One of my favorite mentors in bodyweight exercises is a man nicknamed Hannibal for King. You have probably heard of him.
When doing just bodyweight exercises… one of the most challenging areas of the body to workout is the legs. How do you make the exercises even more challenging so that you tear muscle tissue and have them build back stronger and bigger?
Increase the Time Under Tension.
I talked about this a few weeks ago. You’ve got to keep your muscles under a significant amount of tension and time.
Today’s workout will incorporate the time under tension principle for our legs.
Why Is It Called Hannibal For King?
This workout is a tribute to him. One of his favorite leg exercises is a squat with your legs together and heels up in the air. You can check out the video here.
I designed this workout to incorporate his leg exercise and the TUT principle.
I think you’ll “enjoy” it. 😉
The Hannibal For King Bodyweight Leg Workout
For today’s workout you’ll be doing a pyramid style training. Your calves will be worked as an isometric and your quads and hams will be worked in both the eccentric and concentric phases.
Check out the video and follow along:
The Workout:
15 Hannibal Squats
15 sec Low Squat Hold
15 sec Rest
14 Hannibal Squats
14 sec Low Squat Hold
14 sec Rest
13 Hannibal Squats
13 sec Low Squat Hold
13 sec Rest
Continue until you get to zero!
The total number of Hannibal Squats you’ll be doing is 120. Its tough.
Go ahead and give it a whirl.
-Todd
Great workout, Todd! Did this as a finisher for a leg workout. I was training barefoot, but afterwards found it quite hard to stand on one leg to put my socks back on. 🙂
LOL! Sounds gruesome Menno!
Great exercise, Todd! I really enjoy the hannibal squat.
I love to work my legs. I am the opposite of you. It is easy for me to build leg muscle and takes longer for arms. Possibly because I am a woman =O
I think next time I might start the pyramid at 20 or 25!
Thanks =)
Hi Zel,
🙂 Very impressive to start the pyramid at 25! Wow!
Hey Todd,
Thank you for the inspiration (again). Great exercise. I used it as a finisher after a 7,5K trail run. Got some good burning!
Next time a little more camera on your feet please 🙂
(they fell off the screen).
Thanks for the tip Albert! I will work on that. 🙂
Glad you like the exercise.
Thanks for the scheme …
I’ll give it a try to fix sore old (71 yrs) marathoner knees …
Hey Tony, make sure to do it slowly. If your knees give you problems than back off a bit.
Hey Todd this is cool, Cant wait to give it a try, looks good for folks with dodgy backs like myself who dont like using weights for legs.
Hey Craig, let me know what you think. Yes, if you have low back problems than using weights can certainly aggregate it.
Went for a jog up the hill this morning then cracked out a few of these at the top. The squat hold is fairly intense after the hannible squats (and after running up a big hill 🙂 )
Quick tip.. if youve not got a lot of ankle mobility (like me ) do the squat hold with something about an inch high under your heals, you’ll find it much more comfortable and you’ll be able to get lower and better use of your quads. Or alternatively, what i did this morning was did the squat hold facing down hill so my heals were slighlty higher than my toes. I can get a much better squat that way.
Great tip Craig! You’ll want to build up the mobility because the squat helps to increase calf strength too.
Hi Todd Thanks for this routine. This is wounderful… I will included in my routine. Thanks
I appreciate that Norma. Glad you like it. 🙂
This is great, I just started putting together a routine for my impossibly skinny legs, and this post pops up in my Facebook feed, thanks man.
I decided December will be mostly for my legs because, as earlier stated, they’re way too skinny.
Great idea Kofi! Glad the timing was right. Remember that when it comes to building muscle nutrition is super important too. You have to eat an excess of calories.