If you’re looking for inspiration for your next leg day, look no further than country music star Carrie Underwood. The singer’s sculpted pins are arguably as famous as her iconic voice, but how does she get in such great shape?
Underwood has been training with personal trainer Eve Overland for years, and she’s known to go on tour with the star to help her fit in her workouts on the road.
As a runner, I’m less concerned about my moves on the dancefloor — but strong legs are essential if I want to run further and faster. To find out more, I tried Carrie Underwood’s leg burnout. Read on to find out what happened.
What is the workout?
The workout, shared on Overland’s Instagram, can be added to the end of your strength workout as a leg day finisher.
It involves four different squat variations, and all you’ll need to complete it is a set of the best adjustable dumbbells. When it comes to selecting the right weight for you and your body, remember the exercise should feel challenging, but not impossible, by the final few reps.
You’ll perform all of the reps of each exercise before moving on to the next one, with as little rest in between as possible. This keeps the muscles in the lower body under tension for longer, helping you build muscle.
Here’s the exercises involved:
- Goblet squat with pulse, 12 reps: To do a goblet squat, hold a dumbbell with both hands in front of your chest and stand with your feet slightly wider than hip width apart, with your feet turned outwards. Engage your core and your glutes and lower down into a squat, keeping a 90-degree bend in your knees. From here, raise slightly to a standing position, pause, then lower back down into a squat. That’s one rep.
- Knee to stand with a kneel to low squat, 10 reps: To do this exercise, hold the dumbbell in both hands against your chest and start in a kneeling position. From here, lower your bodyweight back and sit your glutes on your heels. Reverse the movement, and then step one foot, then the other, into a low squat. Without standing up, step back into a kneeling position. That’s one rep.
- Sumo squat with a single arm upright row, 10 reps on each side: Start in a sumo squat position, with your legs wider than hip-width apart, holding a dumbbell in one hand. Perform a squat, keeping your core engaged. As you stand up, squeeze your glutes and lift the dumbbell up to your torso, completing a single-arm upright row. After ten reps, switch the dumbbell to your opposite hand.
- Dumbbell pop squat, 20 reps: To do a dumbbell pop squat, start standing with your legs hip-width apart, holding a dumbbell with both hands. Jump your legs out to a squat position, slightly wider than hip-width apart, and squat down, lowering the dumbbell towards the floor. As you stand up, jump your legs back in — that’s one rep.
I just tried this leg workout from Carrie Underwood’s trainer — and it’s no joke
I added this workout to the end of my strength training session as a finisher — here’s what happened.
It got my heart rate up
This finisher is fast and high-intensity from the get-go, and it instantly raised my heart rate. While losing weight isn’t my personal goal, squats are a great compound exercise to add to your workout if you’re looking to burn calories.
I felt it in my legs
You get a lot of bang for your buck with a squat, which works the glutes, quads, calves, hamstrings, and core. As Overland says in her Instagram post, “nothing beats the tried-and-true squat for muscle building and definition.” I definitely felt this one in my legs, and finishing with the pop squats left me with aching quads.
If you’re a complete beginner, you’ll want to master the basic squat with good form before trying this leg finisher. It’s easy to progress the workout by increasing the weight you’re lifting — I used a 7kg dumbbell, which felt much heavier by the final squat.
You could also make this a quick leg day workout on its own by completing it for a second or third round.
I enjoyed the variety
I’m never one to opt for a jump squat; in fact, I’ll actively avoid them. However, this workout forced me to push myself, and while I didn’t enjoy the squats themselves, I liked mixing things up. I also felt like I’d worked different muscles than my standard barbell or bodyweight squats. The sumo squat, for example, works the inner thigh muscles harder than your standard squat.
Of course, one workout alone isn’t enough to give me legs as toned as Carrie Underwood's, but I’ll be repeating this finisher. Who knows, I might even learn some of her dance moves next.
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