The clichés are all true: “The squat is the king of all exercises,” and for athletes, “You can’t fire a cannon from a canoe.” That’s why the staple of this workout is the muscle-hungry squat. Plus, we’ve added two exercises to train the hams, calves and glutes—where you get power. Training your lower body, especially the back of the legs, is unquestionably the single most productive part of any functional exercise program. However, it remains the one session that most guys wimp out of doing well.
Do the workout as outlined to make you stronger and a better athlete. For the front squat, do two to three heavy sets of six to eight reps, resting 90 seconds between sets. The step-up and supine hip extension with leg curl (SHELC) exercise are performed in alternating sets, 15 to 20 reps (each leg for the step-up), for two sets each, with no rest.
THE MOVES
1. FRONT SQUAT
Place the bar across your shoulders. If it’s too uncomfortable, use a lighter weight.
2. STEP-UPDo not allow the trailing leg to touch the bench. Lower yourself under control, pause briefly at the bottom and repeat. If it’s too challenging, try it with just your body weight.
3. SHELC
This move targets the hamstrings, which have two primary functions: flexing the knee (as in leg curl exercises or the recovery phase of sprinting) and extending the hip (as in Romanian deadlifts and back extensions, or the push-off phase of sprinting). The SHELC hits both those functions at the same time.
THREE LEG BREAKTHROUGH TRICKS
1. For squats, you may have been taught to not allow the knees to go beyond the toes, or to not bend your knees past 90 degrees. However, a study from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research reports that though these restrictions may decrease knee joint stress by about 25 percent, they increase torque on the lower back by over 1,000 percent when squatting. A full range of motion—a deeper squat—can help you avoid lower-back injury.
2. Get off the machines. Single-joint fixed-axis machines, like the leg extension, have no place in a solid program anymore. An athlete needs to train in a three-dimensional environment, controlling the body in all planes of motion simultaneously. That means squats, lunges and step-ups all give you more bang for your buck.
3. All good lower-body training programs need to include unilateral exercises, meaning one limb at a time. This helps to ensure optimal development, and protects against any left-right imbalances. Moves like step-ups, dumbbell split squats, one-leg stability ball curls and lunges ensure your lower-body muscles get big evenly.
