Dumbbell Workout For Stronger Legs

Most guys do single-leg work as often as they do laundry: for some, never and for most, twice a month (if we’re lucky). For the guys who do acknowledge leg day – yes, there are muscles beyond your chest and bi’s – it’s likely a combination of leg press, squats, hack squats and deadlifts. These are all bilateral movements, however. What people forget is single-leg work (think split squats and lunges) is highly beneficial and should not be left in the cold.

Occasionally your average Gym Bro hears that he should be doing single-leg Romanian Deadlifts (RDLs), and he does do them once, and only once, because they are incredibly difficult. It can be hard to make the leap between traditional bilateral work (squat, deadlift leg press, and the single leg RDL). Going from two legs to one leg is difficult because of the increased amount of proprioceptive awareness (your body “feeling” where it is in space) and balance (largely neurological) required to do so. This leads to many people either avoiding the single leg RDL altogether or completely butchering it worse than Miley Cyrus’s cover of Nivrana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit.

So why even bother with single-leg work like the single-leg RDL? For starters, single-leg exercises help to eliminate balance issues or asymmetries between sides. Just like you balance the tires on your car, you need to balance your “wheels” too. And single-leg work has been proven to promote knee and low back health. To get a little more science-y, single-leg training activates the lateral subsystem (adductor complex, quadratus lumborum, and gluteus medius), which stabilises the hip and knee. In bilateral exercises this does not get stressed nearly as much as it does in single leg training.

But since so many people have trouble transitioning straight into the single-leg RDL, a relatively unknown exercise, the Death March (cue dramatic music), is a great tool to groove the single-leg pattern and load the posterior chain very similarly to a true single-leg RDL. Yes, all of the benefits without looking like a Gooney bird landing on the gym floor.

The Death March is to the single leg RDL much like the Bulgarian split squat is to the single leg squat. It allows you to load the targeted leg in a “pseudo” single-leg fashion, which allows you to reap many of the benefits of a true single leg exercise without having to worry as much about losing balance. While it may sound like a training wheels exercise, you will soon find that it feels much more like racing the French Alps portion of the Tour de France.

RELATED: Put Down The Weights And Supercharge Your Leg Workout With These Moves

In the Death March the goal is to load the front leg as much as possible. This is done by keeping a soft bend in the front knee and a vertical tibia as you push your hips back like you would for any other deadlift variation. The Death March is essentially a split stance hinge that incorporates a loaded carry as well. You should absolutely feel your glutes, hamstrings and pelvic stabilisers of the lead leg firing on all cylinders.

And since the Death March isn’t a true single-leg exercise we can load it more – i.e. use more weight, and of course, grunt louder – than you would be able to do on a single leg RDL. Plus, because you are required to remain in the split stance throughout the movement the pelvis also stays much more aligned and takes stress off of the low back. This makes it a great exercise to use if you're dealing with a nagging low back or during a deload week. Finally the Death March also provides us with some of the benefits that loaded carries provide as it requires dynamic stabilisation of the core as you march your way to a stronger posterior chain.

Dumbbell Death March

Benefits:

  • Improved balance
  • Increased core strength
  • engages hamstrings, glutes and quads
  • takes pressure off your low back
  • Ability to carry more weight

The Workout: Perform 4-6 rounds. 2 minutes on, 1 minute off. Complete 4-6 rounds.

How to Do It

  1. Begin in a standing position with feet hip width apart holding a dumbbell in each hand.
  2. Take a small step forward with one foot, and begin hinging the hips back (as if you are trying to close a drawer behind you with your butt). Keep as much weight on the front leg as possible, using the rear leg only as stabilising “anchor.” Be sure to keep a neutral spine; you should not look like a scared cat.
  3. As soon as you feel a good stretch in the hamstring of the front leg, begin to return to a standing position.
  4. Repeat the above with the other leg, and continue to do so, alternating legs on each rep.

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