There's a good reason they say don't skip leg day. Your lower body is an integral part of your overall fitness, and the muscles in your legs help create a strong, stable foundation and can boost power and strength and maximize athletic performance.
Body-weight workouts are just as effective (if not more) than your standard workout with weights. That's because body-weight exercises help you focus on form, increase stability and can help prevent injury.
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And while it may not seem like enough time, you can get a lot of benefits from 15-minute workouts: An October 2022 review in the European Heart Journal found that just 15 to 20 minutes of vigorous activity a week was associated with a lower risk of death in older adults.
15-Minute Lower-Body Body-Weight Workout
Perform each exercise for 45 seconds each with a 15 second recovery before beginning the next exercise. Repeat the sequence once.
1. Good Morning
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart, and place your hands at the back of your head with your elbows opened wide.
- Pull your abs to your spine, hinging forward and pressing your hips back behind you, until your back is almost parallel to the floor.
- Return to your starting position, squeezing your glutes at the top.
2. Squat
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart, and place your hands at the back of your head with your elbows opened wide.
- Keep your chest up, feet flat on the floor and begin to bend your knees and sit your hips back as if you’re going to sit down in to a chair.
- Once your thighs are parallel with the floor, pause for a moment, then press through your heels to return to standing, squeezing your glutes as you stand.
3. Alternating Side Lunges
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and a slight bend in your knees.
- Step your right foot out laterally to the side.
- Keeping your left leg straight, bend your right knee and sit your glutes back like you're trying to sit in a chair behind you.
- Press off your right foot and return to standing.
- Repeat on the other leg and continue alternating.
4. Reverse Lunge to Supported Single-Leg Deadlift (Right Side)
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart.
- Hinge slightly at your waist and extend your left leg back behind you.
- Drop your left knee down toward the ground, press off from your left foot and return to stand.
- Then, tuck your left toe slightly staggered behind the right heel.
- Pull your abs to your spine, hinging forward and pressing your hips back behind you, until your back is almost parallel to the floor.
- Return to your starting position, squeezing through your right glute at the top.
- Repeat.
Want to make this combo move more challenging? Try lifting your back leg fully off the floor during the deadlift portion to do a full single-leg deadlift.
5. Curtsy Lunge (Right Side)
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Without rotating your hips, lift your left leg and take a big diagonal step back, crossing it behind your right leg.
- Keep your chest tall and your hips and shoulders square.
- Bend both knees and slowly lower down toward the floor.
- Once your back thigh is parallel with the floor, stand back up and return to your starting position.
- Repeat.
6. Reverse Lunge to Supported Single-Leg Deadlift (Left Side)
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart.
- Hinge slightly at your waist and extend your right leg back behind you.
- Drop your right knee down toward the ground, press off from your right foot and return to stand.
- Then, tuck your right toe slightly staggered behind the left heel.
- Pull your abs to your spine, hinging forward and pressing your hips back behind you, until your back is almost parallel to the floor.
- Return to your starting position, squeezing through your left glute at the top.
- Repeat.
7. Curtsy Lunge (Left Side)
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Without rotating your hips, lift your right leg and take a big diagonal step back, crossing it behind your left leg.
- Keeping your chest tall and your hips and shoulders square, bend both knees and slowly lower down toward the floor.
- Once your back thigh is parallel with the floor, stand back up and return to your starting position.
- Repeat.