The last training session I posted seemed to go over very well, so here's one more BRUTAL leg session. This session is from John's Program 5 week 6 and ranks up there with one of the all=time hardest leg sessions I've ever done.
NOTE: Text is from John italics are my notes.
Week 6– High volume
Legs – 22 sets:
Lying leg curls – 2-3 warmup sets. Pick a weight that is a hard eight. I want you to do eight, then on the next set, find a way to get 10 with it. On your third set, find a way to get 12. Finally, on your fourth set, do 10, then do 20 partials out of the stretched position. This will be four total work sets.
This was pretty straight forward. What you see was filmed during the last set.
Barbell stiff-legged deadlifts – Let’s crank on these again this week. Do 4 sets of 8. Only come up ¾ of the way. Keep constant tension for four total work sets.
I hate all types of deadlifts, so I did the hammer machine instead, but kept all the rest the same. This was my last set.
Banded leg press – This time you're going to rig up the thick orange bands (like you are already doing - ha) from elitefts™. They are HARD. You have to fight hard to control the descent on these, you’ll see. Once you do a few warmups (just the carriage will be hard), work your way up in weight doing sets of eight. Find a hard eight reps, and do three sets with it. This will be three total work sets.
Use the thick orange (light) bands for these. They are much harder than the mini or monster mini.
I used two double orange bands so the tension was very high. I worked up to 3 hard sets of 8. The videos show the first set (a shaking nightmare) and the second video is the last set. The shaking is due to some of the spinal damage I have. To make it stop, I have to flex my abs into my belt and tighten my ass as hard as I can. However, this will only help so much. Other times, I just need to start the set and hope it goes away once my body gets moving under tension.
First Set:
Last Set:
Safety bar squats – Ok, let’s keep busting it on these. I want a set of 20 reps. Don’t wuss out and use fly weight, push yourself. Next, I want you to add weight and do 15. Finally, add more weight and do 10 reps. Take these to parallel, and use a stance where you are slightly wider than shoulder width, with your toes pointed out some. Do this for a total of three work sets.
My slight modification on this was to just do the "death squat." The "death squat" is three plates for max reps. This is kind of a Halloween tradition for me and I was interested to see how I would do.
Step-ups on a low box – I want you to put a barbell on your back, and step up onto a box. The box SHOULD NOT be real high. I don’t want you to sort of lose control and just drop down when you come back down. I want you to be able to actually step down without just dropping. Do 10 reps on one leg, and then do 10 on the other. Do four sets on each leg. Add as much weight as you can use, and still get reps. This will be four total work sets.
This wasn't happening. I could barley walk, so I selected something else to do that involved sitting down. I did four sets of max reps on the leg extensions. This is the last set.
Calves
I did four sets of toe presses. This is the last set.
We set up an elitefts™ Mobile YouTube page, so it's much easier to get these videos loaded. I won't be posting every set but I'll try to post unique and stupid stuff a bit more often.
This was a brutal leg day - there's no doubt about that. I've been cramping for the past few hours.
2011 elitefts™ Author of the Year