A 26-minute lower body workout for stronger legs and hips

Happy Sunday! I have a few quick announcements before we get into this week’s WOW (AKA Workout of the Week).

1. Some of my subscribers (and me!) have been having issues playing videos on the Substack app lately. If that’s happening to you, all you need to do is delete the app and then redownload it. Sorry for the inconvenience, but hoping this helps! If all else fails, you can open howtomove.substack.com in a browser and watch that way.

2. I spent some time last week updating my “About” page, since I have some new subscribers (hello!) and want to make it easy to figure out what’s going on around here and how to make the most of it all. Let me know if you have questions that aren’t answered there!

3. A small update that I’m dipping a toe into affiliate links, but don’t worry: It’s literally the same equipment I’ve been recommending for you since day one — the resistance bands and dumbbells from Power Systems. I use them; they’re good (my neoprene Power Systems dumbbells are at least 5 years old and looking brand new despite quite frequent use); if you need some equipment feel free to use the links in this paragraph as another way to support my work here. (But truly, no pressure!) And hopefully you, like me, appreciate that this is a way to get great equipment that doesn’t involve supporting Target or Amazon. OKAY THAT’S THAT ON THAT!!!

4. I’ll be going live on Substack this Wednesday at noon ET with Anne Marie Chakerto discuss her fascinating book LIFT: How Women Can Reclaim Their Physical Power & Transform Their Lives (did you know that Charlotte Perkins Gilman was into strength training? Yes, the Yellow Wallpaper lady!!!). Her work does such an amazing job of dismantling diet culture and the thin ideal, exposing how strength has intentionally been withheld from us, and inspiring readers to move in a way that builds strength and supports wellbeing. Great inspo to get mad and then get active. (A gentle note that LIFT is not a completely body-neutral work — Chaker is a bodybuilding competitor, which obviously involves exercising and eating for aesthetic changes — but you’ll get a ton out of it even if those parts aren’t your jam.) Hope you can join us for the chat!

5. One truly final reminder that my prices are increasing slightly on August 1, so now is a great time to upgrade your subscription if you’d like.

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Happy Sunday! Last week’s upper body workout was a hit, so I’m continuing on the split theme and bringing you a lower body–focused sequence today. As a reminder, split training can be a great way to build strength, but I think it’s also nice to have the option to focus on a particular body region if your other half is super sore, you’re dealing with an injury, or you just aren’t in the mood. So — plenty more full-body workouts to come, but expect more splits in the future as well. (Not like, legs super wide gymnast-ish splits! Unless that’s your jam, in which case, carry on, and also wow.)

This week, you just need a single medium or heavy dumbbell/kettlebell and a mat. (But all the exercises that use the dumbbell are totally fine to do as bodyweight exercises, so don’t stress if you don’t have one handy.)

A few reminders (or new pieces of information, if you’re new!):

• If you don’t have time or energy for this whole workout, you can always skip the warmup or cooldown, or only do one or two rounds of the circuit instead of all three. Make it work for you.

• You can hit pause anytime you need, including taking longer breaks between exercises or between rounds.

• We’ll do each exercise for a minute, but you may not be able to go for the whole minute (for a variety of reasons, including just lifting really heavy!). That is FINE. This is an opportunity, not a prescription. More on how heavy to lift here, if you’re interested:

Okay, let’s get going.