27 Lower Body Exercises

Sorry in advanced as I rushed to post this topic today, but I hope you'll find these lower body exercises useful to use in your workouts.

Developing leg strength and power are important in many sports, from kung fu kicks and jumps to nordic walking. However, even more important is endurance for our daily activities. As long as we are able to stand, we all have to carry ourselves on our legs (which doesn't mean only our leg muscles are helping to keep us up, but they play a major role).

27 Lower Body Exercises

1. Bodyweight Squats
2. Half Bodyweight Squats
3. Hindu Squats
4. Half Hindu Squats
5. Bent Squats
6. BootStrapper
7. Bounding Squats
8. Jump Squats
9. Jump & Tuck Squat
10. Lateral Squats
11. Squat Thrusts
12. Rear Leg Elevated Squat
13. Scorpian Thrusts
14. The Pistol (One Legged Squat)
15. Elevated One Legged Squats
16. Lunges
17. Reverse Lunge
18. Jumping Lunges
19. Knee Jumps (complements of FitDaily)
20. Knee Drops
21. Prison Shower Defence
22. Calf Raises
23. Sprinting
24. Rebounding
25. Depth Jumps
26. Hopping
27. Box Jumping

Isometrics

I purposefully haven't included isometrics, but will dedicate a post or a few to them soon. All the lower body exercises are cyclic and so can be done repetitiously.

References

5 Types of Squats to Master
Bodyweight & Hindu Squats
Bodyweight Squats: The Key To Massive Leg Size And Strength

As usual, feel free to leave a comment or contact me through urbantri@mail.com.

Thanks,

Gemma aka AnonymousJ

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The Empty Stance

Finally, may I present the last stance in the series, at least for now. Just to recap, there are 5 basic stances in wushu (aka kung fu).

• Horse Stance
• Bow Stance
• Resting Stance
• Drop Stance (Flat Stance)
• Empty Stance (Cat Stance)

The Most Difficult of the 5 Basic Wushu Stances

The empty stance, otherwise known as the cat stance can be found throughout many Chinese martial art styles, and therefore comes in several styles. Because the bending leg is carrying all the weight upon it, and the thigh is parallel to the ground, the calf and thigh muscles work extremely hard to keep you static. Tye “Nuke” Botting of kungfu.cc's TFK Martial Arts Forum commented that 'it should be the hardest [stance] to hold for any length of time, or indeed even to get to at first.' This is especially true if you do the stance the way it's executed by wushu competitors as I will describe below.

Method to Achieving the Empty Stance

• Start with feet shoulder width apart.
• Turn your right foot out at about 45º.
• Bend the right leg so that the right thigh is horizontal/parallel to the ground (or at least as close as you can get it to be parallel).
• Place the front your left foot forward lightly on the ground so that it is in line with your right heel. The left foot should not be flat on the floor.
• If you do the stance correctly, you'll be able to lift you the right leg off the floor without falling over.

Additional Notes About the Empty Stance and Stance Training in General

There are two schools of thought when it comes to training, and it's not just with stances. You can first try to build endurance, then add speed or strength. Alternatively, you can build strength and then work on endurance. I favour the second school as does Tye “Nuke” Botting who made a valuable note:

'That is, do the stance as exactly correct as possible, then try to do it longer and longer....At first, like with the cat stance, this may only be for even a fraction of a second....Doing it right and then longer is much better than doing it longer and then working to be more right.'

References

Correcting Problems with the Empty Stance
Practice and Application of Wushu Stances
Choy lay fut and Stance Training - Flexibility & Applications
The Empty Stance Deep Form

As usual, feel free to leave a comment or contact me through urbantri@mail.com.

Thanks,

Gemma aka AnonymousJ

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