tone your lower body thanks to this complete exercise

In the collective imagination of novice athletes, the squat basic is an excellent tool for toning the lower body. In this exercise, what you do is stand up, spread your feet hip-width apart, stretch your arms out in front of you and lower your body, making sure that your knee does not go beyond the tip of your foot so as not to hurt yourself. nor that it does not exceed 90 degrees of flexion. However, there is a variant of this squat that is very effective and will allow you to have strong and defined quads and glutes.

It’s about the bulgarian squat. In this exercise you work unilaterally, since only one leg is strengthened (later you can change it and work the other, don’t worry), but it is very effective because it is a multi-joint exercise, which implies that you will exercise the ankle extensor muscles , knee and hip. As this variation has a point of instability, the core area will have to work to prevent you from falling.

Learn how to do a Bulgarian squat step by step

To perform a Bulgarian squat, the first thing to keep in mind is that you need a fulcrum behind you. You can take a bench from the gym or something else, but ideally it should be at knee height. That said, the steps you have to follow are the following:

Put yourself down backwards to the bench, with an approximate separation of half a meter. Raise your left leg to place the ball of your foot on the fulcrum so that your right leg is straight and your left leg is bent with the knee back at a 90-degree angle.
The brazos you can extend them forward, palms down, to help balance you.
Bend the supporting leg until the thigh is in parallel down. Make sure that the knee does not exceed the tip of the foot, because if that happens, what we will be doing is forcing the knee and we can end up with discomfort. The back knee will slowly lower at the same time.
Don’t forget to keep the back straight when lowering the body. This way you will be able to stabilize yourself more easily.
Use your supporting leg to return to your starting position.

If the Bulgarian squat is very easy for you, what you can do is take a dumbbell In each hand. In this way, the force that your leg will have to do is greater, since it will have to lift more weight.

Benefits of the Bulgarian Squat

This exercise is ideal for several reasons, beyond the fact that you are going to tone up your lower body and core.

Get more mobility in your hip: for this exercise, the hip has an important role, since it flexes at the moment it is down. With this movement you will strengthen the area and get more mobility.
Strengthens the joints: With the Bulgarian squat, the ankles and knees can come out very strong, since they must support the weight of your body with the movements.
Fat burn: If you have a lot of fat located in the lower body, this exercise will be ideal because it will help you eliminate fat from the buttocks, legs and abdomen.