This is a great circuit because it’s quick, but it still gets your heart rate up. It’s also great because it’s low impact and you’re knocking out two things at once by targeting both your legs and abs! You can do this workout from anywhere and it doesn’t require any equipment. If you want, you can add some dumbbells to the standing portion for a little extra boost.
Before You Start…
You’ll want to have a full bottle of water near by before you start this workout and maybe even a little towel for yourself. If you have a yoga/workout mat, you can lay down that down to workout on but you can also just use the ground. If you are working on hard floors, you might want to at least place down a towel or blanket just to protect your knees and wrists since you’ll be moving around a lot.
Now before you get into the circuit, you should always warm up and stretch a bit! I always start out by doing about 100 jumping jacks and then 50 butt kicks and 50 high knees just to get the body moving and warm. Then you should do some easy stretches to loosen up and prevent injury. People often underestimate the importance of stretching and warming up, even if you’re doing a quick workout. Check out my list of basic stretches that are great to do before any workout.
Legs & Abs Circuit
Try to do 3 to 4 rounds of each of exercise with about a 30 second rest in between each round. There are 4 standing exercises that focus mainly on the legs with some added core work. Then there’s some plank exercises that focus on the core with some leg work. Add some dumbbells to the standing exercises if you want extra burn!
Leg Work With Abs
1. Kick Back and Knee Tuck
For this exercise you want to focus on keeping your hips level and activating your abs when you bring your knee back up to tuck it in. Inhale as you kick your leg back and up and exhale to engage the core and tuck the knee back into your chest. You can go as slow as you need to keep your balance and even do it standing next to a chair or table for assistance.
This workout is great because it targets one leg at a time and requires all the little stabilizing muscles around your ankle and knee to work extra hard to keep you balanced. Its also going to work your hamstrings and glutes really good as well as your abs on the knee tuck.
Complete 20 reps on both sides.
2. Squat Knee Tuck
In this exercise, you’re just adding and extra knee tuck to the traditional squat. This helps to give each of your legs extra work on the way up while also engaging the core. Alternating legs, you are going to squat down with your feet shoulder width apart and then explode upward trying to get your knee as close to your chest as possible. When you squat down, remember to keep your knees inline with your ankles and not let them fall forward too far. Inhale as you lower and exhale when you stand up to help engage your core for the knee tuck.
Complete 30 total squats (15 knee tucks per side, alternating)
3. Lateral Squat Knee Tuck
This is just like the squat knee tuck, except you are widening your stance so that you can lean sideways into one leg at a time with the other leg straight. Don’t spread your legs too far to the point where you feel like you’re over-stretching your inner thigh muscles. You are going to lower down into each leg and then push that leg to tuck it up into your chest again for a lateral knee tuck. This is going to work your obliques since you’re doing it in the lateral position. It’s also going to work the outer muscles of your glutes as well as the rest of of your legs.
Complete 15 reps on both sides.
4. Reverse lunge Into Knee Tuck
This exercise is another great way to target your stabilizing muscles, as it does require some balance. If you have trouble balancing, have a chair near by to rest your hand on for stability. You are going to inhale as you bring one of legs behind your and squat down to create a 90 degree angle with your front and back legs. Your back knee should almost be touching the ground. Once it is about to touch the ground, engage the glutes of your front leg and push through your heel to pull the back leg through tuck it up to your chest on an exhale.
You don’t want to be putting a ton of weight into the back leg, it’s there just to keep you on track. Rely on the muscles in your front leg and really pushing from the ground up to pull that back leg through and up. Engage your core and glutes when you bring your leg up for the knee tuck.
Complete 15 reps on each side
Ab Work With Legs
1. 3-Legged-Downward Dog to Plank Tuck
This is a great exercise because theres a lot happening. You’re stretching out your body in down dog, while working your shoulder muscles and your legs and core all at the same time.
You can start in a downward facing dog position. From there, take one leg at a time and reach it up and back behind you. Similar to the leg raises in plank, it does not matter how high your leg gets. It is more important that you keep your hips squared and your leg tight and engaged. From this 3-leg-down dog position, you are going to engage your core by tucking your abs and ribs inward as you bring your extended leg through your body to touch your elbow. Then reach your leg all the way back up to where you started.
Even if you can’t touch your elbow, just really focus on tucking that leg up as tightly into your core as possible for the best effect!
Complete 10 reps on both sides
2. Plank with Leg Raises
In this exercise, you’re going to hold a plank pose with your shoulders stacked over your wrist and your hands planted firmly into the ground. Then one at a time, slowly raise one leg straight up and back down. Focus on keeping the leg tight and straight, with your foot flexed and as if it’s pushing into the back of the room.
It doesn’t matter how high you raise your leg, just that your keep it tight and straight. Going slowly helps to really work the leg muscles as well as your core.
Complete 20 reps (10 on each side, alternating).
3. Forearm Plank Knee Tucks
This exercise is going to be a forearm plank instead of a full plank. You want your shoulders stacked over your elbows and your forearms pressing firmly into the ground. Then, alternating sides, you will take one of your legs and slowly bend it around the side of your body to do a “side crunch” move. Just like in the down-dog exercise, you want to bring your knee up as close to your elbow as possible. Then straighten your leg back out and do the other side. This is going to really work the core while also working your outer glute muscles.
Complete 20 reps (10 on each side, alternating).
Grab some water!!
That’s the whole Leg & Ab Circuit! I hope it got your heart rate up and made you sweat! Remember to stretch when you’re done, especially after doing all that leg work. These quick, equipment free workouts are great to do anytime and anywhere. You can do this circuit a few times a week if you really enjoyed it! Just don’t do it back to back days, especially if you’re sore, because you’ll want to give your muscles a little rest.