Summer Workout Challenge Day 1: 20-Minute Legs & Back Workout (Max 20)

This is day 1 of my Max 20 program, where strength training is made simple. It's 20 minutes a day, max impact, and you can get the full program when you click the link in the description below. While you're there, hit that subscribe button. All right team, welcome to our brand new program Max 20. I'm Lindsey Bomgren of Nourish Move Love, and I'm joined by the amazing Rachel. She'll be offering modifications throughout this program. And she's got someone special on set with us today. Ah! Yes, so if you need those pregnancy modifications, you can go ahead and follow along with Rach. All right, you guys, we are kicking off Max 20 Day 1, targeting the two largest muscles in your body, your legs and your back. If you've been around Nourish, Move, Love, you know this is my favorite way to start a program. And today we're keeping it super simple. We've got 4 big lifts, you guys, and we've put them on a PDF tracking sheet per your request so you can track your weights and your sets used for every exercise today. Download the tracking sheet, get the full program when you click the link in the description below. These tracking sheets are entirely free and they're meant to help you track your progress throughout this program. All right, are you ready for today's workout?

So excited.

I'm very excited because we've got a brand new program, which means new formats, and we're doing something we've never done before. This program is going to be 4 sets, you guys. Max muscle building in a short amount of time. Like I said, 4 big compound lifts. You're going to do each today for 40 seconds on, followed by a 20-second rest. All right, the goal, and then we're going to do it times 4 sets. So the goal is to fatigue the muscles we're working. You have 3 lower body exercises and 1 big back exercise. I'm going to be hitting that pull-up bar. Rachel's going to be showing you the modification, which is a single arm row using dumbbells. I'm going to be trying to stick with my 30-pound dumbbells throughout this workout. So dumbbells and a pull-up bar for me and just a set of dumbbells for Rachel. Ready to jump in? Let's do it.

Day 1.

Let's go, day 1. That day 1 energy is here. Let's start with a warmup, you guys. Body weight warmup. Feet are shoulder width distance apart. Just flap those wings. So excited to kick off the new program. We go big inhale, reach up, exhale, hands to the back of the head. One good morning, one T-spine rotation. So hip hinge, stand tall, open and rotate. Fingers go long. Nice. Do it again. Hinge, soft bend in the knees, open and rotate, rotating through that core. Nice work. So hips go back, stand tall, lengthen through the spine as you reach the fingertips away from each other. Nice, big reach here. All right, we're gonna do one more each way. We're gonna hold that reach open. Hold here, hold here. If it feels good for you, tip back, open this front side of the body, open the lats. Nice work, back to center. One more good morning. Left side, left side, reach open and tip back, tip back. Nice, awesome job. From here, we're gonna go into squats. Elbows are gonna fall between my knees. At the top, elbows go back and squeeze. Little squat with a back squeeze. On the back squeeze, I want you to think shoulder blades go back and down. Activate the back. Squat, activate the back. Okay, functional warm-up again, taking you through the exercises you're gonna see in this program. Today is squats, deadlifts, lateral lunges, pull-ups or rows. Squeeze that back, shoulder blades go back and down. 2 more, 2 more right here. Down, up. Last one right here. Down, up. Hold your arms here, fingertips to shoulders. Chicken wings, chicken wing shoulder rolls, big shoulder rolls. Nice, make big circles with those elbows. Just makes the shoulder roll more intentional because you shorten the lever, right? Now you're making it with your elbow, full range of motion here.

Nice.

