Have you ever felt your legs tire quickly, your thigh muscles start to slacken, or your body feel less stable when walking? These are signs that your lower body needs attention. In the fitness world, the lower body refers to the lower body, which includes the muscles in your thighs, buttocks, calves, and hips.
This area often serves as the primary support for daily activities, from standing and walking to climbing stairs. Understanding and training the lower body ensures strong muscles and joints in the lower body, allowing it to support the body properly.
What is Lower Body?
In the context of fitness and physiology, the lower body is the body from the hips down. Anatomically, the lower body includes the hips, thighs, knees, calves, ankles, and feet.
This term is popular in the fitness world because it serves as the basis for dividing training programs, for example, between upper body day and leg day . Focusing on lower body exercises is important because it involves large muscle groups, such as the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves.
From a functional perspective, the lower body is the primary center of movement because it supports body weight, enables locomotion (walking, running, jumping), and maintains balance. The lower body muscles also work closely with the core and skeletal system.
So lower body training not only strengthens the legs but also improves posture, stability, and athletic performance. This is why the term "lower body" has become so popular in sports literature and the modern fitness world.
Benefits of Lower Body Training
1. Increase Muscle Strength and Endurance
Lower body exercises such as squats , deadlifts, or lunges play a big role in building strength in the large muscles in the lower body, including the thighs, glutes, and calves.
Having strong leg muscles is incredibly beneficial. It improves body stability, increases movement efficiency, and reduces the risk of injury. For example, standing for long periods or carrying heavy loads becomes much easier without fatigue.
Furthermore, lower body training also improves muscular endurance. This means your muscles can work longer before fatigue. This is crucial, not just for long-distance runners or marathoners.
But it's also beneficial for everyday life, like climbing stairs, walking long distances, or just doing other daily activities. So, if you want a truly strong and durable body, never skip leg training.
Also Read: Tips for Tightening Glutes and Legs with Pilates Reformer Exercises
2. Increase Metabolism and Calorie Burning
One of the biggest benefits of lower body training is its ability to boost metabolism and accelerate calorie burning. When you train your lower body muscles, your body requires a significant amount of energy to power through the session.
Not only that, the recovery process after exercise also forces the body to continue burning more energy even after the session is over (the afterburn effect). Beyond the immediate effects during exercise, having more muscle mass in the lower body also increases the basal metabolic rate (BMR).
This means your body will burn more calories even while you're at rest. So, by regularly training your lower body, you're also creating a natural calorie-burning engine in your body.
3. Supports Body Movement Stability
The lower body muscles are the foundation of body movement. When you train them with exercises like squats, deadlifts, single-leg deadlifts, or pistol squats, you engage not only your legs but also your core muscles .
A strong core is crucial for maintaining spinal stability, ensuring the body remains stable during daily activities and intense exercise. In other words, lower body exercises directly support core stability, which is key to healthy and injury-free posture.
Furthermore, lower body exercises also play a significant role in improving balance and stability. Stabilizing muscles around the hips, knees, and ankles are strengthened, allowing for more controlled movements, whether walking, running, or other dynamic activities.
This is crucial for preventing injuries, especially those caused by falls or slipping. Therefore, lower body training will provide benefits such as improved balance, stability, and endurance for various daily activities and strenuous exercise.
Also Read: Helps Burn Calories, Here's How Swimming Can Help You Lose Weight
4. Increases Bone Density
One of the biggest benefits of lower body training is increased bone density. When you perform weight-bearing exercises like squats or deadlifts, the pressure and tension applied to your thigh bones and spine triggers the body's natural response, increasing bone mineral density (BMD).
The higher your bone mineral density, the stronger your bones will be in the long term. This is crucial for preventing the risk of osteoporosis and fractures in old age. In other words, leg training isn't just about bigger muscles, it's also about building a healthier bone foundation.
Furthermore, lower body exercises also have a positive impact on joint health. Strong muscles around the knees, hips, and ankles act as natural shock absorbers. They help support body weight and reduce direct pressure on the joints.
How to Train Muscles in the Lower Body
1. Compound Movement
To build strength and muscle mass in your lower body, compound exercises should be the core of your program. Compound movements engage multiple joints and large muscle groups simultaneously, making them more efficient and effective.
For example, squats target the quadriceps, glutes, and hamstrings. You can customize the variations, such as back squats for the heaviest lifts, front squats to focus on the quadriceps while also working the core, and goblet squats, which are ideal for beginners to learn proper technique.
In addition to squats, the deadlift/hip hinge is also important because it works the entire posterior chain, including the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. The conventional deadlift trains the lifting pattern from the floor with hip dominance, while the Romanian Deadlift (RDL) focuses more on the hamstrings by stretching the hamstrings.
Also, incorporate lunges as a unilateral exercise that improves balance and addresses differences in leg strength. You can do several lunge variations, such as forward lunges, reverse lunges (which are easier on the knees), and the more functional walking lunge, all of which are effective in building a well-proportioned and strong lower body.
Also Read: 7 Ways to Slim Your Thighs Quickly and Without Dieting
2. Isolate Training
In addition to compound exercises like squats and deadlifts, you should also incorporate isolation exercises to target specific muscles more specifically. Isolation exercises help increase volume, improve muscle balance, and encourage growth in areas often under-stimulated by primary movements.
For example, the Leg Extension movement focuses on the quadriceps and is best performed at the end of a training session to maximize the quadriceps pump. Meanwhile, the Leg Curl targets the hamstrings and is crucial for strengthening the hamstrings.
Additionally, there are Glute Bridges or Hip Thrusts, which are very effective in activating the glutes (buttocks). For hip stability and to prevent knee injuries, use an Adductor/Abductor Machine or resistance band to work the inner thighs and gluteus medius (the side muscles of the buttocks).
Don't forget to also practice Calf Raises to maximize calf development, working the gastrocnemius and soleus from various angles. By combining compound and isolation exercises, your lower body muscles will develop more proportionally, become stronger, and become more injury-resistant.
So, when do you want to start practicing?
Large muscles like the thighs, glutes, and calves aren't essential for maintaining posture, stability, and daily activities. If you don't train them often, don't be surprised if you tire quickly, are prone to injury, or experience poor posture.
Therefore, it's time to start incorporating lower body exercises into your routine. A simple action you can take now is to start building a training habit. Start with light weights. The key is to have proper form for maximum results.
Always maintain safety during exercise. Don't forget to warm up, maintain technique, and don't hesitate to consult a professional if you have any special conditions. You can use your body weight to start the exercise.
However, once you've established a habit, you might need more advanced home gym equipment. Discover SVRG's collection of home gym equipment . This way, you can maximize your lower body workout.
