2022 New Year’s Lower Body Workout Challenge

Welcome to Gymondo’s New Year’s Challenge! We’re psyched that you’ll be joining us for the next month of workouts.

Today’s lower body workout is a fun way to test your leg strength using just your body weight. It includes air squats, squat pulses, reverse lunges, lunge pulses and good mornings. Sounds like a real Lower Body Burn, right? Hence the name! 

Each week, this lower body challenge will get harder, so remember to pace yourself as you go. But if you want to bump up the intensity even more, grab a pair of dumbbells. Your goal is to get stronger each week! 

Check out the banner below or keep scrolling for a detailed overview of each exercise in today’s challenge. Let’s go!

Lower Body Burn 

This workout requires no equipment. You’ll repeat this workout a total of 5 times in the month of January. Each week, you’ll add on 5 to 10 seconds—the requirements are listed below. 

How to Do Air Squats 

1. Keep your feet shoulder-width apart and toes pointed straight ahead.
2. When squatting, hinge at the hips and move back and down. 
3. Your lumbar curve should be maintained and your heels should stay flat on the floor the entire time.
4. Your hips should descend to a 90-degree angle with your knees before returning to the starting position. 
5. Repeat until time expires. 

How to Do Squat Pulses 

1. Lower into a squat position (hips and knees at a 90-degree angle) with your feet shoulder-width apart and toes pointed straight ahead. 
2. Rock yourself up 1 to 2 inches from the starting position. Keep your chest high and your core engaged throughout the duration of the movement. 
3. Use your legs to pull yourself back down 1 to 2 inches by bending at the knees. Continue to lower and raise your body until time expires. 

How to Do Reverse Lunges 

1. Start by standing straight and bracing your core muscles. Then, take a giant step backward with your left foot. Bend your right knee until it’s at a 90-degree angle and lower your left knee until it’s also bent at a right angle. 
2. Then, push back up and return to the starting position.
3. Keep repeating on the left side until time expires. 
4. Then, switch legs and perform the same movement on the right side. 

How to Do Lunge Pulses 

1. Stand in a split stance (lunge position). Raise your back heel to place weight evenly across bent toes. 
2. Evenly distribute your weight along your front foot. Grip the floor with your front foot to create a stable foot position.
3. Square your hips. Your posture should be tall with your feet shoulder-width apart and a slight bend in your knees. Your shoulders should be over your hips or slightly ahead of your hips with a neutral head and neck position. 
4. Place your hands on your hips and engage your core.
5. Lower yourself straight down by bending at the hip and knee of your front leg and allowing the back knee to bend toward the floor.
6. Continue lowering until your front leg is parallel to the floor. Your rear knee should be underneath your back hip—1 to 2 inches above the ground.
7. Push your front foot into the ground to push yourself up 1 to 2 inches from the starting position.
8. Keep your chest high and your core engaged.
9. Use your front leg to pull yourself down 1 to 2 inches while allowing your back leg to bend to complete one repetition.
10. Continue to use your front leg to lower and raise your body until time expires. 
11. Then, switch legs and repeat on the other side. 

How to Do Good Mornings 

1. Stand up straight with your feet shoulder-width apart. 
2. Interlock your fingers behind your head with your elbows straight out to the side. 
3. Maintaining a soft bend in your knees, engage your glutes and hinge at the hips. Keep a flat back the entire time. 
4. Lower your upper body so that your chest is parallel with the ground. Drive your feet firmly into the floor, brace your core and reverse the movement, pushing your hips forward as you stand tall.
5. Repeat the movement until time expires.

(Do you like this article?)

Loading...