5 Minute Leg Workout

I've got tough workout for you today.

This is a little different from most of my 5 Minute Fit Finishers . Here's why...

The first time you go through it... it's pretty rough. The goal seems impossible to hit.

But if you wait a day or two and you do it again... I bet you'll be able to hit the goal. Maybe even do better than what the stated goal is.

I'll tell you why this is the case. It's actually something you should know about, but first let's get into this workout.

I hope I intrigued you enough to give this workout a shot.

5 Minute Leg Workout - Go To 6 Breakdown

The layout is pretty straight forward.

You have one strength based circuit and one fast paced, cardio circuit.

Here are the circuits...

Strength circuit:

5 Racked squats weak
5 Suitcase lunge pulses strong
5 Racked squats strong
5 Suitcase lunge pulses weak

Face Paced Cardio circuit:

8 Squat hops
8 Lunges with a hop weak
8 Squat hops
8 Lunges with hop strong

Go To 6 Workout Goal

Get 6 rounds TOTAL in under 5 minutes.

Just to be clear, this means you will do:

Round 1 - strength
Round 2 - cardio
Round 3 - strength
Round 4 - cardio
Round 5 - strength
Round 6 - cardio

DONE!

You have 5 minutes to get all 6 rounds done.

This will be near impossible to hit the first time you try the workout. But go for it anyway... try your best!

Then wait two days and do the workout again. I bet you'll not only get much further... but you'll probably hit the 6 round goal!

big idea

Here's a workout secret if you really want to get better results.

Use an assessment workout that challenges a particular strength or endurance skill you want to improve on.

Then repeat the workout 3 times throughout the month. 3 times is super important.

The first time you're learning the workout.

The second time you'll do much better because you know the workout.

The third time when you try to improve it will be much harder and you'll need to push super hard.

This is how you stretch your comfort zone and progressively get better results month to month.

Click here and read my post about why you should repeat workouts.

Go To 6 Circuit Notes

For the strength circuit go pretty heavy. The number of reps is low so I want you to push the weight up.

Be careful when you do the suitcase lunges pulses. Get in a balanced position first. If you move too fast... you can lose your balance and tweak something. Pay attention!

For the cardio circuit... burn it out!

Go fast and don't stop. Fight through the burn.

5 Minute Leg Workout - Go To 6 Exercise Breakdown

Kettlebell Racked Squats

Kindal at the top of the racked kettlebell squat. She is bracing with her core tight and squeezing the handle of the kettlebell.

Kindal at the bottom of racked kettlebell squats. Her torso is tall and she has really good balance. Notice her knees are out over her feet in a great position.

You don't need a kettlebell for this workout. You can use a dumbbell, however, racking a dumbbell is not comfortable. And it might limit how heavy and fast you can move.

Just be aware of that.

Step 1

Rack the kettlebell. Stand with your feet about hip to shoulder width. Don't go too wide.

Twist your feet slightly into the ground. This will turn your legs muscles on so you're ready to move with the weight.

Of course... keep your core tight and slightly squeeze the handle of your weight.

Step 2

Squat down. Try to get just below parallel for this workout.

Keep twisting your feet into the ground. This is going to help keep your knees moving laterally so your bodyweight is towards the outside of your feet.

As you move to the bottom of the squat... squeeze the handle a little harder. This will help you brace harder at the bottom of the squat where it matters most.

Step 3

Keeping really good balance, fire out of the bottom and keep squatting like crazy.

Pay close attention to your bracing. You want to move fast and when you're going heavy. Balance and bracing will be the key to going faster with a heavy weight

Suitcase Lunge Pulses

Kindal at the bottom of the suitcase lunges. Her torso is still tall and her core is braced harder to help with good balance.

Step 1

Stand up straight and hold your weight at your side as if it were a suitcase.

Keep your core engaged and pack your shoulders. Packing shoulders means holding them into your shoulder socket and back.

Don't let the weight pull you down into bad posture. Fight the pull.

Step 2

Keeping your torso tall, step back into a lunge.

When you come back up from the lunge, don't step your foot back in. Rather... just keep pulsing up and down for this workout.

