The following details my primary leg workout from this past Saturday morning at Kirkland Gold’s Gym. My coach, John Meadows, programmed the workout although I did change a few things in order to work around my lower back issues. I was joined by my bride. Here is the workout…
Seated Leg Curls
As always I used the only seated leg curl machine available at Kirkland Gold’s Gym; a Life Fitness unilateral leg curls machine. Weight listed is per each leg - FYI. Be sure to perform 3-4 warm-ups before launching into working sets.
Set 1 x 15 reps with 60lbs
Set 2 x 12 reps with 70lbs
Set 3 x 10 reps with 80lbs
Set 4 x 7 reps with 90lbs -> drop to 60lbs x 30 partials
*Perform the prescribed reps going up in weight. You should nearly hit failure at the end of each set. The 4th set was 8 reps, but I failed at 7. Finish by dropping the weight and performing 30 partials. Go slow and deliberate with these so you don’t pull a hamstring and fight through the burn!
Cambered Bar HBT Squats
I used a bar similar to this: https://www.elitefts.com/shop/bars-weights/specialty-bars/rackable-cambered-squat-bar.html along with these bands: https://www.elitefts.com/shop/bars-weights/bands/pro-mini-resistance-band.html. John programmed regular barbell squats so obviously I deviated. If you have a good lower back feel free to squat with heavy weight for sets of 10 reps. Here is exactly what I did:
Set 1 x 10 reps with 95lbs
Set 2 x 10 reps with 135lbs
Set 3 x 10 reps with 135lbs + 50lbs HBT
Set 4 x 10 reps with 135lbs + 50lbs HBT
Set 5 x 10 reps with 135lbs + 50lbs HBT
Set 6 x 10 reps with 135lbs + 50lbs HBT
*The key here for me was to perform squats with perfect form so I didn’t mess up my lower back. I included hanging band technique (HBT) as it forces me to stay tighter. I literally haven’t had a bar on my back for squats in probably a year. I went with a cambered bar because I was better able to center the weight.
Here is a video:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWQYS0UAnaM]
Leg Extensions
Set 1 x 10 reps with 220lbs
Set 2 x 10 reps with 220lbs
Set 3 x 10 reps + 25 partials with 220lbs
Set 4 x 10 reps + 22 partials with 220lbs
*The key here is to hold the contraction for a split second in the flexed positions on each rep. The final set you are to perform partial reps out of the bottom to failure. I thought we were only doing 3 sets and ended up performing partials after set 3, so I had the added pleasure of doing 2 sets of partials to failure. Needless to say my quads were trashed, lol.
Leg Press 1.5’s
Set 1 x 8 reps (1.5’s) with 6 plates/side
Set 2 x 8 reps (1.5’s) with 6 plates/side
Set 3 x 8 reps (1.5’s) with 6 plates/side
*Each reps is actually 1.5 reps, meaning you lower the weight, push about ½ way back up, come right back down and then push to full extension. That counts as one rep.
Here is a video showing the technique:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-pvgckonwo]
Cable Pull-Throughs
Set 1 x 20 reps with 130lbs
Set 2 x 15 reps with 160lbs
*Two sets of higher reps today. Work the stretch and flex your glutes as you come up.
That concluded this primary leg workout.
Train hard!
Mark
