Good exercises to train legs to failure with barbells and dumbbells only?

[mariajo]

Listening to Geoffrey Schofield and some podcasts from 3dmj, I think I've been training a bit easily in the past and gone up in volume as a countermeasure.

I want to give it a shot, going the other way and train to actual actual exhaustion just to see what it's like.

I'm a bit limited by the fact that my homegym only has a rack like this one (no safeties) and I only have adjustable dumbbells up to 34 kg per dumbbell.

The safeties means I don't feel safe doing back squats or barbell split squats that close to failure.

My list so far includes:

Reverse Nordic Curls (weighted if necessary)

Lunges or Split Squats with dumbbells (for really high reps)

Romanian Deadlifts

Nordic Curls

Any other suggestions?

 

[martex]

@mariajo goblet squats

 

[swhnly65]

@mariajo Bulgarian split squats. 34kg dumbbells in each hand would be heavy and would probably kick your ass in a higher rep range unless you’re a reasonably advanced lifter. I’ve been using them as my primary leg movement lately and it’s been great

Can also look at weighted step ups with the dumbbells as another good option to add

 

[allyssandra]

@mariajo Tempo anything.

 

[dobichlan18]

@mariajo If you want to get the failure feeling safely, you can do a 'back off set' of multiple movements: e.g. 2 RIR back squat followed by 0 RIR dumbbell goblet squats followed by 0 RIR bodyweight squats.

This will pretty much fry your quads.

Other than that your list of movements is already fantastic, Nordic curls are a great exercise to push to failure safely. RDLs are also quite safe to fail and you can even do back off sets with a dumbbell.

 

[garwo123]

@mariajo Do front squats instead of back squats. If you hit failure or you feel an injury coming or something you can dump the bar forward and stop the set right there

 

[sashacat]

@garwo123 Without safeties I'd argue back squats are easier to drop. With fronts you kinda need to jump back which is way harder than jumping forward when failing on back squats, or at least it feels that way to me.

 

[kellyy08]

@sashacat Dumping the bar in a home gym would destroy their floor if they don't have appropriate flooring available. Also noise (possibly has neighbours next door/downstairs/partner in the house etc).

More ideal to setup up safeties somehow (solid boxes/trestle stand etc)

 

[mommajulesberry]

@mariajo if you have any way to set it up you could do like a landmine belt squat. possibly a behind the back hack squat, eugene teo has a video.

if you have already invested in a barbell i recommend safeties regardless even as someone who would really not want to take barbell squats to failure too often. good price to utility ratio, you can use them to fail benches, good mornings etc.

 

[overcoming1]

@mariajo rdl,still leg deadlift, good mornings for back side,

front and back squats and if no rack barbell hack squat,bugarian split squat,lunge,pistol squat

 

[looni]

@mariajo I would do some regular stance barbell squats first.

Then, either front squats or narrow stanced barbell squats to try and hit quads.

Then, RDL / Straight leg barbell deadlifts for hamstrings.

Finish of with the John Meadows style split squat drop set of death method.

Maybe some body weight lunges too, but honestly after those 4 exercises done with correct intensity, your legs should be smoked.

 

[fragment]

@mariajo Barbell: Front squats, zercher squats, zercher split squats

Dumbbells: bulgarian split squats

 

[cosimnot]

@mariajo Pre-exhaust supersets really shine in this case. E.g. using the squat stand do a set of 10-20 reps, to ~0-2 RIR, of either sissy squats or spanish squats (use bands, sit way back) -- you can hold a DB if needed for either of these, then 5-30 seconds later do a set of barbell squats [e.g. back squats or zercher squats, though front/zombies can work if you really know what you are doing] for 10 to 20 reps, to 0-1 RIR. If you actually fail, shoot your butt up and finish with a good morning. The load you're lifting will be like half of what you normally would do, so your quads will be fried but hip extensors not so much so a good morning should be easy. You should be able to eyeball the weight on the BB vs an 'easy' good morning single before you ever attempt this.

Kickstand squats are another option -- the back leg is just there for balance but if for some reason you actually fail, plant the back foot and stand up with both feet.

It may not fit your budget, but if you already have olympic plates, something like a kensui vest could make a lot of sense. Weight vests pair very nicely with dumbbells for loading lunges and split squats.

 

[dawn16]

@mariajo I do think training legs to failure w/ just dumbbells and a barbell would be more sketchy than using machines but I'll throw out some ideas

- Calfs - leg raises, preferably I'd say single leg raises holding a dumbbell. Make sure you get full range of motion and really feel that stretch.

- Quads - I'd do Bulgarian split squats w/ the dumbbell. You could also do lunges w/ the dumbbells. Another option is front squats. It's way easier to bail and safer than a traditional squat.

- Glutes - dumbbell steps up, shout out to Doug Brignole

- Hamstrings - I 100% think these will be the hardest to take to absolute failure in a safe and practical manner. The nordic curls is a good suggestion. For RDL I think it's more likely your grip goes first or your form starts to suffer and you start rounding your back.

 

[stickywicket]

@mariajo I hope your gym is cheap, if they’re gonna give you a squat rack with no safeties….. Anyhow, just get close to failure on barbell squats, and get actual failure on something like goblet squat.

 

[lovethechrist]

@mariajo Front squats, or barbell hack squats. Romanian deadlifts.

 

[tdidymas]

@mariajo Goblet Squats and Bulgarian Goat Bag Swings.

This is a good workout. Wouldn't even be setting.

 

[mariajo]

@tdidymas I always fail my goblets squats from core strength more than leg strength. My legs can easily do more load or reps in a back squat or front squat compared to a goblet squat for example.

Do you have any tips for that?

 

[tdidymas]

@mariajo I definitely get gassed holding the weight in that position. But you'll build your Anaconda strength over time which will help you in all lifts. You're also gaining mobility by doing the goblet squat.

That's two wins in my book.

 

[brandim]

@mariajo Lunges