The following details my primary leg workout from this past Saturday morning at Kirkland Gold’s Gym. The workout was predominantly designed by my coach, John Meadows. My bride, Christina, was my training partner. 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 8 reps w/eccentric overload with 110lbs
Set 5 x 8 reps w/eccentric overload with 110lbs
Set 6 x 8 reps w/eccentric overload with 110lbs
Set 7 x 8 reps w/eccentric overload with 110lbs
*After performing a few warm-up sets begin doing sets of 8 reps whereby your training partner applies pressure during the negative (eccentric) portion of the reps.
Reverse Banded Hack Squats
I used these bands: https://www.elitefts.com/shop/bars-weights/bands/pro-light-resistance-band.html. John called for barbell squats, but I opted for hack squats since they are easier on my lower back. As you’ll see below I simply added one plate on each set, meaning sometimes I had a different number of plates on each side. Therefore, I’m listing the total number of 45lb plates on the machine.
Set 1 x 15 reps with 4 total plates (warm-up)
Set 2 x 12 reps with 5 total plates (warm-up)
Set 3 x 10 reps with 6 total plates (warm-up)
Set 4 x 8 reps with 7 total plates
Set 5 x 8 reps with 8 total plates (4 each side)
Set 6 x 8 reps with 9 total plates
Set 7 x 8 reps with 10 total plates (5 each side)
Set 8 x 8 reps with 11 total plates
Set 9 x 8 reps with 12 total plates -> drop to 8 total plates x 8 reps
*After a few warm-up sets I incrementally increased the weight doing sets of 8 reps until I got to a really tough set of 8. I immediately followed that set up with a drop in weight and another 8 reps.
Leg Press
Set 1 x 10 reps with 5 plates/side
Set 2 x 10 reps with 5 plates/side
Set 3 x 10 reps with 5 plates/side
Set 4 x 10 reps with 5 plates/side
Set 5 x 10 reps with 5 plates/side
Set 6 x 10 reps with 5 plates/side
*According to John, the key here on weight selection is to find something you can normally do for 10 reps and then cut it in half. 10 plates/side on the Nautilus Leg Press is probably more than I can do for 10, but I went with 5 plates/side anyway. Once the weight is selected perform 6 sets of 10 reps with only 30 second rest breaks.
Hip Thruster & Cable Pull Through Superset
John called for stiff legged deadlifts, but Christina wanted some more glute activation so I came up with this combination.
Hip Thruster x 12 reps with 145lbs
Immediately followed by…
Cable Pull Through x 8 reps with 170lbs
*Nothing special on these besides a superset. Do it for 3 rounds.
That concluded this primary leg workout.
Train hard!
Mark
Thanks for the feedback. I've been encouraged to find new ways of training which still stimulate growth and challenge me in the gym. It's not simply that we must train smart vs harder, but smarter so we can still train harder. Glad the programming is resonating with you.
All the best!
Mark
Yes, being cognoscente of joint health is important because without it your progress can quickly be derailed. Thanks for the feedback!
Take care,
Mark