The workout below is for Day 10 of the SELF 2022 Spring Challenge. Get the full four-week workout plan right here. Or go to the training log here. If you would like to sign up to receive daily emails about this challenge, you can do so here.
We bet your upper body is feeling it from yesterday’s circuit, so for today, we’re bringing your lower body into the mix with a smoking inner thigh and butt workout.
This challenge is all about building mastery of certain moves and getting comfortable with them. So for today’s lower body strength routine, you’ll recognize some of the major moves here, like the Romanian deadlift and the sumo squat. But we’re also introducing some new players here, some of which are variations of moves you’ve seen before, and one that’s completely new.
Starting with variations of moves you’re already familiar with, we have the hip thrust and lateral thrust. The hip thrust is an amazing exercise for your glutes and hamstrings, and is quite similar to the glute bridge. With a glute bridge, however, your shoulders and back rest on the floor, while with a hip thrust, both are elevated on a bench (or your couch or ottoman, if you’re working out at home). By elevating your back and shoulders, it provides a greater range of motion, which makes the exercise a little more difficult than the glute bridge and Really smokes your gluteal muscles, especially the largest one, the gluteus maximus.
Then we have the side thrust. You’ve already dived into this challenge in reverse before. But instead of stepping your foot back, you’ll step to the side. So along with working your quads, you’ll add an extra challenge to your inner thigh muscles, or your hip adductors and hip abductors, the little muscles that work on your side.
Speaking of the inner thigh muscles, we have a new exercise in this lower-body strength routine that puts special emphasis on them: the lateral inner thigh raise. This is a bodyweight only exercise, but you don’t need additional weight to really feel it. This is a small, controlled movement, so make sure your mind-muscle connection is on target.
This is a complete lower body routine and these five exercises are more than enough for a quality workout! But if you want to add more fire to the mix after this inner thigh and glute workout, stick around for our finisher bonus: It’s a 60-second crab walk to jump that will really burn your butt.
Quick note here: You have a rest day scheduled for tomorrow, so if you find you have a little extra gas in the tank as you go through this routine, you can rise to the challenge by running an extra round, shooting for a few more reps, or taking on this challenge. 60 second bonus move that ends.
TRAINING INSTRUCTIONS
Aim for 8 to 15 repetitions of each exercise. Rest for up to 30 seconds between exercises. Rest for 1 to 2 minutes after each round. Complete 2 to 4 rounds total.
GYMNASTICS
- Sumo Squat
- Romanian Deadlift
- Lateral Lunge
- Hip Thrust
- Side lift on inner thigh
BONUS MOVE
After your last circuit, try the bonus move for 60 seconds.
