Your legs and glutes are powerful muscles, bigger and more Badass than your biceps and triceps and abs. So a good leg and glute workout torches calories and gets your heart pumping as the blood rushes to those muscles while you work 'em silly.
What better time to torch calories than at the end of the holidays, when we've no doubt been eating and drinking more than usual? Plus, beach season will be here before we know it. And who wants fruitcake and mashed potatoes covering our Badasses and quads? Not this Badass!
So try this heart-pumping, muscle-burning workout to work off some of your holiday gluttony and get your booties ready for whatever hot New Year's outfits you've got planned. I'm talking to you guys, too, because there's nothin' sexy about a flat, flabby male gluteus!
The festivities are winding down, Badasses, so let's re-energize and get our Badass game faces and attitudes back on! Get to work:
- Warmup: Jog or speed walk for 5 minutes
- 25 Plie' squats: Feet slightly more than hip width apart, toes turned out to the side like a ballerina. Lower glutes into a plie', keeping your back straight, until quads are parallel to the floor. Extra challenge: Do it while holding a 10 to 15-pound dumbbell between your legs.
- 25 Jump squats: Start in a regular squat position -- feet hip width apart, squatting like you're about to sit in a chair. From there, jump up high, then land back into a squat position. Extra challenge: Do it while holding 3-, 5- or 8-pound dumbbells on each shoulder. When you jump up, raise the dumbbells straight up into a shoulder press.
- 50 Jumping jacks: At a fast pace.
- 25 Plie squats: You know the drill.
- 25 Jump squats: This time, try to get more height into your jumps.
- 30 Seconds of High Knees: For 30 seconds, run in place, bringing your knees up high the entire time. This is no easy jog. Imagine you're running over hot coals. HIGH KNEES!
- 25 lunges, right leg only: Stand tall, feet hip width apart. Step the right leg forward about one foot, plant the heel on the floor, and lunge. Your right quad should be parallel to the floor when you lunge. Now, with the weight coming out of your right heel, come back up to the starting position. Repeat 24 more times. Extra challenge: Lunge while holding a weighted bar on your shoulders, or while holding a 5- to 8-pound dumbbell in each hand.
- 25 lunges, left leg only: Same as above, but step forward with the left leg and lunge.
- 25 jump squats
- 30 seconds of high knees
- 25 Bench step-ups, right side: Find a bench or make one with a step class bench and two risers under each side. Stand in front of the bench and plant the right foot on the bench. Step up, your weight concentrated in the right leg. The power comes out of your right heel. Step back down, allowing your left foot to just tap lightly on the ground. Now back up with the right leg. Repeat 24 times.
- 25 Bench step-ups, left side: Same as above, but step up onto the bench with the left foot and let the right foot tap gently as you come down each time. Extra challenge: Do these while holding 5, 8, or 10-pound weights.
- 25 jump squats
- 30 seconds of high knees
- 25 plie squats
- 5 minute cool down: Walk or jog.
- 5 minute stretch
