Assessment
Try This Today
- Watch the video above for Denise Austin’s Leg Lifts demonstration.
- Holding the back of a chair, lift one leg at a time as far as you can. Do 20 lifts with each leg.
- Squeeze the buttock muscles to help you lift your leg.
- Keep your upper body stationary with your back straight.
- Adapt the exercise to suit your level of fitness. For example, you may not be able to lift your leg very high at first but may gain flexibility as you repeat the exercise over time.
Why
Adding Leg Lifts to your exercise routine can help strengthen the glutes and the backs of your thighs. Strength, or resistance, training does consistently over time may improve blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels, weight, body composition, sleep, and mood — as well as reduce the deterioration of white matter in the brain, according to a review from the American Heart Association reported in Circulation in 2023.
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