Whether you’re training to get fitter and stronger in general, or using your workouts to help boost your performance in a certain sport, leg-focused sessions should be part of your routine for several reasons.
This 20-minute leg workout from fitness trainer Kat Boley, primarily focuses on your quads, but the variety of exercises involved mean that the benefits of the session extend well beyond stronger thighs.
The classic compound lifts like squats and lunges used in the workouts are also great for increasing your core strength, raising your heart rate and firing up your metabolism. Try doing the workout once a week along with other sessions targeting your upper body and you’ll quickly feel the increase in your functional strength.
All you need to do the workout are dumbbells — Boley is using 15lbs weights, but if you have a set of the best adjustable dumbbells you can quickly change the weight to suit each exercise.
The session is suitable for all fitness levels and if you are struggling with any of the moves you can always use lighter weights, or do them as bodyweight exercises.
Watch Kat Boley’s dumbbell leg workout
The workout involves doing three rounds of five exercises. In each circuit you do 12 reps of a move before moving quickly onto the next one, then take a one minute break at the end of a round. For each exercise do 12 reps in total — for moves where you alternate sides you’ll do six on each.
As you might expect from a leg workout that focuses on the quads, squats and lunges make up most of the moves in the session. Here are the five exercises you’ll be doing:
- Split squat
- Side-to-side squat
- Standing straight leg kick
- Heels-elevated squat
- Curtsey lunge
Boley demonstrates each move on a separate slide in her Instagram post, so you can watch them through before you start. Throughout the session, move with control as you complete your reps to make sure you’re engaging the right muscles.
The only move in the workout that isn’t done with weights is the standing straight leg kick, which might look pretty easy compared with the other exercises. Having done the move myself in the past I’d recommend not underestimating it, however — do it slowly with good form and you’ll be surprised how much your muscles start burning.
Doing this workout regularly is great for your lower body and it will pair well with an upper body workout in a weekly routine. Give this 20-minute workout for your shoulders, back and chest a go to round out your training, or if you prefer to do everything in one, try this 15-minute full-body dumbbell workout.
More from Tom's Guide
- Forget weights — you just need 6 minutes to reduce stiffness and boost your mobility with this equipment-free workout
- You don’t need the gym to build strength, try this 10-minute kettlebell workout instead
- No, not sit-ups — here's the one abs exercise you should do to strengthen your core without weights
