There are lots of workout formats that work.

There are a ton of variables out there to play with to make a great workout.

And since I’ve been overwhelming you all with talking about the variables recently, I just wanted to show you how I manipulated some of them into a great squat workout the other day.

Squat Workout

WARM UP (15 minutes-ish):

Foam Rolling (Picked out places that will be used and could be tight. Quickly moved on if an assessment showed no trigger points. Spent time on areas with trigger points.)
Calves (couple of trigger points)
Hamstrings (focused on the area right under my butt since tight from other workout)
Quads (tight around knees)
Hips (TFL and glutes a bit tight)
Back (not too bad a bit tight in middle back..loosened up traps for holding KB a bit)
Adductors (good..quick sweep over cause no trigger points found but felt a bit tight)
IT Bands (good…quick sweep..no trigger points found)

Dynamic Stretches (10-15 reps each one round through all)
3 Way Ankle Mobility

Bear Squat (calves)
Hip Hurdles
Dynamic Hamstring Stretch
Dynamic Quad Stretch

Dynamic Squat Stretch
Side Lunges

Activation (1 round through 45 second holds each)
Squat Hold
Scapular Hold
High Plank Hold

Glute Bridge

STRENGTH:

1.

5 rounds of the following 1 minute on, 1 minute off:
Heavy KB Goblet Squat
(Use the heaviest KB possible, but make sure to get no fewer than 20 reps in the minute. Hold weight up at your chest and squat down to at least parallel. Do not lean forward or let the chest fall to the ground. Keep the core tight and drive up off the heels.)

Rest 2-3 minutes.

2.

5 rounds of 8-12 reps with about 1 minute of rest between:
Weighted Jump Squats 
(Can hold dumbbells by side or place a bulgarian bag around your shoulders like I did. Choose the heaviest weight you can while still being super explosive and getting high off the ground. Do not make it so heavy that you are quick and explosive with the move. Beginners may not want to make the move as explosive. They can regress to a squat or a squat then come up to their toes. They could then progress to a jump where they only slightly leave the ground. If your landings aren’t soft you need to regress! Super important to have good landing mechanics if you are adding weight!!!!)

CONDITIONING:

5 rounds, 50 ft sprints about 45 seconds to 1 minute rest between:
Sled Sprints
(Lighter weight so that you can sprint the entire distance, but challenges you. You don’t want it to be a jog!!)

COOL DOWN

Walked to let my heart rate come down and everything relax.
Stretched out a few areas that felt tight and rolled them out (calves, quads, hips were main focus)

Workout Breakdown

Above is just one way to manipulate the variables.

While I worked quickly when I worked, the workout itself wasn’t a quick circuit. I completed all rounds of one exercise before moving on. I took my time and rested and recovered in between sets.

It wasn’t a race to the finish with me trying to get everything done as quickly as possible.

It was about quality reps and getting myself to create the same quality output each and every round. I wasn’t afraid, especially with the jump squats or sprints to take more time if I needed even though I was trying to go as quickly as I felt recovered. (With the KB squats I did force myself to go on the 1 minute intervals.)

If you notice, I also only included 3 exercises. Not every workout has to have 10 or 20 different moves.

And if you also notice, I chose all movements in the same place of motion – the sagittal.

While I’ve mentioned before that you don’t only want to work in one plane of motion, there are times when you can choose to manipulate your workouts so that you really are only working in one plane of motion. The point is that you are aware of what you are doing.

And not all exercise have to be done for reps.

My squats were based on time. I had to move as quickly as possible the entire minute to perform as many squats as possible. I used my goal of around 20 reps (25 was fine but meant I should try to go up in weight) as a guide to choose a challenging weight while still keeping myself moving quickly the entire time.

I also didn’t mix up rep tempo very much. I did quick squats and then some explosive moves. So the explosive moves were quicker, but there wasn’t a huge tempo change. Didn’t want to…Didn’t need to. Not every variable needs to be used or manipulated into something crazy every workout.

The point is you can play around with workout variables and combine them in a lot of different ways. This is just one example (and one that shows an example of my warm ups too…).

Hopefully this highlights some of the ways the workout variables I’ve talked about in the past can be used and makes considering them seem a bit less daunting.

It’s even a great workout if you need one for this beautiful Friday!