You don’t need weights to make leg day challenging. With the right exercise selection and enough volume, your bodyweight alone can deliver a serious lower-body workout – challenging your strength, balance, mobility and muscular endurance in one hit.

Calisthenics coach Nedim Sofic has a particularly brutal way to do it. In a recent Instagram Reel, he shared his ‘Jailhouse Complex’, a six-move bodyweight workout performed using the ‘Downs Method’.

The format couldn’t be simpler. Perform 10 reps of every exercise back-to-back, then repeat with nine reps of each, followed by eight, seven and so on until you reach one. Make it to the end and you’ll have completed 55 reps of every exercise – and 330 reps in total.

No weights. No machines. Just a lot of leg work.

The 330-Rep Jailhouse Leg Workout

Start with 10 reps of each exercise. Repeat the circuit, reducing every exercise by 1 rep each round until you reach a final round of 1 rep per exercise.

• Skater Squat (each leg) x 10 reps
• Squat Jump x 10 reps
• Sissy Squat x 10 reps
• Cossack Squat x 10 reps
• Wall Hip Thrust (each leg) x 10 reps
• Calf Raise (each leg) x 10 reps

How to Do the Moves

Skater Squat

Stand on one leg with your opposite foot lifted behind you. Push your hips back and bend your standing knee, lowering until your trailing knee lightly touches the floor – or as far as your mobility allows. Drive through your working foot to stand back up before repeating.

Squat Jump

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and lower into a squat.
• Explosively jump upwards, extending your hips, knees and ankles.
• Land softly with bent knees and move straight into the next rep.

Sissy Squat

• Stand tall with your feet around hip-width apart.
• Rise onto your toes, lean your torso backwards and allow your knees to travel forwards while keeping your hips extended.
• Lower under control before driving back to the starting position.

Cossack Squat

• Take a wide stance with your toes turned slightly out.
• Shift your weight onto one leg, bending that knee while keeping the opposite leg straight.
• Lower as far as your mobility allows, then drive back to the centre before alternating sides.

Wall Hip Thrust

• Lie on your back with one foot planted flat against a wall and your knee bent to roughly 90 degrees.
• Keeping the opposite leg lifted, drive your foot into the wall and squeeze your glute to lift your hips until your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your knee.
• Lower under control and repeat.

Single-Leg Calf Raise

• Stand on one foot, using a wall or rail for balance if needed.
• Raise your heel as high as possible and pause briefly at the top.
• Lower under control until you feel a stretch through your calf, then repeat.

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Kate is a fitness writer for Men’s Health UK where she contributes regular workouts, training tips and nutrition guides. She has a post graduate diploma in Sports Performance Nutrition and before joining Men’s Health she was a nutritionist, fitness writer and personal trainer with over 5k hours coaching on the gym floor. Kate has a keen interest in volunteering for animal shelters and when she isn’t lifting weights in her garden, she can be found walking her rescue dog.