Lower Body Exercises, Circuit Style

My legs are on fiyah! It's Trainer Beau's fault. He completely kicked my rear in class yesterday morning. Don't get me wrong, though. This soreness is a good thing. For some reason, I have the hardest time pushing my legs to complete fatigue. It's all those years of cheerleading and gymnastics and running, me'thinks. I feel like I'm bragging here (I'm not trying to), but they're quite strong and my most favorite body part to work. (Well...and abs, too.) Hate to say it, but I love me some lunges and squats and squat jumps. I chalk that up to my inner cheerleader. She never goes away. And lunges et. al. are very much cheerleading moves. But they don't always bring the burn.

I have to really, really push hard.
Like I apparently did on Monday morning.

Since I'm in leg mode, I put together a little circuit for you. It's full of lower body exercises meant to challenge all the parts and pieces of your hips, legs and booty. In case you're wondering what those parts and pieces are:

Source

Now let's get back to that circuit, shall we? You don't need a gym as all moves can be done in the privacy of your own home. Do three sets of 15 repetitions of each exercise unless otherwise noted. You'll want to work the circuit once through, then repeat two more times to get your three sets in. The following assumes you've already warmed up. If not, you'll need to warm up with at least 10 minutes of cardio. And don't forget to stretch when you're done.

For a how-to on hip press-and-holds, click here.

This is a pendulum swing:

Source

Be sure to keep your weight centered over the ball when you lift your leg. That'll really concentrate the effort, rather than calling on a bit of momentum...or sway. Know what I mean? And keep your back straight. If you have to, pick a bigger ball or use a blog or bench.

So try the above and let me know what you think.

Shifting gears...

Check out what the Easter bunny brought me (along with all that candy).

Yeah. I've been drooling over this stuff for ages. Every since I saw it in The Jackson Whole Grocer back in 2010. You can only find it in specialty shops and it's super, dooper expensive for a nut butter. But I can say now with absolute certainty that it's completely worth it. 

Best nut butter I've ever had. And I've had a lot of nut butter in my life.

More on those guys later.

Baby girl is down for the night, which means momma has a to-do list to tackle:

1) Laundry.

2) Put new pictures in photo album.

3) Put clean dishes away.

4) Pick up random toys scattered about the house.

5) Pump.

6) Get to bed early.

Ugh, here I go.

Question: What body part do you have the hardest time challenging?