Hardest Leg Workout Ever

A hard workout for one person could be easy for another if you just go through the motions. This workout involves a little thinking the first time you run through it, to ensure you are working with weights you know will challenge you before the end of the rep range. 

For me, doing this workout required a spotter early on in the squatting exercise and I failed multiple times each set. This took me to neuromuscular exhaustion and the inability to walk much in the following days, told me that this had pushed my lower body to the limits. 

On top of the constant desire to quit the workout, lower the rep range, not complete full reps and fear doing it again the following week, while breathless and dripping in sweat (may have been the summer heat) – tells me this was a hard workout. If you use the right weight for you, complete the reps cleanly and in a controlled way, I’ve no doubt it will be hard for you too. High rep ranges at mid rep range weights, is always going to slam you.

Mutha-fu%%in gains yo!

But more seriously, this pushes you out of your comfort zone. I didn’t love doing the workout, but I loved how I felt after. It took me from doing slow and heavy sets in my strength training phase into a summer fat burning mindset. Don’t get me wrong, this workout isn’t a ‘Fat Burning workout’ per se, but you’re going to smash through the calories and your body is going to want a lot of nutrition to recover after.  I think that’s one of the advantages of training like this. You need that wake up call, that says, “hey mate, it’s time to freshen up your workouts”.

And while for me I liked the sweaty component to the workout, I liked that shock factor. Training the same way for long periods of time with little deviation in weight and sometimes motivation can cause you to get stuck in a rut. Shocking your body and your mind can give you that psychological as well as physiological jump start. 

Source: Workout Plateaus

I’ve included a second workout in this ‘hardest leg workout ever’ guide, to cater to more than one type of gym goer. But I would say whether you go for the minimal equipment option (more calisthenics and plyo) or the traditional resistance version; you want to have been in the gym for a while. Both will push your anaerobic capacity, test your endurance and will require a fair few movements that are potentially safer for a medium to advanced gym goer.

Sure, try it if you’re  a beginner to the gym, but don’t beat yourself up if it’s a bit much. 

I’ve trained for 20 years, I’m an advanced lifter with a pretty good lung capacity and these workouts give me anxiety too. 

For Evil Workout 1:

• Squat Rack
• Hack Squat – or – Leg Press (If neither do Front Squats)
• Leg Extension Machine
• Leg Curl Machine
• Calf Raise

For Evil Workout 2 (Hotel friendly as less weights):

• Dumbbells (5kg to 12.5kg range)
• Step-up Box – or – Plyo Box
• Kettlebell (10-25kg range)
• Barbell (15-30kg range) – or- Some kind of weight to hold in front to do a Front Squat. Weighted bags or power bags can work here nicely.

Done correctly, the resistance workout – Workout 1 – is something you aren’t going to want to do more than once a week. 

I found I was still sore 6 days after and couldn’t have put in a good next version of this before then. If you feel sore but want to hit another part of legs like glutes and hamstrings, then that would be the option I suggest. Perhaps a light maintenance day for those muscle groups. 

Workout 2, is still something you will see DOMS on most likely, but I found I was good to go about 3-4 days later.