To make these logs a little more enjoyable for you all, each log I will add a number of mini lesson(s) that was pertinent to the days training and how it can be of benefit to you.
As the title says, todays training was legs (quad focus). My right TFL and quad were acting up so I modified training away from the heavier compounds and added some different tensions, tempos and exercises I have not done in a while. This still creates an optimal environment to stimulate the legs, but will not do as much mechanical damage as heavy compounds will.
I always start with hamstrings(knee flexion focused). I worked up in sets of 12 (single leg standing ham curl) until I reached a weight that sacrificed my form. I hit two additional sets at that weight then did a triple drop set. One trick for hamstrings when your doing unilateral training is to focus on driving the quad into the pad as hard as you can (this is called irradiation) and will build tension which creates a more stable environment for the contraction.
Next, I moved to banded leg press. I used two elitefts green bands and doubled them up. I worked up in sets of 10 to get the quads pumped and believe it worked out to be 6 or 7 working sets for12-15 reps up to 7/8 plates per side. Blowing your legs up via the leg press can be trickier than you think. A lot of people will attempt to just push into the leg press without taking into consideration the line of force in which they are driving through. This matters a great deal. Changing the line of force changes the muscles targeted. As you notice in the video I let my knees travel outside my hips slightly so when I'm pushing the line of force is out to in, not directly in line. This places emphasis on the "quad sweep". Secondly, focusing on extending the knee by pushing your feet up through the front of you shoe will create more tension on the lower knee extensors rather then higher up in the quad. This was my last set below.
I wanted to progress to my third week of heavy hack squats but due to the nagging quad I switched it up and did a reverse hack squat with my foot placement extremely low to target my quads. I didn't go super heavy here and worried more about slow controlled eccentrics and explosive concentric. You will notice that I let me knees break first. This is to ensure that my quads take a majority of the tension instead of my hips. Whatever breaks first gets the tension first. 5 plates for some reps for 3-4 sets. This was my last set. I believe it was for 10 or 12 reps.
Next was Single leg Split squats. I did this with my front foot elevated slightly for a larger ROM. My emphasis was pushing my knee forward(on the eccentric) for a big stretch then driving it back so it was directly in line with my heel. I was not pushing down into the weight. This takes the emphasis of the glutes (somewhat) and puts more on the quads. 4 sets with the 50lb db for sets of 10-12 with only 1 minute rest between sets. This was the last set shown.
Lastly, just to be a dick to myself I completed a widomaker set (an all out set of 20-25 reps) on smith squats. I think I got somewhere around 25 reps with 2 plates and a quarter on each side. It sucked.
I sat, drank my post workout, and watched the bears lose another one. All in all it was some good training. Next week I plan on being at QUADS GYM in Chicago and training with one of my friends and clients. I will definitely get some good footage of us using some different toys that they have there.