Two more. Last one, last one. Awesome job. Take it wide, take it wide. Lateral squat. We're going to hit right and left. Toes face me or slightly out. Hit right, center, left, center. Okay, so this is squat. My feet are planted. In the workout, you're going to see a lateral lunge. We're going to take a big step side to side. We're warming up those inner thighs and outer glutes right here. Really thinking about sitting back into that hip. Sit back into that hip. Nice. Two more. Hit. Nice. Hold left. Hold left. Can you sit in here? Hands can come to the ground if you feel it's comfortable for you. Pop these toes up towards the ceiling. Really open up this inner thigh right here. Nice. Walk it over. Same thing, other side. Walk it over. Walk it over. Toes can pop. Awesome job. Nice work. From here, toes face me. Hands hit the mat. Wide fold. Wide leg fold. Hands hit the mat, step back, find a high plank position. Okay, option is to stay on your toes, option is to drop to your knees, take it up to an incline, pick your level. Take a nice wide base with your feet. Shoulder taps, tap, tap. We're warming up the core here, transferring that weight side to side. Nice. You have 4, 3, 2, 1. Best stretch ever. You're gonna see it every day. Right foot outside, right hand open, reach. Nice. Now take this right hand and thread the needle, right wrist under left. Can you reach through? If that's not available to you, just come back to center. Same thing, other side, left foot outside, left hand, big reach and twist. Gaze follows fingertips. Thread the needle, thread it. Nice. Do it again. Do it again. Right foot outside, right hand, reach and thread. Nice. Same thing, left side. Same thing, left side. Here we go. Reach and thread. Nice work. From here, give me one push back down dog. Pedal the heels, knees hit the mat. Knees go wide, frog rocks. Forearms come to the ground, knees are wide right here. Slight rock forward and back. This is a great way to open the hips. I love doing this on leg day. Today is lower body focus. You got 3 lower body moves, better range of motion in those squats and lunges. Open those hips right here. Nice work, awesome job. From here, hold. Give me a cat-cow in this position, or you can go to a standard cat-cow if that feels better for you. Okay, drop the belly, lift the chin. And now roll that spine up. Oh, it's a lot harder when your legs are open, isn't it? Nice. Do it again. Drop the belly, lift the chin, and reverse it. Nice. From here, I'm gonna go into an up dog. Right leg stays where it is, left leg goes behind me, hands hit the mat, push up. Up dog with internal hip rotation. Rachel's going to give you abduction, the other version of it. Nice work, nice work. Belly down, switch it out. Same thing, other side. Bring that knee up, push up, open the front side of the body. All right, you ready? We're jumping right in. We've got —yes, I know you guys love the buy-in—today's buy-in is an activation move. We're doing Superman. I'm going belly down. Rachel's got your modification, which is a bird dog. Reaching my hands away from me, creating length from fingertip to toes, I'm going to lift, trying to get my quads off the mat, activating right here. I'm going to lift and hold for 20 seconds. You get a 5-second rest, and you go back into a 20-second lift. 40-second lift total, 20 and 20. Rachel's going to switch sides during that rest. All right, here we go. We lift off in 3, 2, let's go, lift, hold. All right, the Superman lift is not about how high you can get, not about how high you can get, is about how much muscle you can activate right here. This goal is to activate the posterior chain and get those muscles ready because we're about to load them with weights. Holding, nice, hold here for 3, 2, rest and recover for 5. Nice, deep breath here, you're back up right now. Lift, hold. One more 20-second hold. Nice. Create length from fingertip to tailbone. Nice. Right here. Gaze is in front of you looking at the ground. Neutral neck. Keep breathing. Don't lose that breath. You're not holding your breath. You're breathing through it. You're breathing for 5, 4, 3, 2, and recover. Yes, team. We are up. That's your buy-in. Woo. Now we're ready to work. Some days you're gonna eat the frog. Some days it's gonna be an activation move like that. Quick sip if you need it. We jump in. First move is squats. Squats, pull-ups, deadlifts, lateral lunges. Those are your 4 moves. 4 by 4, 4 moves, 4 sets. 20 seconds on, or sorry, 40 seconds on, 20 seconds to recover. Grabbing those 30s, going heavy. Weights at my side. You could do this with a goblet squat if you want. It's a simple down up. It's a simple squat. Shoulders are down and back. You squat for 40 in 3, 2, let's We go. Inhale down, exhale push that floor away. Knees should be tracking out towards your dumbbells, pressing the ground away. Even weight distribution between your entire foot pushes the floor away. Nice strong squats here. 40 seconds is gonna put us into an 8 to 15 rep range depending on how fast you're moving through this, right? Depending on the weights you're using. I want you to be thinking about lifting heavy But really, this puts us in that moderate rep range. We're going for volume in this program. 4 sets of everything. Nice work. Push that floor away for 4, 3, 2, rest and recover. If you're with me, weights are down, hitting your pull-up bar. Option to put a band on. Rachel, single arm row. Doesn't matter which arm you're going to do, you're going to alternate. My goal is 8 pull-ups per set. Rachel, you can count your reps if you want. Nice solid single arm back row. We go in 3, 2, here we go. We're off. Nice work. If you're with me, you're thinking pull those elbows down to hips, not thinking about getting that chin over bar, pulling elbows down to hips. Nice. Yeah, Lindsey. 5 last count. I think that's I think I got one more. Get me to 8. Yeah, is that 8? Yeah, they're saying yeah. Atta girl! Still got 10 seconds. Let's go for 10. Here we go. Keep going, guys.

