Subject: Trash your legs with Side-Step Goblet Squats...
If you want to challenge almost your entire body with one exercise, you're going to want to give this one a try.
All you need is a single dumbbell.
This exercise will hit your legs HARD with lots of tension, along with your core, shoulders, lower back and upper back. In addition, you're going to be loading your breathing muscles, which will help increase the suffering (in a good way).
The lateral side-step movement you'll be performing also works the gluteus medius and minimus, in addition to gluteus maximus.
This sort of looks like a very ugly Cossack Squat (if you've seen that exercise before), but it's actually a completely different animal.
Start by performing a normal Goblet Squat (with a dumbbell or kettlebell). I'm using a 65 lb dumbbell in the demo here and it was a good weight for me.
Come down into the squat and hold at the bottom. Don't rest your elbows on your knees. We want your muscles to be supporting the weight.
Now take a big step to the left. To balance, you'll need to lean in the opposite direction (over your plant leg) while you lift your other leg off the ground to step sideways, otherwise you'll tip over.
Once the step is complete, shift your body over to the other side.
Now bring that right leg back in.
Then stand up from the bottom Goblet Squat position.
Now squat down and repeat the sequence in the other direction...come down, step your leg to the side, shift your body over, then come up.
Think of this one like a 3 part exercise...and with an almost "boxlike" movement pattern.
The shifting of the load while you hold the bottom squat position is excellent for the entire lower body and the moments where your one leg is off the ground will really challenge your core.
Use a weight you can get at least 6 or more reps with on this exercise (it should be a weight you can very easily do a normal Goblet Squat with). If you start going too heavy, it'll be tougher to balance as you step your leg over.
Overall, this is fantastic conditioning exercise. I wouldn't necessarily utilize it for building muscle (even though you will get a lot of tension in the lower body). I found it to be incredibly effective for getting a LOT of muscle mass involved into an exercise, making it more appropriate for metabolic conditioning and fat-loss training.
You'll see this in the video...even just a short set of this gassed me. It's a killer exercise.
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