Gaining Muscle and Losing Fat (2015)

Ass-to-floor dumbbell squats. I like doing those because when you really go down low for a rep, you realize that you just don't need massive weight. Not only do you get a great leg workout, but your forearms, shoulders and traps are all working full steam just to hold the dumbbells throughout the exercise. And another thing I noticed is that because the dumbbells are being held on each side of you, you can't really spread your legs out wide like you would in a traditional squat with a barbell because the dumbbells will hit your legs on the way down. So yo have to keep your feet about a foot apart and I've noticed that this narrow stance dramatically decreases the amount of weight that I can squat. I don't know enough about the human body to understand where all the power comes from when your stance is wide. All I know is that a lot of that power is pretty much gone with a narrow stance. So to me dumbbell squats are just harder version of barbell squats, which means less weight is required, which also minimizes the chance for injury.

I also do stiff-legged deadlifts, lunges, bench step-ups, and even pistol squats on occasion. And keep in mind that I have an Inspire multi-station gym, which allows me to do leg extensions and leg presses, but I find both of those exercises to be inferior compared to dumbbell squats.

 

The only thing I would add as an asterisk to this picture is that Rich works out for a living, so one would expect him to look damn good.