Let me just start by saying when I say MAX range, I mean MAX range!

With this exercise, you are going to be using a bench and dumbbells to achieve a range of motion in the squat far greater than what you normally would use.

Keeping that in mind, if your knees give you trouble on a full squat, this might be a good one to skip. For healthy knees, it's totally fine and can even help strengthen them in that extreme range of motion. But because the range of motion is so great, it does put more tension on the area.

That being said, your quads are in for a trashing!

This is a GREAT finisher for a leg workout (or as a pre-or-post exhaust for regular squats)

First, you need to get a couple of moderate-weight dumbbells and a flat bench. Nothing too extreme about the equipment. Start lighter than you think you'll need to (for real).

Pick up both dumbbells and walk over to your bench. To do this exercise, you're basically going to stand on the flat bench and do a dumbbell squat. But because you're standing on a bench, you can squat down VERY far without the dumbbells hitting the ground. In fact, you will bring them several inches below the level of the bench at the bottom of the squat!

This will allow you to achieve that maximum range of motion I was talking about.

So walk up to your bench, set one dumbbell on the bench (still gripping it) then step up onto the bench, holding the other dumbbell. Keeping that one dumbbell on the bench is easier than trying to do a step up with both dumbbells.

Once you've got both feet on the bench, stand up and get yourself ready - top position of the squat. Now start squatting down, keeping the dumbbells at your side. Keep going until you're in a full crouch!

Note in the picture above that I've brought the dumbbells a little forward rather than letting them hang straight down. By bringing them forward, you keep better balance on the bench and allow you to squat deeper. If they're hanging straight down, you'll tend to lose balance backwards.

CRITICAL: at the bottom, do not lose tension in your quads. Keep those muscles tight! We want to keep the tension on the muscles and not have it go to the knee joints.

When you're in this very bottom position, you can let your shoulders hunch forward over your knees, as you move the dumbbells forward.

And rounding of the lower back IS going to happen on this as you get into that bottom position. Because you'll be using such light weight, that shouldn't be an issue. This one is all about max range, not max weight.

Now, using muscle power only, come back up. DO NOT bounce out of this bottom position.

Like I said above, use a lighter weight than you think you'll need the first time you do this one. It'll really show you what full range of motion is all about!

If you like this exercise, you should absolutely check out my book "The Best Leg Exercises You've Never Heard Of." I pulled this exercise directly out of it.

I've also got FIVE more free sample exercises you can test out here.

Give it a try and let me know how you like it!

Nick Nilsson
The "Mad Scientist of Muscle"