The following details my primary leg workout from this past Saturday morning at Kirkland Gold’s Gym.  I trained with Christina and the workout was loosely designed by my coach, John Meadows.  I say loosely because I most often change things up on leg day to suit my goals and work around some problem areas (ie bad lower back).  Here is the workout…

 

Lying Leg Curls

 

Set 1 x 12 reps with 50lbs (warm-up)

Set 2 x 12 reps with 65lbs (warm-up)

Set 3 x 12 reps with 80lbs (warm-up)

Set 4 x 15 reps with 95lbs

Set 5 x 12 reps (failure) with 110lbs

Set 6 x 8 reps (failure) with 125lbs

Set 7 x 5 reps (failure) with 140lbs

 

*The key here after warming up is to select a weight that’s a tough 15 reps.  One each ensuing set go up in weight and go to failure.  Reps will obviously drop, especially as you keep rest breaks to 60 seconds or less.

 

Leg Press

 

John called for heavy barbell squats for this exercise, but I changed it due to my lower back.  I also used a different leg press from my usual Hammer Strength machine and did a Nautilus plate loaded machine.  The drop set was also my addition – FYI.

 

Set 1 x 20 reps with 2 plates/side

Set 2 x 20 reps with 3 plates/side

Set 3 x 15 reps with 4 plates/side

Set 4 x 10 reps with 5 plates/side

Set 5 x 10 reps with 6 plates/side

Set 6 x 10 reps with 7 plates/side

Set 7 x 10 reps with 8 plates/side

Set 8 x 6 reps with 9 plates/side -> drop to 8 plates/side x 6 reps -> drop to 7 plates x 6 reps -> drop to 6 plates x 6 reps -> 5 plates x 10 reps

 

*After several warm-up sets begin doing sets of 10 reps and go up in weight until you get to a really tough set of 10.  At that point make one more jump in weight and do a set of 6 reps with several drops until you are back down to your starting weight for 10 reps.  This should be brutal.

 

Ground Base Squats

 

John called for Bulgarian Split Squats, but I feel them too much in my glutes and don’t particularly want a larger ass, ha!  It turns out that my glutes got crazy sore from this anyway, lol.  Here is a great accessory for performing ground base squats: https://www.elitefts.com/eliteftstm-e-series-core-blaster.html.

 

Set 1 x 8 reps with one 25lb plate

Set 2 x 8 reps with two 25lb plates

Set 3 x 8 reps with three 25lb plates

Set 4 x 8 reps + isohold with four 25lb plates -> drop to 3 plates x 8 reps + isohold -> drop to 2 plates x 8 reps + isohold -> drop to 1 plate x 8 reps +isohold

 

*Work your way up in weight doing sets of 8 reps.  On your 4th set do 8 reps and then drop into the low position of the rep and resist for a few seconds before dropping the weight and repeating until you’re back to your starting weight.

 

Here is a video of my drop set to give you an idea of the set-up:

 

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmcb34TOZ4k]

 

Dumbbell Unilateral Stiff Legged Deads

 

Set 1 x 10 reps with 55lbs

Set 2 x 10 reps with 55lbs

Set 3 x 10 reps with 55lbs

Screenshot_2015-11-23-14-16-55~2.pngb

*These are the same as last week.  Use an incline bench or something similar for balance and perform stiff legged deadlifts with one leg at a time.

 

That concluded this primary leg workout.

 

Train hard!

Mark