Next time you’re in a time crunch on leg day, try this workout from trainer Jeremy Scott. By pairing the dumbbell squat with the dumbbell deadlift, you’ll be able to cut your gym time in half. You’ll hammer your posterior chain, honing in on your quads, glutes, and hamstrings—muscles that play a major role in giving you speed and power Run a Faster 5K with Run/Walk Intervals.
Since you’re using dumbbells and not a heavy loaded bar, place an extra focus on moving through the squat and deadlift movements with perfect form rather than just loading up the weight.
The workout is five rounds with a 90-second rest between each round. Each round consists of 20 dumbbell squats and 12 dumbbell deadlifts
To try it, grab a stop watch and two medium-weight dumbbells. The goal is to do each set unbroken, so don’t be afraid to “scale the dumbbell [weight] as needed,” he says.
Clean the weights up to rest on your shoulders and adjust your feet hip-width apart. You can continue to hold the dumbbells here, or do as Scott does in the video, letting the handles of the dumbbells rest on the meat of each shoulder. (Just make sure to continue grasping the weights when you try this position.) You can also switch to this variation in later rounds, when your grip is taxed.
From here, brace your core and keep your body upright, then lower into a squat. As you descend, the weight will pull you forward. Your core’s chore is to fight that pull to stay in position no matter what, so keep bracing to help avoid rounding your spine, then drive through the ground to stand back up.
[The best runners don’t just run, they hit the gym. The Beginner’s Guide to Strength Training How to Adjust Your Run Schedule After a Big Race.]
Without breaking to rest, you’ll perform 12 reps of a double dumbbell deadlift. Use the same set of dumbbells, holding them with an overhand grip. Squeeze your core to stabilize, then bend at the hips, push your butt back, and hinge forward to lower the weight down as close to your legs as possible on a straight path to the tops of your feet. Bend slightly at the knees, but keep your legs straight so you should feel this in your hamstrings. If not, sit back in your heels, and never allow your back to round. Keep that position as you pull the weight back up to the starting position.
Even if you’re super tight on time, rest the full 90 seconds before completing a second round. By the third round you’ll need every second.
Gabrielle Kassel (she/her) is a sex and wellness journalist who writes at the intersection of queerness, sexual health, and pleasure. In addition to being in Cosmopolitan, CA Notice at Collection, Women’s Health, Health, Self, Men’s Health, Greatist, and more! In her free time, Gabrielle can be found reviewing one of the nearly 1,000 pleasure products she's tested, reading smut, or recording episodes of the podcast she cohosts called Bad In Bed. From here, brace your @GabrielleKassel.
