Lower-body resistance training exercises: Knee dips and knee lift

Lower-body resistance training exercises: Knee dips and knee lift

By Sheri Colberg, Ph.D., FACSM

#3: Knee dips 

Equipment needed: (optional) exercise mat

Main muscles worked: quads, hamstrings, gluteals

Directions:

• Get into a sprinter’s position facing forward as though you were at the starting line of a race, with one leg forward and one behind and your hands on the floor in front of you.
• Bend both legs as much as is comfortable, bringing your knees as close to the floor as possible without touching.
• Push your body upward until your legs are almost straight without locking your knees.
• Switch the position of your legs and repeat.

 Starting Position

Midway Position

© 2006 and 2007 by Sheri Colberg and Patrick Ochs

#4: Knee lift

Equipment needed: dumbbells or resistance band

Main muscles worked: quads, hip flexors, abdominals

Directions:

• Lie on your back with your knees bent.
• Bend at your hip until your bent knees are positioned straight up over your hips at about a 90-degree angle.
• Tighten your abdominal muscles to hold your lower back flat against the floor.
• Lift your head slightly off the floor and position the resistance band across the front of your thighs, just above the knees.
• Holding the band in your hands, stretch it by pulling your hands out more to the sides.
• Pull your knees in toward your chest against the band to increase the resistance against your lower abs and the front of your thighs.
• Slowly return to the starting position.
• If holding your head slightly off the floor during this exercise is too hard, relax your neck muscles and rest your head on the floor.

  

© 2006 and 2007 by Sheri Colberg and Patrick Ochs

In two weeks, this column will give you some additional lower-body resistance training exercises. For more information, consult The 7 Step Diabetes Fitness Plan: Living Well and Being Fit with Diabetes, No Matter Your Weight by Sheri Colberg and The Science of Staying Young by John E. Morley and Sheri Colberg (2007).  Also, visit her web site at www.shericolberg.com for additional articles and access to her fitness blog.