Dumbbell-Only Leg Day For When The Gym Is Packed

Writer and expert2 years ago

All you need to get in a good gym session is a pair of dumbbells. Even on leg day. Yes, really, just hear me out. There's no need for a squat rack for squats when you can hold the weight beneath your chin. There's no need for a barbell for deadlifts when you can just hold a dumbbell in each hand. And no one knows this more than @emdixonfitness. She’s come in hot with a full leg day workout using nothing but two dumbbells.

Whether it’s 6pm Monday evening and the gym’s packed or you’re new and want to get your bearings before taking on the squat rack, this workout is perfect. And we can almost guarantee you’ll be feeling it the day after.

The workout

Dumbbell squats

Grab a dumbbell
Hold it under your chin with both hands
Keep your feet shoulder-width apart
Bend your knees and squat as low as you can comfortably
Rise back up to the starting position

Dumbbell RDL

Grab a dumbbell in each hand
Keep your feet shoulder-width apart
Hinge at the hips, pushing your bum out and keeping your arms straight until they’re just below your knees
Drive your hips forwards as you come back up through the movement
Keep you back straight and your core tight

Dumbbell reverse lunges

Grab a dumbbell in each hand
Start with your hands by your sides and your feet together
Move one of your legs back at a distance that’s comfortable, and rest on your toes
Bend both knees until you’re as low as you can go
Your front knee should be over your toes on the floor — you should not go further than this
Keep your back straight and push back up through your front leg until you’re standing again

Dumbbell split squats

To set up grab a dumbbell in each hand and rest one foot on a bench
Shuffle forwards on your front foot until you’re a comfortable distance from the bench
Bend your front leg, keeping all of your weight on this leg
Then push yourself back up through the movement until you’re in the starting position

Get the outfit:

Take Home Message

If you’re not in the mood for wandering around the gym to find the machines you need to crack on with your session, there’s no better time to try out a dumbbell-only workout. And if you can’t part from the squat rack, just incorporate some of these moves into your next leg day just to mix things up a bit.

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Emily Wilcock

Writer and expert

After completing an internship with Myprotein, Emily returned to university to finish her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and Marketing. With experience in lifestyle writing, Emily aims to entertain and educate through her work. Her focuses include recipes, real and inspiring stories, and working with writers to help provide easy-to-digest evidence-based research. Her work on recipes has been previously featured in The Supplement magazine, with a particular focus on high-protein, nutritious meals, plus advice on how to properly fuel your body. Outside of work, Emily’s top priority is food. She’s a self-professed star baker and a connoisseur of all things baked. In her spare time, she’s either cooking up a storm, our looking out for the opportunity to try out Manchester’s newest restaurants. But as a huge fan of carbs, if it’s not pasta or pasta-adjacent, she’s not interested. If she’s not in the kitchen, she’s tucked up with a book for an early night, or you’ll find her in the gym working up a sweat. Afterall, all those carbs require quite the appetite.