Pumping out limitless squats isn’t the one—or finest—solution to problem your decrease physique. That’s why a stable dumbbell leg exercise will embrace workouts that hit all the most important compound motion patterns.

“The primary factor is, you desire a hip hinge, a squatting sample, a hip bridge sample, and hip abduction,” ACE-certified private coach Sivan Fagan, founding father of Robust With Sivan, tells SELF.

Whereas this may sound difficult, you’re in all probability really fairly acquainted already with examples of those motions. A hip hinge is a vertical motion the place you bend your knees barely, flex at your hips, and ship your butt backward (like in a dumbbell Romanian deadlift or a barbell good morning). A squatting sample entails flexing on the hips and the knees as you decrease your butt downward, as when you have been sitting in a chair (like in a goblet squat or a lunge). With a hip bridge, you lengthen your hips from a horizontal place (like a hip thrust or glute bridge), whereas with hip abduction, you progress your leg laterally away from the center of your physique (like with a aspect lunge or side-lying leg elevate).

By incorporating these practical motion patterns into your leg exercise, you’ll find yourself difficult muscle mass within the entrance of your decrease physique, like your quads, and at the back of your physique, like your glutes and hamstrings. You’ll additionally goal the small muscle mass that make up your aspect butt—an essential space for guarding towards damage that’s typically neglected in power coaching. Put all of this collectively, and also you’ll get a complete lower-body routine that can show you how to construct balanced power.

Within the leg exercise Fagan created for SELF under, getting stronger in all these areas goes to be the secret. And in doing so, it’s possible you’ll not must get as sweaty as it’s possible you’ll suppose—slowing down and actually honing in on the actions goes to be extra essential than pace right here. Keep in mind, a power exercise doesn’t must turn out to be a cardio session!

“If you happen to’re specializing in pace, or doing as many reps as potential in a sure period of time and solely taking somewhat little bit of time to relaxation between units, you’re not going to have the ability to raise as a lot weight, which is essential to constructing power,” says Fagan. “A exercise that focuses on getting you as sweaty as potential or as fatigued as potential isn’t equal to an efficient exercise.”

That’s why on this dumbbell leg exercise, you’re going to take the time for ample relaxation—one to 2 minutes—between both straight units (the place you’re taking a breather after your reps) or supersets (whenever you do two workouts again to again). This may give your muscle mass the restoration they want to have the ability to full the identical variety of reps throughout your subsequent set. Over time, you’ll doubtless discover you’re capable of raise extra weight or do extra reps with the identical weight. That’s progressive overload, and it’s very important to getting stronger.

Pumping out limitless squats isn’t the one—or finest—solution to problem your decrease physique. That’s why a stable dumbbell leg exercise will embrace workouts that hit all the most important compound motion patterns.

“The primary factor is, you desire a hip hinge, a squatting sample, a hip bridge sample, and hip abduction,” ACE-certified private coach Sivan Fagan, founding father of Robust With Sivan, tells SELF.

Whereas this may sound difficult, you’re in all probability really fairly acquainted already with examples of those motions. A hip hinge is a vertical motion the place you bend your knees barely, flex at your hips, and ship your butt backward (like in a dumbbell Romanian deadlift or a barbell good morning). A squatting sample entails flexing on the hips and the knees as you decrease your butt downward, as when you have been sitting in a chair (like in a goblet squat or a lunge). With a hip bridge, you lengthen your hips from a horizontal place (like a hip thrust or glute bridge), whereas with hip abduction, you progress your leg laterally away from the center of your physique (like with a aspect lunge or side-lying leg elevate).

By incorporating these practical motion patterns into your leg exercise, you’ll find yourself difficult muscle mass within the entrance of your decrease physique, like your quads, and at the back of your physique, like your glutes and hamstrings. You’ll additionally goal the small muscle mass that make up your aspect butt—an essential space for guarding towards damage that’s typically neglected in power coaching. Put all of this collectively, and also you’ll get a complete lower-body routine that can show you how to construct balanced power.

Within the leg exercise Fagan created for SELF under, getting stronger in all these areas goes to be the secret. And in doing so, it’s possible you’ll not must get as sweaty as it’s possible you’ll suppose—slowing down and actually honing in on the actions goes to be extra essential than pace right here. Keep in mind, a power exercise doesn’t must turn out to be a cardio session!

“If you happen to’re specializing in pace, or doing as many reps as potential in a sure period of time and solely taking somewhat little bit of time to relaxation between units, you’re not going to have the ability to raise as a lot weight, which is essential to constructing power,” says Fagan. “A exercise that focuses on getting you as sweaty as potential or as fatigued as potential isn’t equal to an efficient exercise.”

That’s why on this dumbbell leg exercise, you’re going to take the time for ample relaxation—one to 2 minutes—between both straight units (the place you’re taking a breather after your reps) or supersets (whenever you do two workouts again to again). This may give your muscle mass the restoration they want to have the ability to full the identical variety of reps throughout your subsequent set. Over time, you’ll doubtless discover you’re capable of raise extra weight or do extra reps with the identical weight. That’s progressive overload, and it’s very important to getting stronger.