HEALTH

Quarantine is about to become your new best friend. Being stuck indoors gives you the perfect opportunity to up your fitness game, all thanks to a variety of online workout videos and programs that tone the entire body. Indeed, many require no equipment at all, just a positive attitude and a willingness to work hard. The following execises—as told by Natassia Ponomarenko, founder of fitness apparel company Nasty Fit and author of From Dust to Discipline: Achieve Your Fullest Potential—specifically target the legs and glutes to achieve visible results.

Squat Jumps (3 sets of 15)

"Make sure to jump high, keep your knees out, and hold the weight on your heels instead of your toes!" Ponomarenko asserts.

How To:

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Start by doing a regular squat, then engage your core and jump up explosively.
3. When you land, lower your body back into the squat position to complete one rep.
4. Repeat for 15 reps.

Glute Bridges (2 sets of 50)

"Keep the weight on your heels and squeeze as hard as you can on the way up," says Ponomarenko. "Make sure the motion is slow and controlled."

How To:

1. Start with your back on the ground, legs bent, and feet a little wider than shoulder-width apart.
2. Bring your hips up and squeeze your glutes at the top.
3. Bring your hips and glutes down to the ground, and repeat with every rep.
4. Keep your arms by your sides or behind your head throughout, wherever is most comfortable for you.

One-Legged Glute Bridges (2 sets of 25 on each leg)

"Make sure to keep the weight on your heels during this exercise as well!" Ponomarenko urges.

How To:

1. Start in the same position as the exercise before, except you will kick one leg up.
2. Use the leg that is down on the ground to bring your hips up.
3. Bring your hips and glutes down to the ground, and repeat with every rep.
4. Keep your arms by your sides or behind your head throughout.

Frontal Lunge Pulses (3 sets of 15 on each leg)

"Stand tall with feet hip-width apart," says Ponomarenko. "Engage your core, and make sure to keep your spine neutral."

How To:

1. Take a big step forward with your right leg.
2. Lower your body until your right thigh is parallel to the floor and your right shin is vertical.
3. Press into the right heel to drive back up to the starting position.
4. Continue this for 15 reps, then repeat on the other side.

Donkey Kicks (2 sets of 40 on each leg)

"Try to keep your back neutral when doing this exercise as well," Ponomarenko suggests. "You don't want to swing it back and forth."

How To:

1. Get on all fours, essentially a tabletop position. 
2. Slowly lift your leg straight back and up toward the ceiling, squeezing the working glute at the top.
3. Keep your back straight—don't wobble.
4. Return to the starting position. Repeat all reps on one side, then switch legs.

Side-Lying Hip Abduction (3 sets of 15 on each leg)

"If you're not feeling this in the side of your glutes, you're not doing it right!" Ponomarenko asserts.

How To:

1. Lie down on the floor on your side. Rest your head on your arm. Bend your legs at the knees.
2. Keep your feet together and lift your top leg up so that your knees are separated.
3. Slowly lower your leg back down.
4. Repeat 15 times, then switch sides.

What's your go-to workout rn? Share your faves below!

by Carrie Berk | 4/2/2020