The following details my primary leg workout performed last Saturday at Kirkland Gold’s Gym.  I’m exactly 1 week post-contest as of this workout.  I honestly wavered on whether or not to compete in the Olympia after winning the Arctic Pro, but since winning both the Chicago Pro and Vancouver BC Pro/Am I signed my athlete contract and plan to enter the 212 Olympia on September 16-17 in Las Vegas.  The question became how to maintain my conditioning without burning out over the next 9 weeks?

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I decided to relax my diet slightly for about 4 weeks and then go back into full-on contest prep-mode for the final push to the O.  In regards to training I plan to back off the intensity for 4 weeks as well and approach most workouts as though they were all secondary/pump workouts.  That being said if I’m feeling good I might push things a little on days normally designated as primary/heavy lifting days – If not with intensity techniques, then with volume.  Therefore, if you follow my training log this is what you’ll see for the next month, after which I’ll jump back into the final 6 weeks of the John Meadows program I jettisoned with all the depletion workouts I did for the last 5 weeks competing in 4 separate competitions.

 

I guess you could say I was feeling pretty good for this workout because I added a number of intensity techniques, lol.  Well, that’s not entirely true because my back is a little jacked up.  I put it out about 3 days before competing in Vancouver BC and could barely tie my shoes by the day of the competition.  The lower back issues continued to linger, but I got a new bar from EliteFTS and was super anxious to try it; albeit with very light weight.  Here is the workout that my bride and I did…

 

Seated Leg Curls

 

The only seated leg curl machine at Kirkland Gold’s Gym is a unilateral Life Fitness machine so weight listed is per each leg - FYI.

 

Set 1 x 15 reps with 40lbs

Set 2 x 12 reps with 50lbs

Set 3 x 10 reps with 60lbs

Set 4 x 8 reps with 70lbs

Set 5 x 6 reps with 80lbs -> drop to 60lbs x 6 reps -> drop to 40lbs x 6 reps

 

*Pyramid up in weight until you get to something that is tough for 6 reps.  At that point drop the weight two times and go for 6 reps on each drop.  The key here, especially in light of being 1 week post-contest, is to maintain perfect form and a slow, controlled rep tempo.  I held the contraction for a split second on every rep as well.

 

Hip Thrusters

 

Set 1 x 15 reps with 95lbs

Set 2 x 14 reps with 145lbs

Set 3 x 12 reps with 165lbs

Set 4 x 12 reps with 185lbs

Set 5 x 10 reps with 195lbs

 

*The key here is to ensure you don’t hyperextend your back at the top, however pause and flex your glutes hard for a 2 second count in the contracted position on every rep on all sets.

 

Superset: Bandbell E-Maxx Squats & Leg Extensions

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This is the new Bandbell E-Maxx Bar I ordered from EliteFTS:  https://www.elitefts.com/shop/new/bandbell-e-maxx-bar.html.  I did a couple warm-up/feel sets with the E-Maxx bar to get a feel for it.  Due to my lower back I kept the weight light and the reps on the high side.

 

E-Maxx Squats x 20 reps with E-Maxx Bar with 100lbs added

Immediately followed by…

Leg Extensions x 10 reps with 205lbs

 

*The Bandbell bar is designed to oscillate thereby forcing you to stay tight and causing more motor units to fire.  The pump and burn was intense, probably because I rarely squat and I’m drinking more Plazma intra-workout.  I purposely tried to stop at parallel and not lock-out to maintain continuous tension. Go immediately to leg extensions and aim for 10 reps with a moderately heavy weight.  I performed the superset for 3 rounds.

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Here is a video:

 

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9-PCwwTVA4]

 

Banded Leg Press

 

I added two of these bands to create greater tension: https://www.elitefts.com/shop/bars-weights/bands/pro-light-resistance-band.html.

 

Set 1 x 10 reps with 2 plates/side + bands

Set 2 x 10 reps with 3 plates/side + bands

Set 3 x 10 reps with 4 plates/side + bands

Set 4 x 10 reps with 5 plates/side + bands

Set 5 x 10 reps with 6 plates/side + bands

 

*I dropped the reps down a bit to 10 and continued adding plates until I got to a tough set of 10 before stopping.

 

Here is a video so you can see the band set-up:

 

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7FptMaV5As]

 

Dumbbell Stiff-Legged Deads

 

Set 1 x 10 reps with 55lbs

Set 2 x 10 reps with 55lbs

Set 3 x 10 reps with 55lbs

 

*I placed my toes on 2.5lb plates to increase the stretch at the bottom, but kept the weight light due to my lower back.  Aim for continuous tension here.

 

That concluded this leg workout.  I’m trying to back off the intensity if by nothing else the pounds I move.  I certainly enjoyed a massive pump today!

 

Train hard!

Mark