ALL LEVELS / quad strength workout / 25 minutes
Equipment: Weight plate, dumbbells, hack squat machine & leg extension machine
Temperatures are up, and shorts are out. Suddenly, everyone remembers the importance of leg day. Whether your year-long work is paying off or not, it’s important to note that strong quads are good for much more than just crushing it during shorts season. They help with strength, stability, balance, and pretty much every lower-body movement you do.
To help you keep them strong this season, we bring you this quad strength workout. It consists of 5 exercises, 8 to 12 reps, for 3 rounds. You get 1 minute to rest between exercises and rounds. Total session time comes to around 25 minutes.
- Heel elevated goblet squat
- Bulgarian split squat
- Hack squat
- Dumbbell walking lunges
- Leg extensions
Let’s strengthen your quads!
WORKOUT SETUP
- 5 exercises
- 8 to 12 reps
- 3 rounds
- 1-min rest between rounds and exercises
- 25 minutes
- Equipment: Weight plate, dumbbells, hack squat machine & leg extension machine
WORKOUT EXERCISE LIST
3 rounds
1 – HEEL ELEVATED GOBLET SQUAT
8 to 12 reps
- Place your heels on an elevated surface, such as weight plates or a wedge, and stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Hold a dumbbell vertically against your chest, keeping your hands underneath the top of the weight throughout the movement.
- Squat down slowly, keeping your core tight and your torso upright.
- Lower until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor, then push through your feet to return to the starting position.
- Repeat.
2 – BULGARIAN SPLIT SQUAT
8 to 12 reps
- Find yourself a step, bench or any other contraption that you can rest a foot on. It needs to be about knee height.
- Get into a forward lunge position with your torso upright, core braced, and hips square to your body, with your back foot elevated on the bench. Your leading leg should be half a meter or so in front of the bench.
- Lower until your front thigh is almost horizontal, keeping your knee in line with your foot. Don’t let your front knee pass beyond your toes.
- Drive up through your front foot back to the starting position, again keeping your movements controlled.
- Repeat 8 to 12 times, then swap to the other leg.
3 – HACK SQUAT
8 to 12 reps
- Stand on the machine with the cushions over your shoulders.
- Adopt a foot stance similar to the one you use for regular squats.
- Engage your core so that you feel the cushion pushing against your body.
- This machine is perfect for helping you squat to great depth.
- Slowly descend until you feel like losing either core stability or the contact of your pelvis with the cushion.
- Repeat.
4 – DUMBBELL WALKING LUNGES
8 to 12 reps
- Stand tall, holding a dumbbell in each hand at your sides.
- Step forward with one leg and lower your body until both knees are bent at about 90 degrees.
- Keep your chest upright and your core engaged throughout the movement.
- Push through your front heel to bring your back leg forward into the next step.
- Continue walking forward in a controlled manner, alternating legs with each rep.
5 – LEG EXTENSIONS
8 to 12 reps
- Sit up straight on the leg extension machine.
- Adjust the pad so it sits on your lower leg and just above your feet.
- Extend your legs straight out in front of you, making sure you’re using your quads to power the movement.
- Then slowly lower them back to the starting position.
- Repeat.
After this quad workout, you might want to sit down. While you’re at it, pick your next session below:
- 20-min shoulder superset workout
- 35-min hybrid conditioning workout
- 35-min lower-body workout
- 40/20 interval strength workout
- 40-min biceps and triceps superset workout
- 45-min AMRAP Hybrid workout
- 300-reps metabolic strength workout
- 30-min chest and back superset workout
- 25-min Smith machine upper-body workout
- 30-min kettlebell pyramid workout
- 20-min shoulder and legs workout
- 30-min upper-body strength workout
