by Lauren Rae, TRYM Fitness CPT
Your lower body, also known as your “trunk,” is responsible for making you walk, run, and everything in between. The primary muscles these exercises focus on are the most important muscles of the lower body: the abductors and adductors (inner and outer thighs), gluteus maximus, hamstrings, quadriceps, and your abdominal core muscles. What’s not to love?
Booty Blasting HIIT
- Sprint at a pace between 7–10mph on the treadmill on an incline of 3–4 for 60 seconds.
- Quick Frog Leap 20 times, 10 jumps down and 10 jumps back.
- Reverse lunges, 10 on each leg.
- Rest for 30–60 seconds and repeat this circuit 3–5 times for at least 15 minutes.
Burn fat, build strength, and increase your endurance while having a sweaty blast. Let’s take a look at how these exercises make up the perfect high intensity interval workout that targets your lower body for a perfectly toned derrière you can fall in love with!
Sprints
Sprint training is one of the best exercises you can do to help achieve any fitness goal because your body quickly taps into fat stores for energy. They also improve heart and lung health, circulation, and help balance hormones. Sprints are mentally and physically challenging, however the amount of work you achieve is done in a very small amount of time compared to other cardiovascular exercises. So what is a sprint? Sprinting means to move at your fastest possible speed for a set time or distance. So don’t jog, don’t run, don’t even run fast. SPRINT!
Frog Leaps
Frog leaps are a deep squat with a leap up and forward that lands into another deep squat. This exercise is so effective because it combines a slow eccentric contraction with a fast, full-force concentric movement. Utilizing powerful muscle contractions in this plyometric exercise will burn fat, build muscle, and tone up legs, glutes, and abs.
Reverse Lunges
The secret is out! Reverse lunges are every girl’s best friend. This friendly and frustrating exercise will shape your backside and thighs in all the right ways by only using body weight. Execute by taking the leading leg backwards and lowering your body towards the ground until the front knee is in a 90 degree angle.
Rest
After one set of this HIIT you will be thanking me for this rest period. But it’s important to remember exactly why rest is necessary between such intense interval training routines. Resting between intervals should be as methodical as the workout itself as it allows your body to recover from the heavy work that can be traumatic to your body. In addition, fluctuating your heart rate by allowing it to lower during your rest period will maximize your fat burning potential and strengthen your cardiovascular system. Varying the rest period between sets can control the effort of your workout. But a general rule to work with is to pair equal work with equal rest.
