The past couple of weeks we have been doing mainly hypertrophy workouts, and we have decided to switch back to heavy sets. Instead of doing shoulders yesterday we did legs, a nice change in the way we split. We also are mainly focusing on our major compound lifting, which are your barbell movements. If you want to get stronger and grow, you need to move heavy weight with barbells. Dumbbells help assist and work out your stabilizer muscles more but your barbell movements are most important. With the barbell weight rising, so will your dumbbell weight and everything else.
This being said lets break down our Leg day
First lift we went to is our go to when we start leg day: the Leg press. We were excited to start because the night before we talked about setting a 3 rep PR (Personal Record). The leg press itself is already 165lbs. We added 200 lbs and warmed up doing 2 sets to 15. Then we put on 400 lbs and did a set of 3 reps. We put on 200 more lbs and did 3 more reps. By then our muscles are nice and loose. With these 3 reps we make sure that we are doing them deep and slow. Now when we get to the heavy pr weight we focus on speed, power and explosiveness. We place 2 45lb plates on and a 10lb plate. Totaling 1165lbs on leg press. We powered through that set for a clean 3 reps. We took most the weight off and left 290lbs on the press and did burn out sets of 100. which were killer on the quads and hip flexors.
From here we went to the squat rack, which is somewhere i lack in strength with. We set up 135 on the bar and warmed up. Hips lower than knees to get a deep squat. Did that for 2 sets. We then went right into it with 225. My first set i only got 4 reps. My next 2 sets i did 3. When squatting, some people have trouble figuring out how low is low. A lot of people say "ass to grass" and others say 90 degrees. Honestly, as long as you are parallel with the floor, meaning your thighs (90 degrees) you are benefiting from the squat. I see a lot of guys putting on 315 (because they want to look MACHO! lol) and barely move at all. For some reason too they get excited about this. If you are moving heavy weight, it is going to be a struggle from the start. Going 90 degrees ensures usage of the quads, glutes and hamstrings. Mostly the hamstrings when pushing the weight back up.
Next was our deadlift. Due to my partner having a slight disk injury in his lower back, i only did 3 sets of deadlifts. Started with 225lbs for 10 reps. Then i moved on to 295lbs for 3 reps. From here i put on 365lbs and got it for one. When i put on this weight i lost form in my lower back, and pulled the weight like a Romanian deadlift. Which is fine because my lower back can handle that kind of tension. Deadlifts are essential if you want growth and power. Possibly one of the best lower body/back workouts you can do. If you aren't doing them i suggest you add them in your program!
After all these heavy sets we went to leg extension machine. This machine is great to fine tune your quads. With the cable machines, it isn't about moving the whole stack of weight. Put a decent weight on there that you can maintain 10-12 rep range and fully extend and flex your quads. with these we worked up to 130lbs. Tip here is, again, pick a weight you can maintain form. I know, what form?! it's a machine! Well i am talking about your extension. Putting too much weight on this machine will cause you to extend only to 75%. So make sure you get a good set in. You'll know you did when you get off the machine and can't walk =)
Last thing we did was calve raises. Nothing special here that we did. Put 3 45lb plates on each side and started with 20 raises neutral, which is feet shoulder width apart and toes pointed straight. next we turn our feet outward and to 20 raises. This implements the muscles underneath the calf. Next with turned our toes inward, working the outside muscles. 3 sets of this.
Make sure you are getting a great leg day! It will help you grow all around. Symmetry is key to being strong. I can say by doing legs twice a week, it has helped in my growth in other areas in the gym. Lift hard Auktane fam. Till we blog next time!
Survival Of The Fittest!
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