Track Workout: Build Stronger Legs

Build powerful quads with this outdoor circuit.

Winter is coming. Days are getting a lot shorter and nights are cooling down. Thankfully, fall is genuinely one of my favorite seasons to get outside and exercise. It’s beautiful here in New England. The air is crisp and exercise outdoors is almost effortless. 

One of my favorite ways to build strong legs beyond the walls of the gym is at the track. We all know squats are here to stay, but you can do them all winter long. Let’s talk about building some quad meat with some serious fall foliage as a backdrop. If you blink, it might be snowing before you know it.

Warm-Up

Start with an EMOM (every minute on the minute) of 200-meter sprints gradually building in pace as the minutes tick on.

Trainer’s note: This warm-up is meant to spike your heart rate and get your blood flowing. Moving into a workout will be easier once you your body feels warm, especially on a cooler day.

Dynamic Stretching (3 rounds)

Coccyx Squat (20 each side)

Open up your hips, get your posterior chain firing and stretch your adductors with this dynamic movement.

Trainer’s note: Open up your hips, get your posterior chain firing and stretch your adductors with this dynamic movement. Keep your weight in your heels, ensuring that your knees aren’t creeping in front of your toes, to activate the correct muscle groups.

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Jumping Lunge

Get your heart rate up with this drill. If jumping is painful for your knees or ankles, try a stationary lunge either forward or backward.

Trainer’s note: This warm-up should take you no longer than 20 minutes.

Workout

AMRAP 20 (as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes):

20 Walking Lunges (with or without a plate)

Trainer’s note: Do not let your knee go past your toes, and keep your weight behind you in your heels. If using a plate, hold it up overhand with your elbows fully locked out.

60 Jump Rope (double-under or a single pass)

Trainer’s note: A double-under is two passes of the rope in one jump. A single-under is one pass of the rope per jump. Maintain soft landings to show control.

20 Air Squats

Trainer’s note: Do not bounce out of the bottom of your squat; show good control in the hole. If possible, use your entire range of motion (if it is pain-free), squatting past parallel (aka: below your knee crease). Keep your weight in your heels and push your knees out while driving out of the bottom of the squat.

200-Meter Sprint

Trainer’s note: Movement quality is key with this little burner. Do not sacrifice form for increased rounds and reps. While your heart rate should be high and you should be moving quickly, good movement patterns within a pain-free range of motion is key to building the physique you desire.