Getting a Great Lower Body Workout

In general, work your large muscles before moving on to your small ones. So perform your lower body workouts in the following order:
1. Glutes
2. Quads
3. Hamstrings
4. Inner and outer thighs
5. Calves
6. Shins

The only exception to this rule is if you specifically want to target a smaller muscle that’s lagging far behind in its strength and is creating a too noticeable weak link. If that’s the case, it’s a good idea to switch your exercise order around so you target the weakest muscle when it’s fresh. Do at least four or five lower body exercises on a regular basis for balanced muscle development and visible training results. Your workouts need to include two types of exercises:

• Compound exercises, which involve several muscle groups at once
• Isolation exercises, which hone in on a single muscle group

If you’re starting out with bad knees or hips, you may want to take a few weeks to simply focus on the muscles surrounding those joints. If your knees are the problem, for example, start with exercises that isolate your quads (the thigh squeeze and the leg extension machine) and your hams (the leg curl machine) and wait a few weeks before graduating to compound exercises (the squat and the lunge).