This equipment-free, 15-minute leg workout will get your thighs burning

Joe Wicks' short routine helps build a stronger base and lower body muscle

Woman holding a lunge
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Not everyone enjoys leg day, but a muscular lower body helps build stability, lowers your risk of injury, and gives firm support for other exercises too. If you don't like spending too long on lower-body exercises, you can train your legs with just a 15-minute workout.

Even if you're already using the best leg workouts in your training, this short session helps shake up your routine. As you don't need much time, it also makes an ideal addition to your regular exercise.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is at the core of the Body Coach's workouts, and this short equipment-free routine follows a similar path. You'll move for 45 seconds, followed by a 15-second before progressing to the next exercise.

Watch the Body Coach's 15-minute leg burner

HIIT is an effective way to work out as you achieve a lot in a short amount of time. Whether work, family, or other commitments make it a challenge to get to the gym for a long session, you can fit in HIIT around your schedule.

As you keep the intensity high throughout, with only a few seconds to take a breather, your heart rate is always up too. This means that you not only burn energy during the workout, but it helps torch fat for hours after as well.

This session comes from The Body Coach, a fitness-focused company founded by Joe Wicks. During the pandemic, Wicks became famous globally for his accessible PE with Joe YouTube workouts throughout 2020.

Following along to the video can help you develop your form, as Wicks performs each move along with you and keeps you focused and motivated. Still, this won't be right for everyone, so here's the moves if you'd prefer to do it in your own time.

The Body Coach's leg burner moves

  • Squats
  • Sumo Squats
  • Squat hold
  • Squat jumps
  • Glute bridge (left)
  • Glute bridge (right)
  • Lunge pulses (left)
  • Lunge pulses (right)
  • Duck walks
  • Frog jumps
  • Squat hold
  • Lunge jumps
  • Half burpee
  • Squats
  • Squat hold, squat jump, squat pulses

The routine is great for building lower body strength, but perhaps you'd like something a bit more targeted. The best workouts for glutes help develop muscle to support your lower back and aid weight lifting.

If you enjoy HIIT workouts, it might be worth picking up one of the best fitness trackers as well. These wrist-worn devices help you track your progress, monitor your sleep, and keep tabs on your heart rate, a key factor for intense exercise.

James Frew
Fitness Editor

James is a London-based journalist and Fitness Editor at Fit&Well. He has over five years experience in fitness tech, including time spent as the Buyer’s Guide Editor and Staff Writer at technology publication MakeUseOf. In 2014 he was diagnosed with a chronic health condition, which spurred his interest in health, fitness, and lifestyle management.


In the years since, he has become a devoted meditator, experimented with workout styles and exercises, and used various gadgets to monitor his health. In recent times, James has been absorbed by the intersection between mental health, fitness, sustainability, and environmentalism. When not concerning himself with health and technology, James can be found excitedly checking out each week’s New Music Friday releases.