By Jillian Teta
I cannot take credit for this crazy-good leg workout. Legs are one of my favorite things to train, but I am the first to admit that I can get slack while training by myself. Since I am constantly trying to improve the shape of my glutes and tighten the glute-ham tie in, I hired Dan Coleman.
This workout is what he took me through this morning. I injured my calf recently, so all type of jumping and plyometric moves were out for today. Luckily (or torturously), I was able to get breathless and burning without ever leaving the ground.
This is a Rest-Based Training (RBT) style workout, which means you go through your sets, taking rest as needed. You’ll notice there is some structured rest in there, but listen to your body and take your rest! This is a quick, high volume workout. You want to aim to complete this in 20-25 minutes, but if you can’t, that is fine too and you can try to get better and better time, in subsequent workouts.
It is helpful to have a squat rack or a spotter for this workout, but you don’t need one. You’ll be loading plates onto a 45lb olympic bar.
Here is the workout:
Circuit#1:
Add 15 lb plates to each side of an olympic bar (75lbs total, adjust as needed)
3 Exercices – do 10 reps each in circuit format:
- Deadlift
- Front squats*
- Back squats
- 45-60 second rest
*Note: front squats are where the bar is over the front of your chest, back squats have the bar on your back/over your traps
Next up, Dumbbell Squats (30lb DB each hand, adjust as needed):
- 10 full squats, 10 squat pulses*
- 9 full squats, 9 squat pulses
- 8 full squats, 8 squat pulses
- 7 full squats, 7 squat pulses
- 6 full squats, 6 squat pulses
- 5 full squats, 5 squat pulses
- 4 full squats, 4 squat pulses
- 3 full squats, 3 squat pulses
- 2 full squats, 2 squat pulses
- 1 full squat, 1 squat pulse
*Pulses are where you come to the bottom of the movement and then come only a quarter of the way back up. This is designed to elicit a strong burn, to drive lactic acid accumulation, which has been shown in research to boost the release of growth hormone in the workout. This combination of full reps and pulses will have you resting quite a bit! Rest a few seconds as needed (RBT-style) and get back into it when your ready.
Whew. This workout can definitely be classified as puke-tastic. Enjoy and let us know what you think!
Related: Simple Treadmill Interval Workout
