The following details my primary leg workout from this past Saturday morning at Kirkland Gold’s Gym. The workout was designed by my coach, John Meadows, although I deviated a bit from his program. Here is what I did…
Standing Leg Curl
Kirkland Gold’s Gym doesn’t have a true standing leg curl, so Christina and I performed these via a pulley. If you find yourself in the same situation here is an attachment which works well: https://www.elitefts.com/spud-inc-hamstring-curl-strap.html.
Set 1 x 15 reps with 30lbs
Set 2 x 12 reps with 45lbs
Set 3 x 10 reps with 60lbs
Set 4 x 8 reps with 75lbs
Set 5 x 6 reps with 90lbs
*Pyramid up in weight and focus on contracting your hamstring hard. I found it easier to maintain my form while standing on a 10lb plate with the non-working leg.
Here is a video:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWJuTVyS-Ao]
Superset: Lying Leg Curl & Dead Squat Bar Stiff Legged Deads
Ok, so the previous exercise was to be superset with barbell stiff legged deads, but I didn’t have a standing leg curl in which to alternate reps. I decided to add this combination after the pulley leg curls.
Lying Leg Curl x 6 reps (eccentric overload) + 6 reps (explosive) with 65lbs
Immediately followed by…
Dead Squat Bar Stiff Legged Deads x 10 reps with 85lbs
*On the leg curls use a lighter weight and have your training partner force the weight down on the negative as you resist on the first 6 reps (eccentric overload), then immediately pump out 6 more reps on your own as explosively as possible. On the stiff legs the key is to focus on the stretch. I locked my knees, and stuck my butt out on the way down allowing the weight to stretch my hamstrings before coming back up half way. Perform the superset for 3 rounds.
Banded Leg Press
John did not call for bands today – FYI. However, I used two of these: https://www.elitefts.com/shop/bars-weights/bands/pro-light-resistance-band.html.
Set 1 x 15 reps with 1 plate/side + bands
Set 2 x 15 reps with 2 plates/side + bands
Set 3 x 15 reps with 3 plates/side + bands
Set 4 x 15 reps with 4 plates/side + bands
Set 5 x 15 reps with 5 plates/side + bands
Set 6 x 15 reps with 6 plates/side + bands
*Keep going up in weight until you can barely get 15 reps. It’s okay if you need to take short breaks along your way to 15 reps as I did in the video below.
Here is a video of my last set:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6WUqpWw2z4]
Hack Squat
I usually use a band (reverse) on these, but just went with lighter weight as my legs were pretty gone – FYI. Also, John had a superset between Platz style and high/wide foot placement hacks, but I just went with narrow vs. Platz style as they tend to bother my knee.
Set 1 x 8 reps (narrow) + 8 reps (wide) with 2 plates/side
Set 2 x 8 reps (narrow) + 8 reps (wide) with 2 plates/side
Set 3 x 8 reps (narrow) + 8 reps (wide) with 2 plates/side
Set 4 x 8 reps (narrow) + 8 reps (wide) with 2 plates/side
*The key here is to do slow controlled reps with your feet close together for 8 reps. Immediately follow up the narrow hacks with your feet high and wide. The high and wide will actually burn your vastus lateralis in a hurry. Control the rep temp on these to accentuate the burn.
That concluded this primary leg workout.
Train hard!
Mark
