If you aren’t using this exercise in your leg workouts then add it to your arsenal right away. This is one of the best overall leg exercises you can do. The added bonus is that your abs get worked as well.

Muscles Worked:

Quads, Glutes, Hamstrings, Hips, Abs

Proper Form:

Stand with feet slightly apart, put a kettlebell on the outside of each foot. Push your glutes back, keep your weight on your heels and squat down keeping your head up and looking out toward the horizon. Grasp a kettlebell in each hand firmly and stand up. Image you are squeezing the kettlebells off the ground as you stand. Lock your hips out at the top by squeezing your glutes and tightening your abs.

How to work this into your workout:

This exercise can be used for strength or conditioning. It all depends on the amount of weight you use, the reps and rest periods.

For strength use heavy kettlebells. Keep the reps low (5 or less) and set the bells down on the ground,very briefly, to reset your stance after each rep. That doesn’t mean take a 15 second break between sets. To reset for the next rep just set the bells on the ground, make sure your stance is correct and go. That should only take about 3-5 seconds.

For conditioning use medium to light kettlebells. Do 10 plus reps. Don’t set the bells down on the ground between reps, if possible. Make sure you squat to where the bells are about an inch from the ground. Anything else is just cheating. It’s important to maintain proper form even when the tempo of the exercise increases. Many times, when working for conditioning, we tend to get sloppy with form just to get through the set. Don’t let that happen to you. If you are working with weights you need to always maintain good form. If that means you get a few less reps then so be it. Your endurance will increase as you practice. Plus, you can always do an extra set to get the work in.

Conditioning Variation:

Your going to love this! Add a walk between reps. As if it wasn’t brutal enough, if you add a walk between the reps you really increase your heart rate. Here’s an example; hold a medium to light weight kettlebell in each hand walk 5-10 steps (farmer’s walk) then do 5-10 Suitcase Deadlifts, repeat, over and over again. You can always decrease the reps or distance walked if you are a beginner.

This exercise can be used as a full leg workout on it’s own or use it with front squats and one legged deadlifts to really blast legs!