The following details my leg workout from this past Saturday morning at Kirkland Gold’s Gym. The workout was designed by my coach, John Meadows, but I made a few modifications. I trained with Christina and my youngest daughter Julia. Here is the workout…
Seated Leg Curl
I’ve been reading some stuff my Charles Poliquin in which he suggests training hamstrings unilaterally. I used the unilateral leg curl at Kirkland Gold’s Gym (only one available) and rather than doing both legs simultaneously I did one at a time – alternating left to right. Weight listed is per each leg – FYI.
Set 1 x 10 reps with 40lbs (warm-up)
Set 2 x 10 reps with 50lbs (warm-up)
Set 3 x 10 reps with 60lbs (warm-up)
Set 4 x 10 reps with 70lbs
Set 5 x 10 reps with 70lbs
Set 6 x 10 reps with 70lbs
Set 7 x 10 reps (alternating) + 8 partials (both legs) with 70lbs
*The key here is to work each leg independent and alternate back-and-forth until you hit 10 reps per each leg. Flex hard in the contracted position before extending your leg back out. On your final set once you hit 10 reps with each leg then do 8 partials from the mid-point of the rep to the fully contracted position with both legs at the same time.
Reverse Banded Hack Squat
John called for barbell squats, but I opted for hacks as they are easier on my lower back – FYI. This is the band I used: https://www.elitefts.com/shop/bars-weights/bands/pro-light-resistance-band.html.
Set 1 x 10 reps with 2 plates/side
Set 2 x 10 reps with 3 plates/side
Set 4 x 10 reps with 4 plates/side
Set 5 x 10 reps with 5 plates/side
Set 6 x 6 reps with 3 plates/side -> add 2 plates x 6 reps -> add 2 plates X 6 reps -> drop 2 plates x 6 reps -> drop 2 plates x 6 reps
*The key here is to work your way up doing sets of 10 reps. John prescribed going up until your reps dropped to 6 reps, but I decided to do an ascending and descending set to finish off the exercise. It was brutal. Basically once you hit a tough set of 10 reps, drop the weight for your next set and implement an ascending and descending set.
Here is a video to give you an idea of how it is done. Christina added two plates on each change in weight up or down, but put both plates on one side to expedite the set as you’ll see in the video.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp6XWyozKa8]
Leg Press
Set 1 x 15 reps with 3 plates/side
Set 2 x 15 reps with 4 plates/side
Set 3 x 15 reps with 5 plates/side
Set 4 x 15 (1.25) reps with 6 plates/side
Set 5 x 15 (1.5) reps with 5 plates/side
Set 6 x 15 (1.75) reps with 4 plates/side
Set 7 x 20 (full) reps with 4 plates/side
*Okay so I actually read John’s instructions wrong during the workout, but what you see above is exactly what I did. My legs were destroyed from the ascending and descending finisher on hacks and this serious put me over the edge. That’s why you will see me dropping the weight from sets 4 through 6. John called for sets of 15 reps until you get to a tough set of 15. Then he wanted me to drop the reps to 10, but do one and one-quarter reps, one and one-half reps and one and three-quarter reps on the next. I erroneously kept the reps at 15 and tried to get the 1.25, 1.5 and 1.75 reps. It killed to the point I had to drop weight to continue the pattern.
Superset: Lying Leg Curl + Bulgarian Split Squats
Lying Leg Curl x 8 reps with 60lbs
Then...
Bulgarian Split Squats x 8 reps
*The key here is to do the lying leg curls with one leg for 8 reps and then get up and immediately do Bulgarian split squats for 8 reps on the same leg. Christina and I alternated so I would work my left leg, she would do her left leg, then I would do my right leg and so forth until we each hit both legs a total of 4 times.
That concluded this primary leg workout.
Train hard!
Mark