Leg day should be a non-negotiable in any strength training routine. But that doesn’t mean it always has to involve 90 minutes of bouncing between a squat rack, deadlift platform and every machine on the gym floor.

Sometimes you just need to get in, get the job done and get out.

This 20-minute lower-body protocol requires nothing more than a barbell, a patch of floor and a willingness to keep moving. Load the bar with as much weight as you can clean into a front rack position and squat for 10-12 solid reps, set a countdown timer for 20 minutes, then get to work.

You’ll be tackling a lower-body ‘complex’ – a series of movements performed back-to-back using the same piece of kit. Think of it like a circuit, except the bar never leaves your hands and, ideally, you make it through the entire sequence before you rest.

That combination of high reps, minimal faffing and very little opportunity to hide will hammer your quads and hamstrings, while building the type of stamina and grit that doesn’t always come from taking five minutes between heavy sets.

The complex begins with the toughest movement before gradually moving towards the ‘easiest’. At the same time, the reps climb, keeping the pressure on even as the exercises become less demanding.

Your goal is to complete as many high-quality rounds and reps as possible inside the 20-minute window. Rest when you need to, but only for long enough to keep your form sharp. Keep the bar moving and remember: every rep counts.

Make a note of the weight you used and your final score. The next time you return to the workout, you’ve only got one job: beat it.

The Workout

20 minute AMRAP

Reverse lunge (on each leg) x 3 reps

Barbell front squat x 6 reps

Romanian deadlift x 9 reps

Deadlift x 12 reps

How to Do the Movements

Reverse Lunge

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Squeeze your glutes and shoulder blades, keeping your gaze neutral at a point straight ahead of you. Hold the barbell across your lower back.
• Step one leg back and slightly out, landing with your toe first. Work to avoid slamming your knee into the ground. Keep your chest in an upright position, bending your knees to form right angles with both of your legs.
• Drive off the ground with your front foot and step your rear leg forward into the starting position. Keep your torso in a solid upright position by squeezing your core to stay balanced.

Barbell Front Squat

• In the squat rack, set the bar up to be mid shoulder height and bend the knees to set the hips under the bar. The bar will be under your chin, by the clavicle. Take your thumbs to the outside of your shoulders, this is where your grip will be on the bar.
• Pull your elbows out and forward under the bar.
• Straighten the legs and unrack the bar before taking some small steps back.
• Lock your core and keep your chest proud with the elbows in line with your shoulders.
• Keep the barbell over your mid foot and sink your hips into a squat with your thighs hitting parallel or lower.
• Explosively drive through the floor to push yourself back to standing.

Romanian Deadlift

• Start standing tall with your feet underneath your hips. Hold your barbell in front of your thighs.
• Send your hips behind your heels with a flat back as if you’re ‘shutting a car door’ with your backside. Keep the knees directly above your heels and shins vertical to the floor.
• As you lower the weight, keep your shoulder blades drawn towards each other and head in line.
• Feel a stretch in your hamstrings. When the weight is below your knees, send your hips forward to return to the starting position.

Deadlift

1. Hold the bar so the middle of your feet are beneath it, feet shoulder width apart, with the bar intersecting the centre of your shoelaces.
2. With soft knees, push your hips back. Imagine shutting a car door with your bum as you reach your hands towards the bar. Your knees will bend in order to maintain a relatively flat back, but try to keep your shins vertical and not let your knees pass too far over the bar.
3. Your shoulders should be over the bar with the middle of your feet underneath, arms straight and hips down low.
4. Keeping your back and head in line, imagine squeezing two satsumas in your arm pits to create tension through your torso. Keeping your arms straight, grip the bar and pull your hips down, receiving the weight of the bar in a strong, tense position before we start lifting.
5. Take a deep breath, filling your trunk and bracing your core. Drive your feet into the floor and push the ground away aggressively while keeping the bar close. Don’t let your hips shoot up too quickly, your hips and knees should extend at the same time. Keep those arms straight, avoid trying to lift the weight with your arms: think of them as hooks.
6. At the top of the lift, bring your hips right through so you’re standing upright, but avoid leaning back too far.
7. Slowly reverse the movement to lower the weight to the ground, keeping your focus and avoiding just dropping the bar.

If there’s one thing Kori Sampson knows, it’s how to optimise your body composition for performance. To tap into his knowledge as an elite athlete and coach, we asked him to create a 4-week plan to help you move faster, recover quicker and keep pushing when the fatigue sets in – all while improving your muscle-to-fat ratio.

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With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.    

As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.   

Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.   

 You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.