With the holiday season approaching, fitting in a workout is going to become a daily challenge. However, you can still burn calories and keep your muscle tone even if your gym routine gets interrupted. Here are four lower-body muscle-toning moves that you can do at home every day.
With the holiday season approaching, fitting in a workout is going to become a daily challenge. However, you can still burn calories and keep your muscle tone even if your gym routine gets interrupted. Here are four lower-body muscle-toning moves that you can do at home every day.
1. Run your stairs
The staircase isn’t just to help you get from one floor to the next. Turn your stairs into a cardio workout. Turn up the high-energy music and run your stairs for 5 minutes (after a short warm-up, of course) or for a count of 10, 20, or 50, depending on your fitness level. You’ll boost your heart rate, burn calories, and tone your lower body.
2. Laundry squats
When your dryer finishes its cycle, throw your clothes on the floor and do squats as you pick them up and fold or hang them. This is a time-efficient way to tone your glutes and legs. If you keep your abs pulled in and back flat, you’ll also tone your core muscles.
3. Kitchen calf raises
While you’re waiting for your toast to pop up in the morning, tone your calves instead of spooning peanut butter out of the jar. Place your fingertips on the counter and raise your heels, standing on your toes, lower, and repeat. Make it more challenging by holding your arms in front of you at shoulder height and lift up onto your tip toes. Do 15 to 25 repetitions. As you get more fit, do calf raises with one leg at a time.
4. Closet leg extensions
Tone your glutes and hamstrings with leg extensions every morning before you get dressed. Place your hands on your hips or set your finger tips on the back of chair or on the dresser. Standing tall, keeping your abdominals tight, extend your right leg straight back, tightening up your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back. Repeat for 20 repetitions then switch legs. Do 1 to 3 sets.
Turn your routine into a full-body workout by adding these core moves and upper-body exercises.
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