Booty Strength Training with Weights

A lot of the workouts I show here are body-weight exercises, but I do a lot of lifting, especially on leg day. So I thought I'd share some of that. Here is a great sequence you can try to work those glute muscles. To get larger muscles in your booty and legs, you need to challenge your body with weights. In this video, I am using 70lb weights (in the deadlifts and squats) and 10lb ankle weights (in the standing leg lifts).

Do 10 reps of each exercise and repeat 4 times! Watch the form before you start as I've slowed down the videos so you can see.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Innovative Leg Day Exercises

If you are a frequent traveler like me, or have no equipment and still want to get leg day done, have no fear. There are so many leg and butt muscle burners that can help you get the shape and tone you need without any equipment. Here are a couple:

Donkey Kickbacks

They are called kickbacks so you don't simply kick to the side. Keep your upper body straight and stationary, and try to kick back at an angle just with your leg. Make sure the hips are not jutting up and down so you can really feel this in your bum. Do it for 20 seconds, and repeat 4 times on each side. 

Low Lunge Walks

I bet this doesn't look that tough until you do it. Keep your front leg stable on your heel, straighten your back leg, and lean forward with your fingers touching the floor. For one rep, bring your back knee to touch your front shin and place it back in its original position. Do this as fast as you can. Repeat that for 4 sets of 20 seconds each on each side. 

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Build Beautiful Legs: Hamstring Work

Leg day is my favorite workout day because it hurts so bad, but you feel like you've really worked hard for days after. When you work your leg muscles, it is really important to work your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves to get great muscle definition overall. Today, we are focusing on just a couple of exercises for your hamstrings.

Barbell Straight-legged deadlifts

There are a few important things to note with the straight-legged deadlift. You start the position with a straight back, looking down, with legs straight, and a barbell straight in front of you. Slowly lift up still keeping the back and legs as straight as possible. Keeping the back straight really allows the focus to be on the glutes, and keeping the legs straight allows the focus to be on the hamstrings. Note that you should try to keep a slight looseness in the knees so the joints aren't locked up. Lower back down and repeat. I try to do about 3 rounds of 15 with challenging weights.

Hamstring Curl

I love to show a lot of body weight exercises that you can do anywhere, but this is a machine exercise. To make it a body weight exercise, sit on a chair with your legs in front of you (you can use ankle weights if you have them), and try to put something heavy on your laps to keep your thighs down on the chair. Whether you are on a machine or not, slowly lift your lower legs (below your knees) up and back down. This puts the emphasis on your hamstrings and you should really feel it. Watch the video above for a better demonstration. I do about 3 rounds of 15. Make sure the weight is fairly challenging.

Hamstring Stretch

Of course, when you are done with several rounds of all that, you should make sure you really stretch out those muscles. Above is a great stretch that should help. Bring one knee in front in a low lunge, and lean back with your butt going towards the back knee until the front leg is straight. Really push into that front leg by flexing the toes and bringing the chest towards the knee. That should feel very good. Hold for about 30 seconds and switch sides.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Leg Day Routine: Donkey Kicks, Supported Lunge, and Static Raised Lunges

Well, it's leg day somewhere always :) If you are looking for some new exercises to diversify your leg day routine, here are some. All you need for these is a chair, table, or stool. Do each of these for about 4 sets of 10 reps on each leg (that's 20 per set) to really burn those glute, quad, and hamstring muscles.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Leg Day: Weighted Wide Deep Squats

Squats are pretty well-known, and easy to do. But varying your squats can help you target different muscles. Check out the video below for the form for wide squats with 10lb weights to work on that booty and those legs.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Leg Day Routine

It's leg day! Here is a great routine you can do with minimum equipment. You just need dumbbells for the stiff-legged deadlifts. 

• Standing kickout (15 each leg) 
• Donkey kick (15 each leg) 
• Stiff-legged deadlifts (15) 
• Elevated lunges (15 each leg) 

Do 4 rounds! This should burn. If you have ankle weights, use them for the first 2 exercises.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Leg Day: Leg Lifts with an Exercise Ball

The leg muscles are so large that they require some dedication to build. These are Leg Lifts with an Exercise Ball, and the key here is to really squeeze the ball with your legs and control the motion as you lift and lower. It works your core as well. Try out 4 sets of 15.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

It's Leg Day! And We're All About Our Deadlifts :)

I try to incorporate many different kinds of deadlifts in my workouts, but the two in the video below are the ones I spend a lot of time on. Why? The first one really torches your ab and glutes, while the other one really torches your glutes. Try them today. Do about 3 sets of 15 reps of each, and do not skimp on the weights you use.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Leg Presses

The leg press machine is a great way to work multiple leg muscles. The quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves are all worked hard during this exercise. There are different kinds of leg press machines, but the basis is the same: You draw the knees in and then extend the legs with as much weight as you can.

Here is a great video to show you how to do this exercise. Make sure you do not lock your knees as you extend your legs because this could cause injury. And of course while you should not be a pansy with the weight, do not go overboard as well. Learn to know your limits.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Lunge Kicks

Mix up your lunges with kicks when you lift off. You get some cardio in, and work more muscles in your legs. Try it on your next leg day.

Cheers Eights & Weights!