A Lower-Body Exercise Routine to Build Balance and Strength

Guess what? After today’s lower-body exercise, you will have reached the halfway point of the challenge. Big congrats! That means now is a good time to check in with yourself and assess where you are. How do you feel? What changes have you noticed? Are you feeling more energized? Stronger? Can you eke out a few more reps, or go up in weight? Are you feeling more confident about all these moves?

Whichever way you answer, Team SELF believes in you—so we are going to up the ante by introducing lower-body moves in this routine that build on the exercises you’ve already conquered. That’s why day 14 offers you a tried-and-true lower-body move, the deadlift, along with some newer moves added into leg day for more challenge. 

You’ve done the lateral lunge—a more advanced lunging variation—before, but we’ll invite you to add an extra challenge to it this time, if you wish: You’re welcome to add external resistance to the move, like with a pair of dumbbells. (Of course, you can also keep it bodyweight only if you’d like.) The lateral lunge helps you move in the frontal plane of motion, which many of us don’t do enough. It gets you out of just moving in the sagittal plane (forward and backward) and into the frontal plane (side to side). Multiplanar moves—moving in different planes of motion—are important because they not only mimic how our bodies move on a daily basis, but they also help keep you mobile and reduce your risk of injury.  

Ready to give it a go? Keep scrolling for the details on how to do today’s lower-body exercise routine.

The workout below is for day 14 of the SELF New Year’s Challenge. Check out the full four-week workout program right here. Or go to the workout calendar here. If you’d like to sign up to receive daily emails for this challenge, you can do that here. 

WORKOUT DIRECTIONS

Aim for 8–12 reps per exercise. Rest up to 30 seconds between exercises. At the end of the round, rest 60–90 seconds. Complete 2–4 rounds total. Repeat for Superset 2.

EXERCISES

Superset 1

• Romanian Deadlift
• Goblet Squat

Superset 2

• Lateral Lunge
• Squat to Double Pulse

BONUS MOVE

After your last circuit, try the bonus move for 60 seconds.