Keeping your legs strong and healthy can help your overall wellbeing. So where do you begin? Nutrition and fitness expert, Jody Trierweiler, joined Jason Carr on “Live in the D” to discuss the importance of what’s often referred to as “Leg Day”.
The glutes and quads are the two largest muscles in the body and keeping them strong helps with balance and avoiding injury, said Trierweiler. “These are the two largest muscles on your whole body and you’re going to get way more bang for your buck when working the lower body as far as calorie burn and overall improvement in your metabolism…,” Trierweiler said.
According to Trierweiler, there are two main exercises for strengthening quads and glutes, the first being squats. “Like you’re sitting in a chair, you’re going to press the hips back while you keep your chest lifted and come back up and squeeze.” Trierweiler advised standing with your feet shoulder-width apart and making sure your knees don’t separate or bend too far forward.
Lunges are the second exercise, and with a wide stance it can be gentle on your body, said Trierweiler. “You’ll stagger the legs one in front of the other,” Trierweiler said. “You want them wide, so the key to a lunge is to keep the knee from travelling too far forward.”
To learn more and see Jody demonstrate the correct way to do these exercises, watch the video above.