The following details my primary leg workout from this past Saturday morning at Kirkland Gold’s Gym.  The workout was designed by my coach, John Meadows, although I deviated a bit from his program.  Here is what I did…

 

Standing Leg Curl

 

Kirkland Gold’s Gym doesn’t have a true standing leg curl, so Christina and I performed these via a pulley.  If you find yourself in the same situation here is an attachment which works well: https://www.elitefts.com/spud-inc-hamstring-curl-strap.html.

 

Set 1 x 15 reps with 30lbs

Set 2 x 12 reps with 45lbs

Set 3 x 10 reps with 60lbs

Set 4 x 8 reps with 75lbs

Set 5 x 6 reps with 90lbs

 

*Pyramid up in weight and focus on contracting your hamstring hard.  I found it easier to maintain my form while standing on a 10lb plate with the non-working leg.

 

Here is a video:

 

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWJuTVyS-Ao]

 

Superset: Lying Leg Curl & Dead Squat Bar Stiff Legged Deads

 

Ok, so the previous exercise was to be superset with barbell stiff legged deads, but I didn’t have a standing leg curl in which to alternate reps.  I decided to add this combination after the pulley leg curls.

 

Lying Leg Curl x 6 reps (eccentric overload) + 6 reps (explosive) with 65lbs

Immediately followed by…

Dead Squat Bar Stiff Legged Deads x 10 reps with 85lbs

 

*On the leg curls use a lighter weight and have your training partner force the weight down on the negative as you resist on the first 6 reps (eccentric overload), then immediately pump out 6 more reps on your own as explosively as possible.  On the stiff legs the key is to focus on the stretch.  I locked my knees, and stuck my butt out on the way down allowing the weight to stretch my hamstrings before coming back up half way.  Perform the superset for 3 rounds.

 

Banded Leg Press

 

John did not call for bands today – FYI.  However, I used two of these: https://www.elitefts.com/shop/bars-weights/bands/pro-light-resistance-band.html.

 

Set 1 x 15 reps with 1 plate/side + bands

Set 2 x 15 reps with 2 plates/side + bands

Set 3 x 15 reps with 3 plates/side + bands

Set 4 x 15 reps with 4 plates/side + bands

Set 5 x 15 reps with 5 plates/side + bands

Set 6 x 15 reps with 6 plates/side + bands

 

*Keep going up in weight until you can barely get 15 reps.  It’s okay if you need to take short breaks along your way to 15 reps as I did in the video below.

 

Here is a video of my last set:

 

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6WUqpWw2z4]

 

Hack Squat

 

I usually use a band (reverse) on these, but just went with lighter weight as my legs were pretty gone – FYI.  Also, John had a superset between Platz style and high/wide foot placement hacks, but I just went with narrow vs. Platz style as they tend to bother my knee.

 

Set 1 x 8 reps (narrow) + 8 reps (wide) with 2 plates/side

Set 2 x 8 reps (narrow) + 8 reps (wide) with 2 plates/side

Set 3 x 8 reps (narrow) + 8 reps (wide) with 2 plates/side

Set 4 x 8 reps (narrow) + 8 reps (wide) with 2 plates/side

 

*The key here is to do slow controlled reps with your feet close together for 8 reps.  Immediately follow up the narrow hacks with your feet high and wide.  The high and wide will actually burn your vastus lateralis in a hurry.  Control the rep temp on these to accentuate the burn.

 

That concluded this primary leg workout.

 

Train hard!

Mark