The Perfect Leg Day Workout for When You Want an Extra Challenge

Team SELF, welcome to your final leg day, and the last day of the New Year’s Challenge: day 28! Thank you for sticking with us and for making a commitment to yourself—whether that meant learning how to make movement a priority, perfecting a particular exercise, or simply pushing yourself to lift heavier or work harder than you ever have before. Whatever your why, you did it! Now all you have left to do is finish one last routine: your final lower-body strength workout.

And fair warning, this one’s a toughie! That’s because we have some advanced variations of some foundational lower-body moves on tap for today, utilizing factors like pulses and holds to really crank up the intensity. In moves like the squat with double pulse and the reverse lunge with an optional hold, you’re putting your muscles through a longer time under tension, which not only feels harder, but gives your quads and glutes a unique challenge. This routine also goes heavy on the single-leg work—another way to up the ante.

While these variations may seem intimidating, you’ve been prepping for this since the first day of this challenge! All of the moves you’ve mastered already have helped you build a solid strength-training foundation. You already know the basic movement patterns—squat, hinge, lunge, for instance—and now you are ready to build on them. 

If you still want more leg day after your main routine, stick around for our optional bonus EMOM finisher, where we’ll head back to single-leg town with the curtsy lunge. Make no mistake, this is an advanced workout for sure. But we have faith: You can do it! 

Everything you’ve done over the last four weeks—from learning basic functional movements to building your cardiovascular endurance to strengthening every single inch of your body—has prepared you for this very workout. Tell yourself you’ve got this, and you are going to take it one move, one set, and one round at a time. And remember that if you can’t do something or your body’s just not feeling it, you can always modify, take a break, or slow down. No challenge is worth an injury, and modifying an exercise doesn’t make it count any less than doing the standard version. That’s the beauty of our SELF challenges, and we hope you can carry it through to the very last day: Do what works for you. 

When you finally call time on that last round, give yourself a big hug and a high five—and then take a couple of rest days. You deserve it. Then, come back here and see if there is another challenge that interests you. We’ve got plenty, and some are even similar to the one you just finished—click here to find one that best suits your fitness needs. Or maybe you now feel comfortable creating your own workout plan? If that’s the case, we have you covered there, too. You can pick and choose upper-body, lower-body, core, and cardio workouts to create your own program.

Keep scrolling for the details on how to do today’s advanced (and final!) single-leg strength routine.

WORKOUT DIRECTIONS

Aim for 8–12 reps per exercise. Rest up to 30 seconds between exercises. At the end of the round, rest 60–90 seconds. Complete 2–4 rounds total. Repeat for Superset 2.

EXERCISES

Superset 1

• Squat with Double Pulse
• Split Squat with Biceps Curl

Superset 2

• Sumo Squat
• Reverse Lunge

BONUS EMOM

Do both moves for the recommended number of reps. Rest the remainder of the minute; repeat 4 times total.

• Curtsy Lunge, Left Side (8–10 reps)
• Curtsy Lunge, Right Side (8–10 reps)