LiftforHealth.com

Muscular Endurance > Squats

Too many guys don't work their legs enough. Try to do at least one leg routine per weak, preferably periodically emphasizing muscular endurance and strength.

For this leg routine, I like to start with one of the following three heavy exercises: (Note - You can do more than one of the heavier lifts, but doing too many may leave you overly fatigued.)

1. Hack Squats: I like using an EZ Curl bar for this exercise. The four foot bar takes up less space than an Olympic size bar. While the bar is sitting on the ground, stand with your back to the bar. Squat down and grab hold of the bar, which is behind you and underneath your thighs. Stand up with the pressure of the lift on your quadriceps. Keep your back straight and don't lift by bending your arms since this is a leg exercise. (I find that Hack Squats are much easier on my back than dead lifts where the bar is in front rather than behind.) Squat back down until the weight plates on the bar touch the floor. If you do this multiple times, you will feel a real burning sensation in your quads. If you choose a fairly heavy weight that allows you to go about ten times until failure, the stress of the Hack Squats will work your entire body. You may even stagger a little after completing the exercise.

2. Dumbbell Squats: Hold two moderately heavy dumbbells at your sides and perform deep knee bends. I do them until failure - either I can no longer hold the dumbbells or fall to my kneews when bending down. This is my most dreaded workout because my lungs are heaving when I'm done.
3. One Leg Deep Knee Bends (aka Pistol Squats): Always hold on to an object or lean against the door to brace yourself while doing these. If you do multiple One Leg Deep Bends under your own balance, it is too easy to fall to the side and place undue pressure on your knee. The point of this exercise is to work the muscles, not perform gymnastic moves. One Leg Deep Knee Bends can be made more difficult by holding dumbbells in your hands. If you are able to go all the way down until your rear end nearly touches the floor, you will really stress the glutes. While Hack Squats emphasize the quads, One Leg Deep Knee Bend do more for the behind.

I like to follow up the hard exercises with several muscle burners.

Frog Squats: Squat down to the ground. Put your hands on the floor. Straighten your legs as you squat up, but keep your hands on the floor all throughout.

Sissy Squats: Hold onto a post or handle. Lean back while holding on and squat up and down. Straighten your legs as you squat up, but keep your hands on the floor all throughout.

Static Lunges: Stand with the lead foot at least two feet ahead of the other foot. Raise yourself up and down with the stress on the lead leg. You can hold dumbbells in each hand to increase the difficulty.

Calf Raises: Lots