At the bottom of the lunge... your front knee should be to the outside of your front foot. Don't let you knee cave in.

Keep your core engaged as well. This will help with your balance.

Lunge pulses are tough. They always get my heart rate ramped up.

Bodyweight Squat Hops

Kindal is at the bottom of the bodyweight squat. She is loaded a little forward on her feet to aid in exploding up to her tippy toes.

Kindal at the top of the squat hop. She's on her tippy toes and momentum makes her slightly weightless before she falls right back into the next squat.

I LOVE this exercise. It's cardio and it will burn out your legs and completely change the dynamic of the workout coming from the strength circuit.

Step 1

Get into a good stance. Lower down into the bottom of a squat. Work to keep your torso tall and upright... this is always a little tougher when going bodyweight.

Step 2

Fire out of the bottom of the squat as if you were going to do a squat jump... but NO JUMPING!

Rather just get to your tippy toes and float there for a quarter of a second.

Step 3

Immediately fall back into the bottom of the next squat.

Keep firing up and down with that little tippy toe hop. This is why they're called squat hops and not jumps.

intensity tip

Why no squat jumps?

I've owned a fitness studio for nearly 20 years. I've trained thousands of women in person and many more online. Through all my time... most women don't know how to jump properly.

Jumping is too dangerous and the plyometric benefit of jumping is not enough to offset the risk of injury.

So why do it?

This is why in Fit Women's Weekly we jump as little as possible.

Kindal coming off the group into a more full squat jump. This is an option but it will slow down the workout and squat hops can be just as brutal on your legs.

Lunges With A Hop

Kindal driving her knee high and getting to her tippy toes. You don't have to leave the ground to make this exercise work like crazy.

Kindal showing a more aggressive knee drive that makes her hop a few inches off the ground. You can see how dynamic the exercise is during the hop.

OMG!!!

As if the burn wasn't enough already... we're about to turn it up to 11.

Step 1

Stand straight up. No weight needed... this is all bodyweight.

Do a reverse lunge like you normally would. Step back and get into a good bottom of the lunge position.

Step 2

Fire out of the lunge using your front foot the most. You can push off your back foot as well...

As you're coming out of the lunge... DON'T step your back foot on the ground.

Rather you're going to fire your leg up and do a knee drive to the sky.

Use this momentum and get a little hop similar to the squat hop.

Step 3

As you come back down... immediately go back into the next lunge in one smooth motion.

This will require balance and some coordination. Pay attention to what you're doing.

This is a very fast exercise and your font leg is going to start burning out like crazy. Do your best to fight the burn and keep pushing.

The longer you can last the more muscle endurance you'll build.

That's what we're after with this cardio circuit... besides just getting your heart rate up.

Do You Want To Work With A Trainer And Get The Results You Deserve?

Give this workout a double try.

Try it once and do your best... knowing you're not going to get all 6 rounds done.

Wait two days...

Do it again.

I bet... because you know the workout... you'll be able to get much further and maybe even get all 6 rounds done.

If you love metabolic strength workouts like this... I have a question for you...

Do you want to workout with a trainer for a mere fraction of the cost of hiring one?

You have to checkout my group called Fit Women's Weekly LIVE... or FWW LIVE.

This is a small private group of women who I personally train on a daily basis. Even better... I custom design daily workouts and lead each workout LIVE.

You don't have to plan your workouts
You don't have to think about what to do
You get a private coach everyday leading you to results

This is one of the highest level online personal training programs on the Internet. And because you get such close access to me (and my trainer husband, Dan)... membership is very limited.

Only 300 women can be in the group.

So if there's room, join up and lock in your spot . But only if you want to ensure you get results.

If you'd rather have a program that's a little more DIY... or do at your own pace... go learn about Habit . This is my awesome collection of 30 day strength training programs .

Tough workouts and training plans. You still get access to me... it's just not as close or personal as FWW LIVE.

Now...

Go get Go To 6 done. Let me know how things go by leaving a comment on the YouTube video .

Make sure you follow me on the social accounts and talk to me there. I'm always willing to answer questions and help when I can.

Go get sweaty!