I knew they were going to add more. I knew it.

9, 10. Last 3, 2, rest for 20. There we go. Rest for 20. Nice work. Choose what's available to you. Stagger deadlifts. Going to go back to those heavy weights. 80% in the right foot, 20% in the left toe. Crush oranges in the armpits. Weights are tight, hips go back. Here we go, deadlifts, deadlifts. Grab your weights in 3, 2, let's go. Hinge, hinge, hinge, stand tall. I want you to think heavy front foot, light back foot. Heavy front foot, light back foot. All right, you're now working the hammy and glute. Squat hit the quad and glute. Okay, deadlift hits hammy glute. We're gonna go for an accessory move next. Nice work. So be doing a total of 2 sets on the right, 2 sets on the left for the staggered deadlift because we got 4 total. 10 more seconds, guys. Yes, you can. Nice. This is nice, slow, controlled strength training right here. For 3, 2, rest and recover. I'm gonna drop to one heavy weight. If you have lighter weights, you can use two weights. We're going for a big movement pattern here, alternating lateral lunge. So I'm going to hit right, step across my body, hit left. All right, I'm gonna hold one weight with both hands. You can hold two lighter weights. We go in 3, 2, hit right, hit right, stand up, hit left, stand up. Nice work. Think about sitting back into that hip. Nice work. This is mobility and strength training put together. You're seeing some big compound moves that are pretty bilateral or in the same plane of motion. You got your squat, 2 feet on the ground, staggered deadlift, slightly transferring that load into one leg. Now, this is your accessory move. I wanted it to be big and multiplanar. I want you to step side to side, I want you to transfer weight side to side. Big move here. Nice. Finish. Last 3, 2. You got to even it out. One more to the left. There you go. Now you rest. Woo! There you go. Quick sip of water. That's it. 4 moves. Do it again. Second set. How can you do it better? Back to squats. Back to squats in 5. Grab your weights. 3, 2, let's squat. Down, up, down, up. When in doubt, squat it out. You've heard us say that before. Squats are the king, right? Recruiting so many muscles here. Legs, glutes, core, upper back, and shoulders are turned on to hold these weights at your sides. You are sitting your butt right back between your heels. And then you are pushing that ground away with even weight distribution between both feet. You push that floor away, push it away. Yes, team. Knees are tracking out towards those dumbbells. Come on, finish. Last 3, 2, 1 more down up. One more down up. Yes. Woo. It's going to be hard to hold these weights. Forearms. I'm back on that bar. Rachel, single arm row, other side. Elbow to hip pocket. Lower with control. All right. Hitting that bar. 3. Let's go, Lindsey. 2. Come on. It's tough going into pull-ups when your heart rate is already high. Props to you. I normally hit that pause button. I'm not going to lie.

But here's the thing about a 20-minute workout is like we've got to move. You know, we take your time seriously.

Breathing. We got 15 seconds. I'm going to get 3 more to get me to 10. Let's go. Here we go. Come on, Lindsey. Yeah, Lind. Last 5, 4, 3, 2. Rest and recover. It wasn't pretty, but we got there. Take your deadlift, other side. Left foot forward, right toes popped. Okay, left foot forward, right toes popped. Heavy left foot, light right foot. Clench those oranges in your armpits. 3, 2, let's go. Hinge, hinge, hinge, hinge, hinge. Stand tall. Okay, each round I want you to focus on something, whether it's your form, Your breath right here in the deadlift. Something as a group fitness instructor I see that I love coaching in the deadlift, own the bottom of the movement. The bottom of the movement is where we can see people start to round that spine, drop out of it. It is a nice flat back. You're in control the entire time. Own the bottom of the movement. 10 more seconds, 10 more seconds. Keep those dumbbells tight to the body right here for 3, 2, rest and recover. If anything gives out, it might be my forearms in this workout. Yeah, that grip too. Grip strength, we know it's an indicator of longevity. Oh, I'm gonna— I'm just building that for my 70-year-old self. Here we go, step right, alternating lateral lunge, alternating lateral lunge in 3, 2, Hit right, hit right. I said this the first time, but the second time, I really want you to think about sitting into your hip. You're not sitting into your knee, you're sitting into your hip. Sit into the hip. Push the hips back, drive off. Push the hips back, drive off. That knee does not collapse in. Sit in the hip, not in the knee. Combining strength and mobility.

Well, the great thing about this format is you could focus on a different exercise. Really doing that well each set, right?

Absolutely. That's the goal with 10 or with, with 10 sets, with 4 sets.

