The following details my primary leg workout from this past Saturday morning at Kirkland Gold’s Gym. It was designed by my coach, John Meadows, and marks the official start of another 12 week program. I trained alongside Christina and here is what we did…
Lying Leg Curls
Set 1 x 10 reps with 50lbs
Set 2 x 10 reps with 65lbs
Set 3 x 10 reps with 80lbs
Set 4 x 10 reps with 95lbs
Set 5 x 10 reps with 110lbs
Set 6 x 10 reps with 125lbs
Set 7 x 7.5 reps (failure) with 140lbs
*The key here is to perform rest/pause reps on all reps and sets. I just did sets of 10 rest/pause reps and continued up in weight until I failed to get all 10 reps.
Leg Press
Set 1 x 20 reps with 2 plates/side
Set 2 x 20 reps with 3 plates/side
Set 3 x 15 reps with 4 plates/side
Set 4 x 15 reps with 5 plates/side
Set 5 x 12 reps with 6 plates/side
Set 6 x 10 reps with 7 plates/side
Set 7 x 8 reps with 8 plates/side
Set 8 x 8 reps with 9 plates/side -> drop to 4 plates/side x 30 reps
*The key here is to work up to a very tough set of 8 reps. I then decided to drop a significant amount of weight, place my feet low, narrow and pump out another high rep set to finish off this exercise.
Bulgarian Split Squats
Set 1 x 10 reps with 35lbs (warm-up)
Set 2 x 18 reps with 65lbs
Set 3 x 12 reps with 75lbs
Set 4 x 12 reps with 75lbs
*I often jettison this exercise because my glutes are big enough, but it’s been awhile so I went with John’s prescription today. I placed my trailing leg on the bar of the Smith Machine, but inadvertently left it higher than normal. This actually meant my glutes didn’t get much activation, but my adductors are CRAZY SORE as I type this training session up two days removed from the workout! So, if you want more adductor work I believe a higher elevation of the trailing leg will do the trick.
Front Squats
I haven’t front squatted for at least a year, but since I’ve been able to perform back squats with light weight I decided to go with John’s prescribed exercise here. You’ll need to adjust your weight according to your abilities if your back is healthy – FYI.
Set 1 x 10 reps with 95lbs
Set 2 x 10 reps with 115lbs
Set 3 x 10 reps with 135lbs
Set 4 x 10 reps with 135lbs
Set 5 x 10 reps with 135lbs
*Aim for 3-4 working sets of a weight in which you can get 10 reps.
Dumbbell Stiff Legged Deadlifts
Set 1 x 10 reps with 65lbs
Set 2 x 10 reps with 65lbs
Set 3 x 10 reps with 65lbs
*I elevated my toes slightly on a mat and came all the way up flexing my glutes at the top today.
That concluded this primary leg workout.
Train hard!
Mark