Try the surrenders exercise if you’re looking for an excellent exercise to work your lower body muscles. This workout is often underestimated because it looks like a simple exercise of kneeling and standing. But wait until you attempt; that’s when you will know the meaning behind its name.
Surrenders exercise is a workout that will leave you sore but in all the right ways.
The surrenders exercise takes advantage of your vulnerable position (you cannot use your hands to support yourself) to work hard on your muscle. This exercise will tone your butt, core, and quads when done with a proper form.
You can also add some weight to work your upper body muscles, but starting without the weights is good if you’re a beginner.
We highly recommend using a mat for this exercise to prevent injuries and do your workout on a comfortable surface.
HOW TO DO SURRENDERS EXERCISE PROPERLY
- Stand on a mat with feet hip-wide apart, hands behind your head. Ensure to keep your elbows out, core engaged, chest up, back straight, and gluteus tight.
- Kneel with your left knee first, and then bring down the right knee.
- Bring your left foot forward, followed by the right foot to bring you to a squatting position. Ensure that you don’t straighten your legs fully to keep the tension in your thighs.
- This counts as one rep. Count ten reps by kneeling first with your left leg, then switch to starting with your right leg and complete ten reps.
- If you’d want a more challenging move when doing the surrenders exercise, you can hold dumbbells in each hand by your side when kneeling. Press the dumbbells overhead as you push your way back up to the starting position.
WHAT MUSCLES DO SURRENDERS EXERCISE WORK
The surrenders exercise primarily targets your glutes, quads, and core. It also targets your hamstrings and calves.
GLUTES
Your butt is like a car’s engine, delivering power to your legs. The better shape your butt is in, the more efficiently you can walk, run, and jump.
So if you want to improve your performance in these activities—and who doesn’t?—you’ll want to start working your butt with surrenders exercise.
QUADS
Quads, short for quadriceps, extend the knee joint and keep it straight. They are found at the front of your thigh. These muscles are among the biggest muscles in your body. Quads are involved in walking, jumping, running, and kicking. In addition, they extend your knee and flex your hip.
Strong quadriceps will help you walk, run, jump higher, and lift more weight. They can help stabilize the knee when extended, reducing the risk of falls. Training your quadriceps will also improve running performance and balance as you age.
Strong quads can also reduce the risk of injury because they help stabilize your knee joint.
CORE
The core is the muscles you need to stabilize your spine and pelvis. You use them in many basic movements like sitting, standing, walking, and running. They also significantly impact how you move during exercise and sports.
While we commonly think of the six-pack as the core, it’s only part of it.
HAMSTRINGS
A hamstring is a group of three muscles located behind the thigh. These muscles help you extend your leg and allow you to bend your knee and move your hips.
Working your hamstring is a great way to reduce the risk of injury. When these muscles are strong, they can handle strain from other activities and movements. Additionally, working your hamstrings help improve your overall stability,and mobility in your legs, hip, and butt area.
CALVES
The calf is the lower part of the leg. It comprises two muscles, the gastrocnemius and the soleus muscle. The gastrocnemius is a large muscle that originates at the back of the knee and attaches to the heel. The soleus is a minor muscle between the tibia and fibula below your knee joint.
The calf muscles handle plantar flexion (pointing your toes), inversion (turning your feet inward), and eversion (turning your feet outward). They also aid in balancing out and stabilizing movements performed by other muscles, such as squats, lunges, and jumps. When you don’t work your calves, they will become weaker than those surrounding muscles putting you at risk for injury and pain.
Muscular calves will help you increase endurance, stability, and mobility,
SURRENDERS EXERCISE BENEFITS
HELP IMPROVE BALANCE AND COORDINATION
Increasing your balance and coordination will help you stay strong for longer and make it easier to stay active daily.
Better balance means an overall improvement in muscle strength and flexibility. It prevents injuries like running, playing sports, or just moving around during the day.
A good balance is also a factor in maintaining perfect mental health by helping ease depression, anxiety, and stress.
IMPROVES YOUR CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH
The surrenders exercise is an excellent workout that keeps your heart pumping. This helps increase oxygen delivery hence boosting blood flow. Also, this exercise helps shed fat, especially around your belly, which is excellent for your heart.
STRENGTHENS YOUR CORE
Having a strong core increases spinal and pelvic stability hence leading to better balance and posture.
In addition, you can improve your athletic performance and breathing and decrease the risk of injury if you work your core regularly.
LEADS TO STRONG LEGS
Surrenders exercise is an excellent exercise for your legs. This workout exercises your quads, hamstrings, hip flexors, and calves, resulting in strong legs.
Having solid legs helps maintain body symmetry and improves body stability and coordination. In addition, strong legs help prevent pain and injury and also improve functional movements.
TONES YOUR BUTT
You don’t have to go for long runs or lift heavy weights to get a great butt workout. You can do the surrenders exercise to tighten and tone those glutes.
With a firm butt, you enhance your athletic performance, reduce the risk of injuries, eliminate back pain, and boost your sex appeal.
ALTERNATIVES TO SURRENDERS EXERCISE
STEP-UP EXERCISE
A step-ups workout is a functional exercise that strengthens your hips, quads, hamstrings, and glutes while burning calories.
Steps:
- Stand in front of a stool, box, or stairs.
- Keep your chest and shoulders back and down as you place one foot on the stool sending all your weight into that foot. Keep your back straight and core engaged throughout the exercise.
- Push through the heel of that standing foot to bring yourself up onto the stool—you’ll end up standing on top of it with both feet firmly planted.
- Step back down, keep that same foot on the ground, and repeat the exercise with the other foot in front. Repeat this until you complete your desired reps.
SURRENDERS EXERCISE MISTAKES TO AVOID
NOT MAINTAINING PROPER FORM
Maintaining proper form is crucial for every exercise. Good form helps ensure you get the full benefit of your workout.
It’s a little like ensuring you’re using all your muscles when exercising. If you don’t have good form, there’s a chance that some parts of your muscle groups will get short-changed.
In addition, maintaining proper form as you work out reduces your risk for injury.
USING MOMENTUM
A common mistake beginners make is using momentum when moving up and down. Instead, it would be best if you were not moving up and down fast; instead, focus on controlling each rep and lowering yourself slowly and smoothly.
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