Three Lower Body Resistance Exercises

It has been 5 months since the gyms have closed and due to the ongoing pandemic we have had to adapt to turning our living rooms, basements and backyards into our own personal gym. Stores quickly sell out of equipment and online sellers are pricing their used items for extremely unreasonable prices which has made it difficult to replicate many exercises that give you that feeling of a solid, intense workout. Although I do not have a rack full of assorted plates and dumbbells, the past few months have encouraged me to get creative with my workouts and find different ways to keep challenging myself.

Lately I have been incorporating resistance bands into my lower body workouts and three of my go-to exercises are dumbbell russian deadlifts, goblet squats and glute bridges. With the addition of the resistance band placed just above the knees, the glutes are engaged throughout each exercise as the hips resist the inward tension of the bands as you carry out each movement.

Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift

Feet shoulder-width apart with your knees slightly bent.
With dumbbells held in front of you, bend forward, hinging at the hip and pushing the hips back.
Keep the dumbbells close to your shins and your back in a neutral position. Make sure your head is not looking up rather following the movement of your torso.
Contract your glutes, drive up from your heels and return to the starting position.
Keep your movements under control when performing this exercise.

Goblet Squats

Stand with your feet a bit wider than shoulder-width apart.
Hold your dumbbell against your chest with your elbows tucked in.
Perform your squat as low as you can comfortably go with your chest up, core engaged and heels flat on the ground. Make sure your knees don’t cave inward.
Drive up through heels and return to your starting position.
Keep your movements under control when performing this exercise.

Glute Bridge

Lay face-up on the ground with your knees bent, feet apart and flat on the ground. Your arms can be kept at your side palm-side down.
Engage your core going into a posterior-pelvic tilt, and raise your hips off the ground by pushing through the heels and squeezing the glutes until your knees, hips and shoulders are aligned.
Hold this position for 3-5 seconds before slowly returning your hips to your starting position.
Keep your movements under control when performing this exercise.

I generally perform 10-12 repetitions and 3 sets for each exercise.