The Lower-Body Shredder

Workout Tips

You need to lift heavy if you want to build serious muscle size. But you also need to create metabolic stress by increasing the time your muscles are under tension. If you don't, you're leaving gains on the table.

The 10-minute body-weight squat flow from Men's Health Fitness Director BJ Gaddour is a perfect equipment-free routine to create metabolic stress.

You can add it to the end of your workout or after heavy squats to make sure you cover all of your muscle-building bases. Watch the video above to see Gaddour perform it. (Looking for another short routine? Check out The 10-Minute Ab Workout Anyone Can Do.)

It works like this: You'll flow between a variety of squatting positions, holding each one for 5 to 10 seconds (or longer if you want) for 10 minutes straight. Your variation options are standard squats, split squats, and lateral squats. Try to seamlessly transition from one variation to the next with little or no rest.

Need some relief during the 10 minutes? (Trust us, you will! Your legs will be on fire.) Use a single-leg balance hold as an active recovery position.

Then get right back into the flow when you're ready. This is also a great way to figure out if you have a tighter or weaker side. If you find one, spend more time in that squat variation to fix your imbalances and to ultimately enhance your performance.

While doing this routine, you'll also improve hip mobility and build stability at extreme joint angles–the positions in which you are most likely to get injured.

Besides performing this at the end of a workout, you can do this on your off days as an active recovery or as a 5-minute warmup on squat or leg days, too.

For more ways to transform your  body, check out The Better Man Project, the new book from the Editor-in-Chief of Men's Health. It's a jam-packed user's guide to every aspect of a man's life, with more than 2,000 body hacks and fitness, nutrition, health, and sex secrets. All to make you a better man in every way that counts.

Workout Tips

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