How to Make a Lower Body Workout like a Personal Trainer

As someone with formal education in exercise and physiology, I feel like I hold the secrets to make an effective, efficient workout. I am always happy to share tips to friends and family to help them make the most of their workouts, so I decided it was time I start sharing these same tips with you. After all, as a modern millennial woman, you have a lot going on so your workout needs to fit into your schedule and actually help you achieve your health and wellness goals.

So in this blog I am going to break down how you can make a lower body workout like a personal trainer would.

Step 1: Understanding Your Energy Systems

When you begin a workout your body has a couple different energy stores ready to support your workout. Many of you will likely know that carbs give you quick energy, fat stores energy, and protein helps you build muscle (and if you don’t you can check out this blog).

But our energy systems are much more complicated than that. To spare you from having to go down memory lane and recall your high school biology class, I’ll just let you know how I think about energy systems when I am putting together workouts.

Energy System 1: Quick/Explosive Energy. High power, but short-term source

The first system that your body will use in a workout is an explosive energy source. The energy converts quickly and helps us accelerate from not moving, to sprinting or jumping.

This energy system can be used to start your workout with exercises like box jumps, kettlebell swings, or even a sprinting workout on the treadmill.

However, because this energy source can be accessed and offers such a quick source of energy, it also runs out very quickly. This is why Olympic sprinters can go all out and sprint 100m in less than 10 seconds. This is an incredible feat, but not sustainable over long distances.

When I am creating a workout, I am not doing box jumps before my squat workouts, because I actually want to save this energy so I can start my workout with compound movements.

Which leads me to the next energy source.

Energy System 2: Powerful Energy. Medium power, medium source.

The second energy source is great for focusing your energy on the most important exercises of your workout. In the example of lower body workouts, I always make sure to plan squats, deadlifts, or leg press at the start of my workout.

This is because this is when I have the most of this powerful energy. I’ll be able to lift heavier, with better technique because I have saved this energy source for my compound lifts.

With this energy source, you typically want to take rest that is anywhere from 90s – 3 minutes. This allows the body and brain to recover, recuperate some of that energy, and be ready to give that same energy to your next set.

This energy helps you to lift heavy, so if you have goals to lift heavier weights, in the 4-8 rep range, then you really do want to put these at the beginning of your workout.

If you are planning a workout where you don’t want to lift too heavy, are going to take shorter breaks, and are going to be doing higher rep ranges (9+ reps/set), then you’ll benefit from the final energy source.

Energy Source 3: Endurance Energy. Low power, long-lasting source.

The final energy source is most commonly associated with exercises like long-distance running, swimming, or cycling. This energy source is incredible because it can last hours and helps marathoners and ultra-marathoners do the same exercise repeatedly for hours on end.

When you are planning a workout, you can trust that this energy source is always there. It is the final energy source to kick in and will help carry you to the end of your workout. This is why I typically save exercises with higher rep ranges, or my cardio for the end of my workout. I always know I’ll have the energy for it, and if I don’t then I am pushing beyond my current fitness level (and that’s okay!).

Energy Source Recap

To recap this section:

Energy Source 1: this is explosive energy. Great for the beginning of your workout when you need the most power for a low-rep, explosive exercise like box jumps, kettlebell swings, or sprinting. Rep ranges are low and rest required is anywhere between 3-5 minutes.
Energy Source 2: powerful energy. This is great for the beginning and middle section of your workout. Exercises are multi-joint, higher weight, lower rep range like squats, deadlifts, or leg presses. Rep ranges are between 4-8, rest is anywhere between 90s to 3 minutes, and weight should be challenging.
Energy Source 3: endurance energy. This is excellent energy to be called on at any point in your workout if you are lifting lighter weight, doing a repetitive exercise like running, cycling, or high rep exercises. Rep ranges are 9+, rest can be 0s – 1 minute, and weight can be anything that you can do safely and correctly for 9+ reps.

Step 2: Choose Your Exercises

Now that you understand the type of energy you have going into the workout, it is time to choose your exercises. You will need to be clear on how many exercises you can fit into the time you have available, and your goal for the workout because that will change how long each set of each exercise will take.

I’ll break down exercise selection by goal and type of exercise.

Types of Exercises

There are a few types of exercises that personal trainers think of when they are designing a workout. They are:

Plyometric exercises: these are exercises that are great for our first energy source. These are explosive exercises that are great for training the elasticity of our muscles. This makes them stronger and more resilient to fast changes in direction. Athletes always include this type of exercise in their workouts, especially in fast or contact sports where they need resiliency and fast reaction times to be successful and avoid injury. These are things like agility ladders, box jumps, medicine ball slams, and kettlebell swings.
Compound movements: a compound movement is any exercise that moves more than 1 joint to complete the exercise. For your lower body workout, these are squats, lunges, and deadlifts and all of their variations.
Accessory movements: these are exercises that are typically smaller, and are great to add to a workout to help strengthen, correct, or define certain areas of your body. This would be your quad extension, hamstring curls, calf raises, and glute kickbacks. They target one muscle.
Isometric exercises: isometric is a fancy word that just means you are holding a contraction. These exercises are great for building endurance in specific muscles and are a great way to drain your energy at the end of a workout. Wall sits, planks, and dead hangs are all great examples of isometric exercises.

