The following details my primary leg workout from this past Wednesday night at Kirkland Gold’s Gym. The workout was based on the final week of a John Meadows program, but with a few of my own modifications. I trained alongside my middle daughter, Lauren, and my wife, Christina. Here is what we did…
Lying Leg Curls
I did 3 warm-up sets before jumping into the following working sets – FYI.
Set 1 x 12 reps + 8 partials with 110lbs
Set 2 x 12 reps + 8 partials with 110lbs
Set 3 x 12 reps + 8 partials with 110lbs
Set 4 x 9 reps (failed) + 8 partials with 110lbs
*The key here is to get 12 full reps whereby the 12th rep is hard and then do 8 partials out of the stretched position.
Leg Press
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 10 reps with 6 plates/side
Set 7 x 5 reps/round (Ascending Set) from 6 plates/side to 8 plates/side
*John called for sets of 10 reps up until you can barely get 10 reps. I went up to 6 plates and then decided to perform an ascending set to finish things off. I basically did 5 reps, then Christina added a single plate, I did another 5 reps, she added another plate and so forth until I had 8 plates/side for a final 5 reps.
Here is a video with explanation:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10SUFrg3VF0]
Superset: Walking Lunges & Cambered Bar Squats
Here is the type of bar I used for the squats: https://www.elitefts.com/rackable-cambered-squat-bar.html.
Walking Lunges x 12 steps each leg with bodyweight only
Immediately followed by…
Cambered Bar Squats x 7 reps with 135lbs
*The idea here was to find a way to make squats more difficult without loading much weight on the bar due to my lower back issues. Obviously the leg press ascending set helped fatigue my legs, but adding in some walking lunges immediately before squatting also helped. Take long strides and pause with your trailing knee gently touching the ground on the lunges and then move quickly to squats. Adjust weight as needed, but control the eccentric and go down slow before driving back up hard. I did the superset for 3 rounds.
Cable Pull Through
Set 1 x 12 reps with 160lbs
Set 2 x 12 reps with 160lbs
Set 3 x 12 reps with 160lbs
*Stretch good at the bottom before coming up and flexing your glutes at the top.
My daughter wanted to do some conditioning so we jumped on the Step Mill for about 6 minutes, alternating between 30 seconds fast followed by 60 seconds at a moderate pace.
That concluded this primary leg workout.
Train hard!
Mark