Try This Taekwondo-Inspired Olympic "Leg Day" Workout Routine With Physiclo

By Stephen Lambdin

2016 US Olympic Team and current US National Team member in the sport of Taekwondo

It can be difficult to find a way to get more out of your workouts each time, but these resistance pants from Physiclo definitely provide that chance. Its rare to find something as simple as clothing to make your workout harder. Its an easy way to work harder AND smarter, and that's why I've become such a fan of them.

Here's my favorite workout routine that I do with my Physiclo resistance shorts. Start with light or no weight, and build up. Don’t underestimate these drills! They're fantastic for runners and athletes, as they cultivate a huge amount of mobility. I usually start with 3 sets of 10 reps for every workout.

Warmup:

Jefferson Curls

Equipment: Barbell, kettlebell, or dumbbell

This is one of those underrated drills that is 99% about technique. The slower you do it, the harder these get. I love adding in my Physiclo pants on these, because they amplify any areas you need to work on. They make sure you are staying active and engaged the whole time, and take the burn to a whole other level.

Stand up tall with your legs straight and feet together. Tuck your chin into your chest, then slowly flex your spine (rounding your back) one vertebrae at a time. You should feel like the weight is “pulling” you down to the floor. Be sure to breathe consistently throughout the movement, drop as low as you can while keeping your legs locked out, and using your hands to reach.

To come up, simply reverse the movement. It helps to picture slowly coming back up one vertebrae at a time beginning with the low back, and working your way up. Keep your chin tucked into your chest throughout, waiting until you are standing up all the way before finally extending your neck straight. The Jefferson curl is amazing for stretching your hamstrings, glutes, and even low traps. With your physiclo pants on, this warmup provides a huge amount of bang for your buck!

Quick Keys to Success:

• The slower the better!
• Build up in weight. Start light.
• Aim to lay your body on your quads and shins

Side-To-Side Squats

Start by stepping into a side lunge, focusing on keep your weight on your bent leg, keeping a neutral spine, and a tight core. Keeping as close to the floor transition from one side to the other, and back. That’s one rep. I start my workouts with 3 sets of 5 reps. Most people underestimate this one, but focusing on staying low makes sure to warm up your core, your hips, and all those tiny stabilizers that are often overlooked.

Particularly for martial artists, this increases your ability to do a cut kick, or side kick. The more mobile you are at this drill, the greater your ability to get your leg over your opponents to stop them from coming in.

One of the biggest challenges of this exercise is maintaining a smooth path, and not getting stuck on each side’s transition. I do these in my resistance shorts mainly for the benefits on each side of the exercise. They cause just enough trouble to force you to focus on engaging your glutes to maintain a steady movement pattern.

Quick Keys to Success:

• The slower the better!
• Stay low.
• Come to a complete stop on each side.

Workout Drills

Lateral Speed Skater Squats

This is my favorite drill for developing explosive lateral power. The goal of this drill is to produce max power transitioning off one foot, coming to a complete stop, and exploding back the other direction. Start on one leg, in a quarter squat. Explode laterally, and land on the opposite foot. Be sure to load the posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings, and calves). If you’re feeling the burn in your quads, you’re leaning too far forward. 

This drill impacts your ability to kick, quickly come to a stop, and change direction to get out of the way of their counter. It’s already hard to maintain good technique on these, but when you throw in your Physiclo pants you get tired in half the time. The quicker you can get to the hard work, the more you’ll get out of this drill, and that’s exactly what these pants do.

Quick Keys to Success:

• Come to a complete stop each time you land.
• If you’re having trouble landing, shorten the distance of your jump.

Lateral Hurdle Redirections

Equipment: Hurdles or cones

Place 5 hurdles a comfortable distance apart. Starting on one side, with your inside knee raised, and quickly step in between each hurdle. Pump your arms, and focus on quick contact time on the ground. Down and back is one rep. Aim for 3 to 5 sets with a 1-minute break in between each set.

This drill is great to help develop quick transition time in between your kicks. It doesn’t matter if each kick you throw is the best in the world if you take an eternity to get to the next kick. Wearing your Physiclo for this drill helps you develop a quick contact time through constant resistance. A few weeks doing this drill in your Physiclo shorts, and you get the same benefit of having done it for months without them. Elite athletes are all about the path of least resistance, and that’s why I don’t do this drill without my Physiclo on.

Quick Keys to Success:

• High knees, and remember to pump your arms.
• Focus on driving through the ground
• Fast transition on the edges, and quick contact time on the ground.

Single-Leg Romanian Deadlifts (RDL)

Equipment: Dumbbell or kettlebell

Stand balancing on your right leg and hold a dumbbell with your left hand in front of your thigh. Sit your hips back as if you were being pulled by a rope attached to your waist, and allow your right knee to bend slightly. Your left leg should be straight and in a straight line with your body throughout the rep. Focus on keeping your back flat, continue to bend at the waist until the dumbbell is at about mid-shin height. Drive through your heel and push your hips forward to stand up to the starting position.

Single leg RDL is a staple in my routine thanks to the massive gains in stability, and single leg strength. This is great for creating power in your kicks. I aim for roughly 3 to 5 sets of 8 at least once a week.

This is another technique heavy exercise that is perfect for Physiclo! The single leg RDL with Physiclo pants force you to stabilize against built in resistance. This is a huge benefit for kicking athletes, because getting used to that extra resistance improves your kicks twice as fast.

Quick Keys to Success:

• Neutral spine. Focus your eyes on a fixed object about 10 feet in front of you.
• Slight bend in the base leg. Load the posterior chain.
• Strong stable core. Let your leg do the work.
• Avoid rounding your back as you lower the dumbbell, especially as it gets close to the ground

Conditioning

30-Second Intervals 

(30 seconds high intensity- 30 seconds low intensity)

Equipment: Anything! I prefer a standard stationary bike, but for a real challenge try it on an Airdyne.

Simple, and effective, this can be tailored to meet the needs of a wide variety of what you’re trying to do. The idea is simple: 30 seconds of high intensity, followed by 30 seconds of low intensity. Want to use it for a warm-up? Go for 10 minutes total, and build up to a sprint by the last set of work. Want to finish the workout strong? Hit that same 10 minutes with max-effort for each of the work sets.

This is my go-to warmup, and I start most workouts with 10 minutes. Then once a week I go all in on this drill at the end of training for max effort! Throw on the physiclo pants and watch your heartrate skyrocket! Why do something for 30 minutes, when you can throw these on and get the same amount of work done in 5?

Quick Keys to Success:

• Focused effort for 30 seconds
• If this is max effort, and you’re not toast at the end, you didn’t give it enough.