Leg Exercise Equipment

Using Leg Exercise Equipment – Lower Body Exercises with Resistance Bands

While your local gym may have a lot of leg exercise equipment such as leg press machines, they can be expensive and sometimes intimidating. Lower body exercises with resistance bands can be done with fairly inexpensive equipment and in the comfort of your own home. Keeping things simple, let’s look at two exercises you can do to firm up your lower body.

The most basic and beneficial lower body exercise is the squat. It has proven itself over and over. Yes, we talk about the squat in just about every leg exercise article but that should just tell you how great it is at giving you firm buttocks and legs that look stupendous.

So, how do we tailor the squat to using a resistance band? Here’s how:

- Hold the handles, and stand on the center of the band, so the band runs under the arches of your feet. Stand with your feet about hip-width apart. Start by just holding the handles relaxed at your sides.

- Begin the movement by bending at the hips, pushing your rear backward – similar to sitting in a chair. Keep your shins vertical. Your knees should not travel forward. Your thighs, hips, and butt travel backward. Lean forward to keep your balance, but keep your back straight, not rounding over forward.

- Following this pattern, squat down until your thighs are about parallel with the floor. Then push yourself back up straight again. This is one repetition.

- With your hands (holding the handles) relaxed at your sides, you’ll get slack in the resistance band at the bottom of the movement. This is fine if you’re just starting. When you’re ready for more resistance, you can move your hands up to your hips.

- For even more resistance, move your hands up to your shoulders. When at the shoulders, flip your forearms up so your hands are on top and elbows underneath. Keep your forearms vertical and keep your wrists firmly straight up. Don’t let them extend backward.

- Start out doing the squat with a resistance band for 10-12 repetitions. As you get stronger, you can do more repetitions (15-20), or you can use stronger bands.

The second exercise is the Kickback, and it’s especially good for the glutes creating firm buttocks with this leg exercise equipment.

- Start out on your hands and knees (use a mat for padding). Put the center of the band under the arch of one foot. Hold one handle in each hand.

- Next, simply use a slow, controlled kicking motion to drive the foot back against the resistance of the band until your leg is straight and roughly parallel with the floor, or angling slightly upward.

- You can vary the resistance by moving your hands slightly forward or back (keeping your balance under control). Or use a stronger band.

- Use the same repetitions as you did for the squat.

Put these two lower body exercises with resistance bands to work for you. Get a great workout at home with this leg exercise equipment for even less than you’d pay for only one month’s use of your local gym. Do these leg exercises with resistance bands two to four times per week and you’ll see results in firm buttocks and legs in no time!