Lower-body Workout | Bodyweight

Template
Parts Exercises Sets Reps/Duration Rest Time
Warm-Up Light Mobility - Joint # 1 - 2 5 - 30 none - 2 min
Warm-Up Set/s 1 - 2 1 - 8 2 - 5 min
Primary Leg/Glute Exercise (1-2) 2 - 3 4 - 8 / near failure 3 - 5 mins
Secondary Leg/Glute Exercise (0-3) 1 - 2 4 - 8 / near failure 3 - 5 mins

Workout Sample 1
Parts Exercises Sets Reps/Duration Rest Time
Warm-Up Light Mobility Drill 1 10 - 20 none - 2 min
Warm-Up Set 1 1 - 8 2 - 5 mins
Primary Bodyweight Squats 2 4 - 8 / near failure 3 - 5 mins
Secondary Calf Raises 2 4 - 8 / near failure 3 - 5 mins

Workout Sample 2
Parts Exercises Sets Reps/Duration Rest Time
Warm-Up Light Mobility Drill 1 10 - 20 none - 2 min
Warm-Up Set 1 1 - 8 2 - 5 mins
Primary Sissy Squats 2 4 - 8 / near failure 3 - 5 mins
Glute Bridges 2 4 - 8 / near failure 3 - 5 mins
Secondary Nordic Curls 1 4 - 8 / near failure 3 - 5 mins
Calf Raises 2 4 - 8 / near failure 3 - 5 mins

Workout Sample 3
Parts Exercises Sets Reps/Duration Rest Time
Warm-Up Light Mobility Drill 1 10 - 20 none - 2 min
Warm-Up Set 1 1 - 8 2 - 5 mins
Primary Pistol Squats 2 4 - 8 / near failure 3 - 5 mins
Nordic Curls 2 4 - 8 / near failure 3 - 5 mins
Secondary Calf Raises 2 4 - 8 / near failure 3 - 5 mins

Workout Information:

Description:

This is a bodyweight lower-body workout routine that involves bodyweight exercises that primarily work the lower-body muscle groups. It includes muscle groups such as the quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteal muscles, and calves. Feel free to change the order of exercises in terms of priority.

Most importantly, this routine prioritizes stimulus and fatigue management, ensuring you can recover for the next training session while removing unnecessary work and further limiting fatigue.

Workout Sample 1: For quads, glutes, and calves. Bodyweight squats also work the glutes to a high degree.

Workout Sample 2: For quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves. Prioritizing the quads and glutes using isolation exercises.

Workout Sample 3: For quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves.

Warm-Up:

To properly warm up for this routine, you simply need to warm up the muscles around the hip, knee, and ankle joints by moving them around with intent or doing some named mobility movements. Then, do some warm-up sets for your primary/earlier exercise. Later exercises generally do not need warm-up sets as you're most likely warmed up enough from prior exercises. For example:

Light Mobility Drill: Hip Circles -> Standing Hip Openers -> Knee Circles -> Ankle Circles for a round or two with enough reps for you to feel them working.

Warm-Up Set/s: You can either do an easier variation or modified version of your first exercise or do your exercise with some reps far from failure.

Just make sure that whatever you do is just enough to work and warm up your muscles, not tire them, so you can perform your best in your working sets.

Exercise Selection:

Above all, make sure that the exercise is primarily working the target muscle group. Then, determine if you can perform the exercise and go near or until failure within the recommended rep range while also considering the stability aspect of the exercise. While it is okay to use an exercise where you can perform higher rep ranges, it's not advisable nor efficient if your goal is hypertrophy—a major limitation of purely bodyweight training.

If you're strong enough to go far beyond the recommended rep range, you can do a harder variation or do many of them weighted, such as with an ankle weight or dip belt with weights. However, if you don't have the option to change the exercise at the moment or prefer not to, you can continue using it and go near or until failure, just like when performing it within the specified rep range. Just know that there will be some unwanted differences in terms of growth stimulus and fatigue.

Proximity to Failure:

While it is okay to go until failure, especially at the start when you don't yet know what that feels like and want to avoid undertraining, it's generally recommended to use it sparingly and instead leave 1-2 repetitions in reserve (RIR).

Training Frequency:

Depending on your recovery rate, you can perform this routine 2-3 times a week or every other day. If possible, opt for a higher training frequency.