If you’ve already got leg day workout filled with squat and the hinge movements, allow us to introduce you to this sizzling single-leg finale to cap off a perfect lower body session.
This Fast Finisher, however, takes several vicious steps forward, in the form of a three-movement lunge workout. All three of the Fast Finisher series Es qualify here: Lunges always add Excitement to a workout, and since it can be completed with one set of weights in a small area, it can be classified as Efficient. If you want to talk Effective, Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., and Mathew Forzaglia, N.F.P.T., C.P.T., founder of Forzag Fitness, demonstrate how this Finisher will elevate your heart rate as well as enhance hip mobility and leg strength.
Step 1: Stepup Lunge
Start by cleaning a pair of kettlebells into the rack position. Drop into a half-kneeling position, rotate your hips to move your front foot back into a full kneeling position with your weight on both knees. Pause, then bring that same leg back forward into the half-kneeling position again. Plant your heel firmly before standing up nice and tall. It’s more difficult in practice than it sounds, so be aware of the tiny details—being in an upright position, ribcage tucked in a kneeling position, glutes locked out and hips extended. From there focus on performing 10 reps,
“The big thing here is this mobility aspect is bringing the leg around as he steps through,” Forzaglia says. “So we’re unloading the leg and then reloading while staying loaded in the upper body.”
Step 2: Reverse Lunge
For this portion of the finisher, you’re going to eliminate that bottom rotation—or the mobility step—and focus solely on the lunge. Power through as you come off the ground, gently touching your knee to the floor or just slightly above; nothing has changed as you stand from the shoulders to hips. “The only difference is your legs are not coming around your body under the body in front, so you can hit 10 reps,” Forzaglia says.
Step 3: Split Squat
By now your legs should be screaming, which elevates the excitement level for sure. Remaining in the front rack position, with no change in your upper-body posture, move straight up and down—think of it as if your back was against the wall. Now it’s about constant tension in your lower body. “This is where the heart rate starts to build,” Samuel says. “This is where the burn really, really happens.”
Fatigue will likely set in, and you might begin to feel the effects of the weights in the rack hold pulling you forward. Still you want to be strict in remaining in that upright position throughout the exercise.
“What makes this work is that front rack because it forces all that core accountability forces that mid back accountability,” Samuel says. “This becomes not just a great leg finisher, but your total body will feel it as well.”
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