Alright party people, today I’m sharing another short, sharp lower body workout that you can do anywhere, anytime in just 20 minutes – no equipment required, are you in?

You guys know how how much I love, love, love my lower body workouts, The lower body is where your powerhouse muscles are (I’m looking at you quads, glutes and hamstrings) which means you get a serious bang for your workout butt, I mean buck 😉

Your heart rate will be pumping, endorphin’s flowing ah how I love that post workout rush!

So, here’s what we are going to do –

5 basic exercises – Glute bridge – Step Ups – Reverse Lunge – Squats and Jump Squats we will do 8 reps of each exercise then take one full minutes rest and repeat the entire sequence through for a total of 3 rounds, got it?

Nothing complicated, basic movements done with good form for a short but effective lower body workout.

We will move from one exercise to the next with minimal/no rest in between then once we have completed all reps of each exercises we will take 1 delicious minute of rest and recovery – catch your breath, grab a drink then we get straight back into it and repeat for a total of 3 rounds, deal?

Now, for those of you who are just getting started or may not have access to a gym of any kind of weights you can absolutely do with workout without any added weight and let me tell you, you will be feeling it. Your quads and glutes will be burning by the final round and you will definitely be feeling the effects of it tomorrow I assure you.

Body-weight workouts are great for those who are just starting out and they are also really effective in checking form which is so, so important

For our fully functioning/more advanced lifters who might be looking to make things a little more challenging by all means, feel free to add some weights – grab yourself a weapon of choice – a set of dumbbells, a barbell, kettlebells, some resistance bands or any combination you like. Make sure you choose something appropriate for your strength but, don’t be afraid to challenge yourself.

Although, we want quality not quantity, always! Never compromise your form, ever! If your form starts to fail your done, got it?

Take your time, concentrate, focus and breathe through each and every exercise. You are strong, you are amazing, you have big energy! You’ve totally got this!

And because nothing makes a workout challenge more fun than getting a buddy to join you. Why not grab your BFF or a family member or your fave workmate and have them join you, power in numbers baby!

Don’t forget to come back and let me know how you did once you’re done. Either leave me a message in the comments below, or you can give me a shout on the Facebook page or tag me (@EmSwanston) on Twitter , or Instagram (@emsswanston) . I mean it, I wanna hear how you did!

Ok enough chit chat time to work –

20 Minute Lower Body Workout

As always make sure you are nice an warm before you start your workout – Run on the spot, do jumping jacks, jump rope, dance around your living room, anything to get you warm then it’s time to get serious.

Finish with a nice little cool down and stretch, maybe take a walk or something anything to help bring your heart rate down. Finish with a few of your fave stretches. Please don’t skip the stretch people, its like dessert for the body.

Now for our post workout refuel –  Smoothies are a great option for your post workout refuel, they are so quick and easy to prepare and a great option for those of us who don’t have much of an appetite post workout.

It’s so important to nourish and re-energize your body post workout, you want to make sure  you give those muscles some fuel so that they can rebuild and repair themselves after working so hard.

Today I thought I would share another bonus smoothie recipe for us to enjoy because I’m seriously obsessed with them, I just can not get enough.

How does a nice tall, ice cold, delicious, nutritious, light, fresh, lemon berry cheesecake smoothie sound?

This bad boy will help refuel and re-energize that beautiful body of yours. It also happens to be vegan, gluten free and paleo friendly but, most importantly, it’s downright delicious.

Seriously you guys this smoothie tastes like straight up dessert and I know you are going to just love, love, love it!

Feel free to add a scoop of your fave protein powder and/or a scoop of Great Lakes Gelatin for an extra boost of protein.

Lemon Berry Cheesecake Smoothie {Vegan, Gluten Free & Paleo friendly}
Makes 1 ice cold, creamy, dreamy, subtly sweet, delicious, nutritious lemon berry smoothie that tastes like straight up dessert!

Ingredients –

1/3 cup coconut or Greek style yogurt

1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or milk of choice)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest

1/2 cup of mixed berries (fresh of frozen will work – I used frozen)

1/2 an overripe banana (preferably pre-frozen)

1/2-1  cup of ice – more or less to taste

Optional but recommended for serving –

Coconut chips

Freeze dried strawberries

Chia seeds

Lemon zest

Method –

1 – Place all ingredients into a blender and process until smooth and creamy.

2 – Top with coconut, freeze dried strawberries, chia seeds and lemon zest if desired.

Enjoy xoxo

Don’t forget to give me a shout out when you’re done – hit me up in the comments below via the Facebook page on Twitter or on Instagram

Now go;

have yourself a killer day xoxo

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Question of the day –

When it comes to smoothies tell me, are you team plain Jane or team toppings?? Me?! I’m totally team toppings, 100%

Feel free to share recipes or leave links to recipes in the comments below and please for the love of all that is good in this world when you do make this smoothie (or any of the recipes you find on this blog of mine) go ahead and snap a pic and share it either on the Facebook page, or tag me on twitter or Instagram. Sharing is caring remember.

Do it, do it You know you want to 🙂

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