The following details my primary leg workout from this past Saturday.  It was designed by my coach, John Meadows.  The program is past the mid-point, but I’m actually 1 week out from competing in the Europa Phoenix 212 Pro contest October 10-11th.  This has been one of my favorite Meadows programs, so I’m planning to hit pause after this particular workout and go into depletion workouts next.  Meaning you probably won’t see as many training logs until I get back home into normal training again following my competition.

 

After an early morning soccer game for our daughter Julia we got to Gold’s Gym in Kirkland around noon and knocked out this workout.  Here is what it looked like…

 

Seated Leg Curl

 

I used the only seated leg curl available at my gym which is a unilateral Life Fitness machine.  Weight listed is per each leg.

 

Set 1 x 10 reps with 30lbs (warm-up)

Set 2 x 10 reps with 40lbs (warm-up)

Set 3 x 10 reps with 50lbs (warm-up)

Set 4 x 10 reps + 10 partials with 70lbs

Set 5 x 10 reps + 10 partials with 70lbs

Set 6 x 10 reps + 15 partials with 70lbs

Set 7 x 10 reps + 15 partials with 70lbs

 

*The key here is to do perfect reps with a tough weight in which you barely get 10 full range reps before adding on partials out of the stretched position.  These were brutal, lol!

 

Leg Press

 

I switched from the usual Hammer Strength leg press machine to a Nautilus plate loaded model.  It’s got a different strength curve and hits the quads differently.  Sometimes a change is good.

 

Set 1 x 10 reps with 3 plates/side

Set 2 x 10 reps with 4 plates/side

Set 3 x 10 reps with 5 plates/side

Set 4 x 10 reps with 6 plates/side

Set 5 x 10 reps with 7 plates/side

Set 6 x 10 reps with 8 plates/side

 

*The key here is to lower the weight with a 3 second eccentric to create a lot of tension, pause for a split second at the bottom and then drive the weight up.  Keep going up in until you hit a weight in which you can barely get 10 reps.

 

Hip Flexion

 

I did this exercise using the following attachment:  https://www.elitefts.com/spud-inc-hamstring-curl-strap.html.  Face away from the weight stack and drive your knee forward hinging at the hip joint and working the hip flexors.

 

Set 1 x 10 reps with 40lbs

Set 2 x 10 reps with 40lbs

Set 3 x 10 reps with 40lbs

Set 4 x 10 reps with 40lbs

 

*I like to keep my hips forward and flex my glute on the opposite side in which I working.  Also, extend your leg out in front of you slightly on the way up so your knee joint is at 90 degrees when your knee is at its highest point.  This will engage the hip flexor better.

 

Dumbbell Lunges

 

Set 1 x 12 paces each leg with 35lbs

Set 2 x 12 paces each leg with 35lbs

Set 3 x 12 paces each leg with 35lbs

 

*Take long strides and slow deliberate steps.  You’ll want to rush, but don’t.  I stretched my quads hard for 30 seconds each after all sets.  These were surprisingly difficult after the hip flexion exercise.

 

Cable Hamstring Pull Through

 

Set 1 x 7 reps with 190lbs

Set 2 x 7 reps with 190lbs

Set 3 x 7 reps with 190lbs

Set 4 x 7 reps with 190lbs

 

*Work the stretch at the bottom and come up enough to flex the glutes at the top.

 

That concluded this primary leg workout…well I did perform 30 minutes of HIIT cardio on a Stepmill: 30 seconds fast, 90 seconds slow, repeated for 30 minutes.

 

Train hard!

Mark