The Dirty Dozen Workout

If you think you've got got strength-endurance (and mental endurance!), this squat workout will put that to the TEST.

The exercise is the regular barbell back squats. The weight is about 30-40% of your 1 RM. I'm using 135 lbs, which is basically a warm-up weight. You're not going to go heavy on this at all....or you will die out WAY too fast.

Start with one rep.

The Dirty Dozen Workout - Squats Top

The Dirty Dozen Workout - Squats Bottom

Re-rack the bar and rest 10 seconds.

In practice you'll want to actually start getting into position after about 7 or 8 seconds so that you actually do 10 seconds rest for real...no squeezing extra seconds out.

Then you'll do 2 reps.

Rest 10 seconds. Then 3, and rest 10 seconds, then 4 rep, 5 reps, 6 reps, etc. until you get to a set of 12 reps (all sets have just 10 seconds rest in between).

After you hit the 12 rep set, work your way back DOWN, all the way back to 1 rep, still doing 10 seconds rest on the way back down.

This squat workut is tough on the way up and absolutely miserable on the way down.

Decreasing the reps allows you to keep going and really squeeze out as many reps as possible. Your quads will be on fire and your legs will feel like they're full of lead by the end of it.

The full set will take about 16-17 minutes. Ensure you use good form all the way through (the weight is light enough that this shouldn't be a problem, even as you fatigue).

Then you're DONE for legs.

If you want to do something else after that, that's up to you, but you could feasibly just do that and be done with your workout with a MASSIVE boost to your metabolism.

If you thought that was tough, next time, try the DOUBLE Dirty Dozen workout, bringing deadlifts into the mix at the same time.

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