your back straight, and your lower back arched. Feel the weight in your legs.
   
   5) Lift up through your legs, and pick the squat-bar up off of the rack. Slowly step back, until you can go down without hitting the rack; then go down slowly. When you go down, sit your butt BACK and keep your back ARCHED and lean forward as much as you can without bending your back; don't let your knees go forward much! They can go forward a few degrees, but your butt should be going back much more than they go forward. If you do this wrong, it can damage the knees.
   
   6) Feel all of the weight concentrated in your heel, going up through your calves. You shouldn't feel a strain in the knee. If you are doing proper form but your lower back STILL hurts, you might need to work it out with back extensions, to get it stronger.

4. DEADLIFTS
   
   1) Get a hex-bar (a hexagon bar, with 6 sides, you know?) and put weight on it.
   
   2) You can usually do a little more weight on a deadlift, than on a squat, because you don't go down as far, and the weight is slightly less on your legs.
   
   3) Stand in the middle of it, and grab the sides equally, in the middle. Take a few deep breaths.
   
   4) After that, it is the exact same form as a squat! The only difference is, you dont have to bring shoulders back, and your hands are down at your sides, grabbing the bar. But aside from that, your feet placement, and sitting back, etc. are all the same.

5. LEG PRESS
   
   This is a fairly simple exercise! Put your feet in the same position as they were with the squat. Then, simply follow the directions on the leg press machine. Basically, this is a squat, without the strain on your back at all. It's just legs.

6. ClEAN AND JERK
   
   1) Put weight on bar; put bar on ground in front of you; take a few deep breaths.
   
   2) Grab the bar, using the same hand positioning as a squat, except this time you are grabbing from above.
   
   3) Arch your back, keep back straight, and look up, like in a squat. Get prepared to lift it, taking a few more breaths.
   
   4) Power up and lift the bar as fast as you can, sort of like in a deadlift; except this time, right when you get to the top, try to jump, and at the same time, flip the bar with your bicep/shoulders/wrists, so that you curl the bar up to your chest. When you come up the first time, you should land in a semi-deep squat, so you can bring the bar up to your chest easier.
   
   5) At this point, your wrists should be back, and your hands should sort of look like they are about to shoot a basketball, except they are at shoulder-height, and slightly to the sides. WITHOUT TAKING A BREAK, immediately do your second jump, and do an overhead press as you jump, pushing the weight up so your arms are straight! Then bring the weight back down to your chest, then let it all the way down to your sides. Repeat.
   
   6) So the order should be: Jump and clean it to chest, fall into a semi-deep squat as you are doing that, then power up and jump a second time, and overhead-press the bar as you jump!

7. DUMBBELL LUNGES
   
   1) Get two dumbbells, one in each hand. Stand up straight, feet close together.
   
   2) Take a lunge forward. Slowly go down, until your knee is barely/just about touching the ground (but be careful not to hit your knee, this might injure it if done repeatedly).
   
   3) The distance of your "lunge" should be such that when your back knee is just about on the ground, your other leg should be exactly at 90 degrees. It doesn't have to be perfect every time, but that's the goal.
   
   4) After you go down, then use the power in your front leg to pull yourself up, and bring your back leg up to meet your front leg; then take a lunge with the other leg (back leg).
   
   5) *Note* This is an exercise that mainly works your butt (glutes). When doing this, try to focus as much as you can on working your butt, focus less on the quads or hamstrings. Also, make sure you keep your body STRAIGHT UP the whole time! Never lean forward or backward in the lunge, in an attempt to make it easier. This is cheating your body, and can lead to injury. This goes for any exercise.

8. LEG EXTENSION/LEG CURL SUPERSETS
   
   For leg extension, just get in the machine, put your legs at hip-width apart, feet facing up. Then set the weight, hold onto the bars at the sides, and extend your legs up all the way, BUT be careful not to hyperextend your knees.
   
   For leg curl, same thing, except in reverse. Hold onto the pads, set the weight, curl your legs. It's hard to mess these exercises up.

9. CALF RAISE
   
   If it is the sitting calf raise, then just follow the directions.
   
   If it is the standing calf raise, then put feet hip-width apart, feet facing forward; keep legs completely extended, so you don't cheat; and go up and down, using your calves. Your feet should be moving, but not your knees.

10. KNEE RAISES/EXTENSIONS (USING CABLE ATTACHED TO FOOT)
    
    1) Put a circular pad onto the cable hook, and then lower the cable down to the bottom part. Put your foot into the pad. If it won't fit, you can always take your shoe off, and then put it back on (or just leave it off for this).
    
    2) Face away from the machine, and get your hips square, facing away from the machine. Hold onto something.
    
    3) Powerfully and quickly extend your leg/knee forward and up. Focus on using that small muscle that attaches your quads to your hip, the one that raises your leg. Bring it back down, and let your foot go about a foot past your dormant leg; then explode up again. Repeat.
    
    4) After you have done this, switch legs and repeat for the other leg.

11. LEG ADDUCTION/LEG ABDUCTION (SUPERSETS)
    
    These are machines where you sit down, and either squeeze your legs together, or push them apart, using your groin and outside glute muscles.
    
    It's fairly simple and self-explanatory; just follow the directions on the machine, if they have these machines at your gym. if not, you can do the same thing BY ATTACHING A CABLE TO YOUR FOOT- sort of like you did with the knee raises (see above), EXCEPT your body will be facing to the side of the cable, NOT directly away from it.

Tips & Warnings

• For squats, deadlifts, leg press, and cleans, do 3 sets of 6-12.
• For everything else, do 3 sets of 10-15.
• Take a 2-minute break between the "Big" exercises (4 listed above).
• Take a 45 second to 1.5 minute break between everything else.
• For SUPERSETS, do them 1 after the other, with only like a 20 second break.
• Eat healthy, and get enough rest.
• This Article only gives you a good work-out for your legs! If you want to read a complete Article on how to become a better athlete (everything ranging from lifting, to running, to plyometrics, to eating habits, to coordination, to balance) than CLICK ON THIS LINK TO TAKE YOU TO MY OTHER ARTICLE! =)
• http://www.ehow.com/how_4962510_become-better-athlete-allaround.html
• Do not exercise without warming up and stretching.
• Remember this formula: perfect form, maximum effort, right mindset.
• Having the correct form is more important than doing more weight. If you do more weight wrongly, then you aren't getting more of a work-out- you're just doing the same workout as a lower weight, but also tweaking your joints and muscles, which could lead to damage, or at least temporary pain or spasms.
• Don't do this workout if you aren't hydrated. Also don't do it if you are feeling noticeably hungry. If you get weak, dizzy, or lightheaded, then something is wrong- either you didn't eat/drink enough, or you aren't breathing right. If the problem is simply breathing, you can continue, just make SURE you breathe better on the next set! Make noise if you have to, but do NOT exercise and then forget to breathe properly! If the problem is food, stop your workout, go home and eat a healthy meal, drink some gatorade maybe, and come back a couple hours later.
• Breathe in on the way down (when you're relaxing), and exhale (breathe out) when you contract and push/work your muscles!