Getting strong AF as fast as possible requires working up to a heavy single or triple on the regular. I worked with Natasha Aughey and we looked for a little tweak in her technique to get more weight on the board.

Getting strong legs fast, we have to look at the actual overload. The more weight we can get on the bar to increase the stimulus will lead to a bigger response for getting strong legs fast.

Working with Natasha Aughey, she vocalized that she “Warms up super slow.” Continuing, “Just to make sure.”

One thing I noticed with Natasha is she has really good ankle mobility, her knees track forward really well, and her back goes back well. She also squats full range of motion with a low bar back squat.

That leads us to our first tip.

A low bar back squat with a full range of motion, and because the bar placement is over the hips more, a person can handle more load on the bar in the bottom position which will help increase the stimulus. Ultimately, this will lead to more weight on the bar and stronger legs a lot faster.

Low bar back squatting helps increase a person’s leg strength because the load can be greater.

Natasha talked about squatting in a gym with mirrors that allow her to see everything, like how her knees are moving, vocalizing her like for using mirrors. Poliquin would talk about not using mirrors because it could impede technique. There has also been research that discusses this same principle because of a slight delay occurring. What’s interesting, and where I agree with Natasha, there is an elite, female weightlifter, Kuo, who is the greatest in the world right now, who will consistently do her warm-ups in front of a mirror. Anecdotally, the use of mirrors works for a few people, especially more unique athletes who like to see themselves move to help fix mechanical issues.

Natasha told me that when she is lifting heavier, she will rest anywhere from 4 to 8 minutes depending on how heavy. With accessory movements, she said it is about 2 minutes of rest between sets. I just thought it sounded like a shot putters workout.

Bulgarian split squats, walking lunges, single-leg leg presses, or anything like that will help get strong legs fast. 

Natasha did walking lunges holding 60# dumbbells in each hand. She did twenty straight reps. I used bodyweight. I did hammer curl the 60# dumbbells. 

I did do single-leg leg presses after the lunges. It is amazing how much stronger my left leg is than my right. Natasha spoke about how she noticed the difference in strength, mobility, and smoothness performing a single-leg leg press. 

With unilateral accessory work, athletes will figure out quickly where they have a problem. Noticing where one side feels the weight much more than the other highlights the key to doing unilateral accessory work for helping get the legs strong fast. 

Just a disclaimer, I did start to use the 60# dumbbells for the walking lunges after the first set. 

Hammering the lower back means we are also hammering our hamstrings and glutes to a point. The goal is to get all of those muscles to sequence together and fire in the most coordinated manner possible. If all the muscles are coordinated, we can do heavier weights when back squatting, pulling off the floor, doing weightlifting exercises, or jumping off the floor.

The main goal behind doing back work is to stay healthy. It is a form of injury prevention and rehabilitation to a point. We also want to focus on strengthening the back so it isn’t the weakest link. A strong back allows people to squat more and will transfer to increasing leg strength as fast as possible.

Focus on a full range of motion low bar back squatting, unilateral accessory work, and improve back strength. If a person’s back strength and back endurance are through the roof, strong legs come around much faster. Put in the work and harvest the results.