At Home Slow-Mo Leg Workout
I have been thinking about posting workouts for a while, but just didn’t commit to it. I work full time, teach part time, and have three kids. Posting workouts wasn’t a priority. Well, the need is here as most of us are going to be spending a lot of time home and away from our favorite gyms and workouts. That doesn’t mean we have to let go of our fitness goals.
As I present a workout, I want to be sure to include some education. Not only do I want you to feel good when you workout, I want you to know WHY you are doing a particular exercise in a certain way. Rest assured, there will be no “circus workouts” here - unless the purpose is a circus! This is a theme I use with preschool yoga!
Two principles are the focus of this simple leg workout:
Time under tension: the amount of time your muscles are actually working when exercising
Unilateral training: working one side of the body at a time.
With a home workout, many of us do not have large weights to lift so a regular 1/1 cadence set of 10 reps with body weight might not get much muscle activation to get stronger. The great thing is, there are more ways than just adding weight to increase intensity! Slowing down the speed of the repetitions makes the muscle work longer with each rep. At the end of 10 reps at a speed of 4/4 or 8/8, you have placed the muscle under stress for a longer period of time which will recruit more muscles fibers to work!
Training unilaterally in this workout brings additional intensity in both balance, coordination, and moving a greater portion of your weight. Most of us have one side of our body that is stronger than the other. I notice my right side of the body is tighter and stronger while my left side has more flexibility. Training unilaterally helps us even out the imbalances which will lead more strength when we go back to bilateral training.
Incorporating increased time under tension and unilateral training are a great way to spice up your workout and add variety just for varieties sake. Lifting weights should be productive AND fun. Try this workout on its own or add one or two of these to your regular workout.