Base Exercises 2
Some of these exercises involve only one muscle group, some involve 2 or more. They can be done by themselves or combined with other exercises into a fat burning, muscle retaining circuit workouts.
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Duck Squats
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Duck Squats put your legs in a position that allows you to place extra stress on the glutes. Very important that you push through your heels. The heels are like a direct line to the glutes. Don't go any wider than the video shows and don't turn your feet out anymore either. This position is perfect. You can usually go pretty heavy with Duck Squats.
Important: Some people go really wide and do a Plie Squat (legs very wide apart and feet turned completely outward). Don't do this. The stance Plie' squat stance is too wide and it reduces the effectiveness of the exercise. |
Frog Jumps
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Frog Jumps use the same leg and foot position as Duck Squats. They allow you to get really low, which works the glutes more. Touch the ground each rep. This insures that you are squatting down far enough.
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Db Suicides (burpees) and Squat Thrust
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This video shows the difference between the Dumbbell Suicide (burpee) and the Squat Thrust. The only difference is that the Burpee has a Pushup and the Squat Thrust does not. For someone who is not very good at Pushups, the Squat Thrust is a good alternative.
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Glutes: Walking Lunges
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One of the best glute exercises. The longer your strides the more the glutes will be targeted. It's easy to put too much pressure on the toe of the lunging foot. This will diminish the effectiveness of the exercise and overly stress the knee. Focus on lunging straight up and down and pushing through the heel of your foot. Check out the Glute Exercise section for more ideas. Glute Exercises: Section 1, Section 2
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Squat Hold
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A real thigh burner. The idea is to keep your thighs parallel to the ground for as long as you can. You should try this before another leg exercise. For example: Perform a Squat Hold for :30 sec then perform a set of Walking Lunges or you can perform 12 Jump Squats with a :20 Squat Hold in between each set of jumps.
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