The 💯 Leg Workout (MOST EFFECTIVE!)

If you want a leg workout that is going to be most effective at helping you to build bigger legs, this is the one. Continuing on in the 100 workout series, we are hitting the quads, glutes, hamstrings and calves in one efficient routine that is going to help you to build muscle in your legs.

What’s up, guys? Jeff Cavaliere, Athleanx. com. What you re about to watch is going to be the most effective leg workout you ve ever done. How do I know that?

Because I’m going to get you to focus on effective reps, which are  the very ones that Arnold himself said lead to the most muscle growth. Well, what if  there’s a way for us to get to these more effective reps more quickly? In other words,  with less wasted effort along the way. Well, that’s where the 100 workout series steps in  and in this case, the 100-leg workout. See here, we’re going to hit both the anterior and posterior  chain quads and glutes and hamstrings, and we’re going to do it with our first exercise up here  and it’s the Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat.

And as is the case in all the 100-workout  series, we’re going to kick off this workout with a set we call the Ignition Set. And  in this case, the goal is to choose a weight that will cause you to fail in the  eight-rep range. Now it’s in this ignition set, they will likely be reminded of just how  easy those first few repetitions are in a set, even one that goes to eight. But they  serve a very important point in this workout. They’re going to set the stage for  those more stimulus inducing, growth inducing repetitions that will come after this point.

And it’s at this point that I actually take my first rest-pause, just 15 seconds rest and now  the workout begins. Because that ignition set only served to pre fatigue the muscles to  prime them for what’s going to happen next. And what happens next is pretty damn grueling. Your job here is to focus on just that one leg at this point and try to get 15 effective  reps. In other words, every rep that occurs from this point forward is going to count  towards those 15.

How you get there, well, that’s up to you. Because you’re likely going to  have to rest a few times along the way and that’s fine as long as you keep this rest to a minimum  at just 15 seconds each time, keep chipping away until you’ve reached your effective rep total of  15. And remember to hit your other leg with your ignition set and get to those 15 reps as well. Now, for the next exercise, we’re going to shift our focus to the posterior chain and get a  little bit of a much-needed reprieve for the quads. And at this point, the exercise of choice  is going to be the Barbell RDL.

And once again, we’re going to choose a weight that causes  failure, but this time at the 12 rep range. Now, the key to the Barbell RDL, is to make sure  that you’re just softening your knees enough to allow the bar to drop just below knee level,  hinge back at the waist to do this properly. All too many times I see people bend forward at  the waist, allowing the bar to drift forward. That could put some unnecessary strain in your  low back that just doesn’t have to be there. Let the bar ride your knees on the way down and stay  close to your body and do that through the proper hinge.

Now, at this point, I want to take that  short, brief 15 second rest once again. Remember, don’t go too far away because you have to pick  this thing back up in 15 seconds and get rolling once again. Due to the fact that we have a higher  ignition set rep goal of 12, we’re going to also have a higher effective rep total of 20. Remember  to keep chipping away and rest-pause fashion until you hit all 20 effective repetitions. And at this point now we shift our focus back to the anterior chain with one of my favorite  exercises of all time barbell or dumbbell and it’s the Dumbbell Reverse Lunge.

And again, the  dumbbells are the option of choice here because I can easily dump them when I fail. I don’t  have to worry about getting under a bar or back under a bar in order to do this quickly. So, I have my dumbbells and I go alternating fashion right and left leg and at this point I  have to admit it is damn brutal. But once again, like the first exercise, the ignition set rep goal  is eight. Now, once I’ve reached that failure, mark, I get into that 15 second rest-pause as  always, and I get myself right back into the exercise again to start repping out.

The effective  rep total once again is 15, like it was in the first exercise. Remembering to do it on both the  right and left leg. A little additional pro tip for those that find balance challenging on this  exercise, think about stepping back and out to widen your base of support. All too often people  step in line with their feet and that doesn’t give you a chance to balance properly. And what I  also do is take a little bit of a twist over that front knee, which will also give you additional  support and balance when you need it the most.

And that brings us to the fourth exercise of  the workout and this time back to the posterior chain for the Cable Pull Through. And the great  thing about this variation is that it’s going to actually make sure you get the hinge right. So if  you struggle with the hinge on the Barbell RDL, this is going to make sure you get it right  potentially even when you’re most fatigued here. You’re just going to step far enough  away and let the hands drop back in place to take your body back into that hinge. As long as you’re just unlocking it the hips and allowing them to drop back, the hinge is  going to happen.

Now, when you drive forward, the goal is simply just to use your glutes  to squeeze you forward and not think at all about pulling on the ropes. My target ignition  set number once again is going to be 12. So, you’re picking that weight that causes  the failure at the 12-rep range and again, it leads right into that first rest-pause. And as  I come out of the rest-pause, what am I trying to target once again? Twenty effective reps.

Continue  to chip away until you’ve reached all 20. And if you’ve been counting all along at this point,  you’ve got 70 effective reps performed. But if you’re going for 100, that means you’ve still  got 30 left. We’ve got some work to do. And for that I’m going to throw one unique exercise  at you that’s going to hit the quads in a way you’ve never felt before.

It’s actually called the  Spanish Squat, but it’s oftentimes done unloaded, or at least with nothing other than a band. But we can make it a lot more difficult, we do that by holding a set of dumbbells as well. And what we do here, guys, is anchor the band around the back of your knees and you want one  that provides pretty good resistance. And you step back to the point where you’re resisting  leg extension. In other words, this is a way to do resistant leg extension in a closed chain  fashion.

Now, if you don’t have access to a band, you want to perform a leg extension, you guys know  how I feel about that, I don’t really like it. But if your knees are okay and you could do it,  then go ahead and slide that into the spot. But for me, I’d rather see you do this. And  with the additional weight, we challenge the squat portion of this. But more importantly, the  band is resisting that terminal knee extension that really will light up your quads.

The  effective total is eight. And believe me, if you do this exercise right, you’re not going  to require a really heavy set of dumbbells as long as you have a good resistance on that band. And with eight the ignition set target, remember the effective rep total here is going to be 15. See if you can grind your way through these and I mean grind your way through these because these  are going to burn you up like never before. And of course, no leg workout will be complete  without working on that portion, you know, below the knees, and here we’re going  to focus on our calves.

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