By RealJock Staff

This exercise provided courtesy of Billy Polson, founder and co-owner of DIAKADI Body training gym, voted best personal training gym in San Francisco by CitySearch in 2006.

Benefits
Some of the strongest legs in the world belong to skiers. So who better to provide us with a killer leg set than the Colorado Women's Ski Team? Alternate sets of squat bounces, center and side, and finish up with giant squat jumps, to give you that downhill skier's edge without ever hitting the mountain.

Muscles Worked
Legs

Starting Position
With feet hip-width apart and your arms together in front of you, sit back into a deep squat. Bend your hips and press them back behind you as you bend your knees. Keep your back flat and your weight in your heels (see Photo 1).

Exercise

1. From the starting position, perform eight center bounce squats: Bring your hips up about halfway to standing, then press back into the deep squat. Keep your back flat and your weight in your heels as you do these (see Photo 2).
2. After you have finished eight of the center bounce squats, immediately move into side squat bounces. Take one leg out to the side, bending that knee and keeping the foot facing forward. Allow the other leg to straighten, such that you bring your weight over the bent leg and the straight leg is extended to the side. Remaining in a squat position, with your hips pressed back behind you, rise halfway to standing and then "bounce" down low again into the deep squat. Repeat until you have done eight side bounce squats on one side, then switch legs and do eight with the other leg to the side (see Photos 3 and 4).
3. After you've completed both sets of side squats, return to the starting position (the deep center squat) and repeat the center bounce squats, as you did at the beginning of the set. Do eight center bounce squats before moving on to the squat jumps (see Photo 5).
4. From the starting position once again, perform eight center squat jumps. From the deep squat, press up off the floor and jump toward the ceiling, bringing your arms overhead as you jump. Jump as high as you can, and land with your knees slightly bent, lowering immediately into the deep squat once again. After you have completed eight of these squat jumps, you will have done one entire repetition of this combination exercise. Do a total of three reps to complete one set.

About Billy Polson: Billy Polson is the founder and co-owner of DIAKADI Body training gym, which was voted the best personal training gym in San Francisco by CitySearch in 2006. A competitive swimmer and triathlete in his own right, Polson has over 15 years of experience working as a coach and trainer, and was recently named by Men's Journal Magazine (December 2005) as one of the Top 100 Trainers in America.