Oh, do not even put that in her head.

No, thank you. No. 3, 2, 1. Here we go. Rest, grab water. 2 sets down, a little bit longer rest here. We're going to breathe before we head into set 3 and 4. But to Rachel's point, 4 sets, repetition Builds confidence, you guys. The goal is you feel so confident in your squat form, your deadlift form, your lateral lunge form, that you're putting it on repeat. It's called muscle memory, right? We know this. So, all right, Rachel, third set. Is it still the best set if we have four? It's still the best set, but we need to think of a new thing for the fourth set. We need some kind of phrase. By the end of this program, we will have a new phrase for you. Squats, third set. Gave you a little bit longer time to breathe there. Use it. 3, 2, let's go. Down, up, down, up. Typically, to your benefit, when I'm tired, you get a longer break. This isn't at home. I don't— I can't hit that spacebar. There's no pause bar for pause bar when we're live. Real deal.

But that's a good sign, right? Like, we're always talking about how do you know if you've used the right weights. Yeah, it's like You should be tired by the end of each round. Absolutely.

Like I said, we're working in that moderate rep range. You probably hear on social media, it's got to be heavy. It's got to be 1 to 6 reps. You're still going to build muscle. You're still going to build bone density, joint health, all those things, insulin resistance. They're happening. Right here for 3, 2, rest, recover. Whether you're doing 1 to 6 heavy, whether you're doing 8 to 15 moderate, or 15 to 30 lighter. All that can still happen in any of those rep ranges. It's about making it work for you where you're at. I'm going to hit this pull-up bar. If you're not on pull-ups, you're with Rachel. 3, 2, go! Let's go, Lindsey!

I feel like pull-ups are tough, but we had to include them in this program. Like, you just can't have The most efficient 20-minute workout that targets the legs and back without pull-ups.

Woo! 6, 2 more to get to 8. Come on, Lindsey. I'm going to switch my grip and go underhand here. There you go. Come on, fight for it. Let's go, team. Whoa, bananas. Gets me to 9. 3, 2, rest. Nice work. This is where I write down. I got 9 reps on that one, right? I said 8, but I always wanted 10 in my head. So I'm 1 short of what I wanted, but that's okay.

Well, you're 1 over what you said.

Tiger deadlift. Enneagram 3. Right foot forward, left leg back. Grab your weight. We go in 3, 2, let's go. Hinge, hinge, hinge. Heavy right foot, light left foot. Okay, when I say crush oranges in your armpits, it's to keep those weights close to your body, right? Woo! There you go. Come on, third set. Come on, third set. The whole goal of this program, you guys, Max 20, max results in minimum time. That's why Rachel said there's pull-ups. They're an efficient exercise. They're working 15 muscles at the same time. If I'm doing a 20-minute workout, It's going to include some pull-ups on legs and back day. Whoo! That grip for 5, 4, 3, 2, rest, recover. I just got to set them down. Alternating lateral lunges. Okay. You'll notice the heart rate's going up. We're not jumping, not doing anything crazy, but we are targeting large muscle groups. Large muscle groups require more blood flow, more oxygen. You're hitting right. In 3, 2, let's go, let's go. Hit right. Remember, sink into the hip, not the knee. Transfer the weight to the outer edge of the foot, then drive up strong, drive up strong. I love that this is such a classic strength program, but you still have this movement. You know, my thought pattern here was 2 big compound moves, right? You're squatting your deadlift, 1 big back move, pull-up or back row. And one accessory move that gets us moving in a different plane of motion. That's what's in my head when I'm writing this full body workout. 10 seconds, guys. Come on, come on. Right here. Finish it. Last 3, 2, rest. Rest for 20, water up. All right, Rach, 4th set, what is it?

I don't know. I don't have a rhyme yet.

We don't got it yet. We'll take your comments. Yeah, you comment ideas. Drop some comments, let us know what you think. Quad set. Woo! Quads! I'm gonna give you a longer break again. 5 more seconds. Grab your weights, you're on in 3, 2, let's go, let's go! Last time, last time, baby, last time. When workouts are simple like this, I believe you're going to be more consistent. You're going to stick with this. You're going to stick with this program. Come on, days 1 through 10. And if you're joining the NML app, which is linked in the description below, you're getting 10 more workouts. So you're getting 3 weeks of programming. Do you want to make this your best year ever, guys? Check out our description. We've recently launched the NML app and man, is that community so stinking strong. If you want support and accountability, Join us for 3, 2, rest. Whoo-hoo! Whoo! Hey, last time on those pull-ups. Come on, 8. Come on, 8.