Exercise Selection by Goal

I have spoken about the different training goals in another blog, so if you haven’t read that one, I recommend you do so you can understand some of the logic behind this section.

Setting a goal for your training will help keep you focused on why you are there, and will also provide direction on what you should be doing while you are there.

For example, if you want to get stronger, ie. train your body to lift more weight, then you you’re doing to be focusing on compound and accessory movements because they are the most efficient options to help you achieve your goal. With that said, you’ll have to figure out how many exercises you can fit into the time you have available.

Here’s a scenario to explain what I mean:

Scenario 1: Strength training with 1 hour to workout

You have one hour to exercise in the morning before work. Your goal is to get stronger and make sure that every exercise helps support that goal. To create the most efficient and effective workout possible, you would:

Start with a compound movement. In this example, you decide to start with barbell back squats. You’ll be lifting somewhat heavy, for about 5-6 reps per set, taking 2 minutes of rest between sets. Your goal is to do 5 sets. Knowing this, your first exercise will likely take the first 15 minutes of your workout.
Follow up with 2 circuits of accessory movements. The weight will be heavy on the first circuit of 2 exercises, so rest times will be 90s. The first circuit will take you another 15 minutes. Followed by your second circuit of 2 exercises, that will be more corrective, and therefore lighter with a shorter rest period of 30s. This section of your workout take 10 minutes.
You have the remaining 20 minutes to cool, stretch, change and be on your way to work.

In this scenario, the exercises you chose all supported your goal of getting stronger with just 5 exercises. Despite this not seeming like a lot, because of how you designed your workout, you know that every rep and set was chosen to help you get stronger.

Scenario 2: General fitness with 30 minutes available

In this second scenario you are pressed for time, but your goal is to simply move your body and ensure you get a good 30 minutes of exercise into your day. Here’s how I would structure this workout:

Still start with compound movements, but lighter weights, slightly higher reps, and work in supersets to maximize your time. This means you would do a set of squats, followed by a set of single-leg deadlifts. Rest time is around 90s. This first set only takes you 10 minutes.
For your second and third set, you will follow the same format, choosing two exercises that you can do with no rest between them, but a 90s rest after both are complete. The second set you choose lunges and hamstring curls, and the third set you choose a wall sit and plank. Each superset takes about 10 minutes.

In this scenario, you actually do more exercises, but because of the way you chose your exercises and how you combined sets, you were able to workout the whole lower body, and fit in a core exercise within your 30 minutes.

Step 3: Put it Together like a Pro

Now that you understand the energy systems your body has available, the types of exercises, and how to select exercises based on your goal and the time you have available, you are ready to put together a workout plan for yourself.

Here’s a quick recap of how to make a workout plan like personal trainer:

Start with compound movements that will require the most powerful energy source. Be sure to consider the time you have available and your training goal to ensure you are choosing the
Follow up with accessory exercises that require slightly less powerful energy and will either strengthen, define or correct the areas of your body that you are working on that day. After a squat you may want to strengthen your quads, so you choose lunges and leg extensions as your accessory exercises
If you have time, finish your workout by draining the final energy source with a cardio finisher. This isn’t always necessary, but if you have the time, it is a great way to make the most of your workout.

If you follow these simple principles when you are creating a workout, you will have designed your workout the same way a personal trainer does.

Bonus: Warm-ups, Stretching, Core and Corrective Exercises

You may have noticed that I didn’t really talk about warm-ups, stretching, core or corrective exercises. These are all really important elements of a well-designed workout and all great personal trainers will include these in your workouts.

For the purpose of this article, I wanted to focus on the meat of a workout; the exercises that will really help you achieve your fitness goals. However, for those of you who have reached the end of this blog, I’d like to create a more complete list so you can really see how I think about the flow of a workout.

Here’s how I organize my workouts, including these additional elements:

Warm-up: these are slow, typically bodyweight movements that help lubricate the joints, warm-up the muscles and prepare your body for the exercises you are about to do.
Compound movements: these are my key exercises that I am really trying to improve upon, and therefore give most of my time and energy to.
Accessory/corrective exercises: if I notice anything feels weak, or something isn’t moving properly, I’ll devote the middle section of my workout to exercises that will ultimately improve my technique in my compound movements.
Cardio: I like to finish the main section of my workout with cardio to “empty the tank”.
Stretching: After cardio I always stretch, paying special attention to the muscles that were worked the hardest in the workout.
Core: Finally, I finish with core. I do my core exercises after stretching because of something I learned while studying to become a personal trainer. The quote I remember is “you have to take the breaks off before you can drive”, which may seem like a weird analogy, but it is mainly referring to how the body tightens during a workout. In order to train the core properly, you need to make sure you can direct your energy towards your core. If your hip flexors are tight, they’ll take over in a core exercise. So I always finish my workouts with core.

I may also dedicate a whole day to mobility and corrective exercises if I have the time or availability in my schedule. Sometimes it is nice to just show up and move slowly, and not feel the need to really push myself. Truthfully, I typically end up more tired and sweaty after my corrective workouts than I do after my big strength workouts.

I hope you’ve found this helpful! If you’d prefer this type of content in a different format, like video, audio or images, please let me know by leaving a comment below. I want to make sure I am delivering this information in the best way possible so that it is as accessible as possible to you.