There you go, Lindsey.

Let's go, Rach. Single arm row, last time. Your back is the largest muscle group. Let's put it to work. Come on. Mostly pumping myself up. 3, 2, go!

Your last time facing that pull-up bar, Lindsey. Also, remember when you couldn't even do one pull-up and now you're like, I hope I get 8? Yeah, on your fourth set. That's amazing.

I'm going to talk about why I put pull-ups in this program when I'm done. I got 3 more. Flipping my grip. Here we go. Come on, Lindsey.

It's pretty cruel to make you talk while doing pull-ups.

Ah, come on, get over that bar. 8, last 3, 2. I wanted 9, I really did. That was so Lindsey. I wanted 9. What's not happening? Left foot forward, right foot back. You got 10 seconds to breathe and then you're on deadlift for the last time. Here we go, grab those weights. 3, 3, 2, let's go, let's go. Hinge, hinge, hinge. Okay, people always say like, why is this woman putting pull-ups in her program? You want to know my real answer? Have you ever seen a woman get her first pull-up? Like, have you ever? Have you ever been the woman who got her first pull-up? That level of strength and confidence, man, I want every woman to feel that in her lifetime. That's why I put pull-ups in my program. That's why. And they're efficient. You're working 15 muscle groups at once, right? They correct posture. We do this move every day where we're picking stuff off the floor, laundry, toys, you name it. Strong back, strong legs. For 3, 2, and 1. Holy bananas. There you go. Right? Lateral lunges. OK, legs and back are your foundation. That's why it's day 1. We build off from here. These are your foundational— I call them your mommy muscles, call them what you want. They are foundational moves. Lateral lunges, grab that weight, hit right in 3, 2, let's go. I like to say legs and back go together like an early morning and a Bible study for me. Like it's my foundational pillars. When I do that, I feel so good. I feel good about my— like everything just goes up from there. Right? My cup overflows when I've got strong legs and back. When I start my morning with my quiet time in the word, right? Everything goes up from here. It's day 1. Everything goes up from here, guys. Come on. It is last round, 4th set, 10 seconds. This is it. There's no bonus buyout. Okay? We filmed an extra bonus round for you. 3, 2, 1. That is your workout. This is it. Right there. It was 20 minutes. Woo! It was heavy. It was hard. If you want a heart pumping burnout, check out the description. We filmed a bonus 10-minute full body HIIT you can add on. It's linked in the description below. If 20 minutes is what you got today, you did it, friend. Let's stretch. Okay, flap those wings. Okay, I'm going down to the ground. Rachel's staying standing. Stretch those hammies, right toes up to the ceiling, hinge at your hips. I like this. It gets me deeper into my hamstring. Standing is a great option. I put my hands on my hips to make sure my hip bones are square. I come back to center, little cat-cow action. Rachel is going to give you a standing cat-cow. Drop the belly, lift the chin, and reverse it. Tuck that chin around that spine. Half kneeling, other side. Left toes out, hands at the hips, make sure those hips are even, and then those fingers stick right into the hips. As you hinge. Oh, look at the leg shake! It is real! That leg shake is real, guys. I hope you pushed yourself during this 20-minute workout. Nice work. All right, here we go. I've got a down dog to plank. Rachel's gonna join us seated down dog. Press your chest, pedal the feet. Rachel's gonna sit right on her butt right now. I'm gonna shift into a high plank position. Okay, Rachel's gonna pull her right leg up and over, glute stretch. I'm dropping my right knee behind my left hand, going into like a little bit of a pigeon, but it's actually a little bit more of a side sit with an up dog. So I'm pressing away. Do you feel this outer glute and hip? Oh yeah. This should feel so good, especially if you felt those deadlifts in your low back. Great way to release your low back is right here. All right. Same thing, other side, right? Just switch it out. I'm going to draw left knee right here.

I love that we've had some new moves in the warm-up, cool down.

You know, we're doing basic moves in the strength workout.

Dropping some new moves in the cool down. We don't get to do that often, right?

Yeah. Sound that horn, Rachel. Sound that horn. All right, guys, that's it for us. Max 20 Day 1. We'll see you back here for Max 20 Day 2, upper body day. Awesome job knocking out Day 1. If you loved it, hit subscribe to my channel. I've queued up Day 2 of Max 20, arm day, right here. Otherwise, you can find us in entire 2-week challenge in this playlist right here. If you wanna make it a 3-week challenge, check out the NML app. It's linked in the description below.