Archive: Leg Day! To Be Or Not To Be?
Posted on Saturday, December 01 @ 12:00:00 MST
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Written by: Eric_Broser
It was about 10:00
A.M. Sunday morning when my phone began to ring. Doing the very best I
could to ignore it, I pulled the covers over my head and let the
answering machine pick it up.
"Hi, this is Eric. I'm not here to get your call right now. Please leave
me a message at the tone and I'll get back to you as soon as I
can.Beeeeep."
"Still sleeping you lazy bum? Get up! It's Frank. I know you're just
laying there, probably with the covers over your head.Hellllooooo!"
(Finally, I picked up the phone.)
"Alright, shut up already"
"Did I wake you? I hope I didn't wake you"
"Yeah right! What's going on?"
"I just figured you might want to get up and get a good meal in. Today is
leg day partner!"
"Oh shit! Today is legs?"
"Yup! Unless of course.."
"Unless what?"
"Well, it's beautiful outside. It's supposed to get up to 90 degrees
today. Great day to get a tan by your pool. I mean, we could do legs
tomorrow."
"Damn you. Why did you have to say that? I'll call you back!"
Now fully awakened by the phone call from my good friend and training
partner Frank, I rolled out of bed and went into the backyard. The sun
was shining and the pool was glistening. So I walked over and dipped my
hand in.the water temperature was perfect! I started thinking to
myself
"It would be a shame to waste a day like this. My calves are still sore
from the workout Friday. It's hard to train legs when your calves are
sore. Also, my lower back feels kinda tight. And.
Then I thought
"Would you be thinking this way if today was arms or chest day? Quit
being a whimp! Get in there and TRAIN YOUR WHEELS!"
So then I headed into the house, called Frank, and told him to meet me at
the gym at 11:30.
Now I need to tell you that I didn't intend on getting to the gym until
12:00. You see Frank has a slight "punctuality" problem. He's on time
about as much as most cable TV repairmen. So I figured if I tell him
11:30, he should roll into the gym right about 12:00.
After taking a quick shower I picked out a good "leg training outfit,"
which for me means work boots, sweatpants, a thick sweatshirt and a
baseball cap worn backwards. Then I gulped down my favorite MRP along
with a few thermogenic capsules and a bowl of oatmeal, packed my workout
bag, and rested for thirty minutes while surfing my favorite discussion
board (IronMagazine.com Forums) and then, headed to the gym. On the way
there I began feeling nervous about my impending torture. Leg day can do
that to you. Terrible thoughts raced through my head.
"Man I hate leg training. All that weight, all those reps. The nausea,
the light-headedness. It sucks!"
Anyway, I arrived at the gym at exactly 12:00.Frank got there at
12:17.What would today's excuse beflat tire, important phone call,
locusts, alien abduction?
"Sorry I'm late Eric. You see I"
"Don't tell me. It's cool. Let's just go trash our legs!"
While warming up with some light stretching, I decided we'd do a high
intensity, low volume type of workout today. Four exercises for quads,
three for hams and one for the inner-thigh; one set per exercise (not
including warm-ups) taken to total failure with all the trimmings-forced
reps, partials, and negatives.
"Why so few sets today, Eric?"
"Well, we've been going with higher volume the last few weeks, without
always going to total failure. It's time to switch gears to keep our
muscles from adapting to one type of workout."
"OK, cool. So what's first?"
"Hack squats."
"What's our rep range today?"
"We're gonna do it all. We'll do our first two exercises real heavy, like
4-6 reps, to stimulate those high threshold fibers. This will also serve
to "wake up" our nervous system, which makes higher reps even more
effective later in the workout. After the heavy stuff we'll really freak
our legs out with a crazy high rep set of at least 30 or so. Then we'll
finish in the medium range of about 10-15 reps. This way, all our fibers
will get a beating!"
"What do you mean by different muscle fibers? I thought a muscle is a
muscle."
"No Frank. You see, your muscles, if you had any (the trash talk was now
under way) are composed of Type I or slow twitch fibers, and several
kinds of Type II or fast twitch fibers. Each of these fibers respond best
to different types of training techniques and strategies."
"OK Eric, whatever you say, but all this talk about fiber is giving me
the urge to take a sh."
"Stop! I get the point. Now quick, get over to the hack squat before we
lose it."
With that, we headed over to our favorite hack machine. While walking
over, Frank was yelling on the top of his lungs,
"Let's get ready to rrrummbleee!!!"
After a few warm-up sets we were ready for the heavy iron. We loaded five
45ers on each side and set the foot platform to the correct angle. I
stepped on, put my traps under the pads and grasped the safety handles
tightly. With my eyes closed, I took a moment to clear my head and get
psyched. "Let's do this," I yelled as I slammed the safeties open. Just
before I started, however, I glanced into the mirror in front of me and
noticed that there was an extra "quarter" on each side.
"Frank, you sneaky bastard. Are you nuts?!"
"Just shut up and do it birdlegs!"
Sufficiently pissed off by Frank's commentary on my leg development, I
proceeded to perform five rockbottom reps with what was a record weight
for me. I was quite satisfied but Frank was not.
"Don't lock those safety handles until you give me ten partials!"
When I completed the set, I needed a fire extinguisher for my quads and
my traps felt flattened by the force of the weight.
Frank then did his set in a similar manner, albeit with less weight.
(Sorry Frank can't have people thinking you're as strong as I am).
Next we made our way to the squat slide machine and performed one warm-up
set and one all out set of about six reps. However, we finished our set
with forced negatives rather than partials. Forced negatives are when
your partner applies some extra pressure during the final one or two
eccentric contractions. These are torturous, and feel like they get to
those "deep" fibers. They hurt bad and get you nice and sore. (Something
only a bodybuilder could be happy about!)
As we walked over, or should I say hobbled over to the leg press; we
noticed a pitiful, but all too common sight. A young kid was in the
machine and had it loaded to the hilt with 45 lb. plates. He did about 30
reps but was going down only about an inch on each rep. He was screaming
and yelling so everyone in the gym would notice his "incredible feat of
brutal intensity." Unfortunately, I've seen storks with bigger legs!
"How many sets you got left big guy," asked Frank.
"I'm all done. Should I leave the weight?"
"Nah, strip it down to six plates per side."
As he walked away, he looked proud but confused that someone twice his
size was about to use half the weight.
"What's the deal with this set Eric?"
"Thirty five to forty reps minimum, or until you pukewhichever comes
first!"
Frank, sporting his "deer caught in headlights" look responded, "All
right, but I don't see a bucket around here!"
As I began to rep-out I felt really good. However, at about rep thirty a
wave of nausea overtook me. At rep thirty-four I could no longer hear
what was going on around me and I beganwellseeing things. At first I just
saw spots, but then a small, green, muppet-like creature appeared before
me. I think it was Yoda from the Star Wars movies because he kept telling
me to "use the force." Anyway, I got my forty reps and a mind blowing,
skin stretching pump! As I lay on the floor gasping for air I thought to
myself, "Why couldn't I have picked golf?"
Our fourth and final quad movement was leg extensions. We decided to do
medium reps, about fifteen or so, really accentuating the peak
contraction and good slow negatives. As I sat on the machine, my legs
still shaking from the previous set, I told Frank to really push me on
this one.
"No problem. What weight do you want?"
"Gimme the rack!"
Just then Frank's "hot chick" radar went off! (Actually, I call him
"Darth Radar" -wow, another Star Wars reference!)
"Man! Speaking of racks, check out the blonde in the red bodysuit. She's
double-D-licious!"
"Frankie, shut up and put the pin in!"
"Yo Eric, what do you think she does for chest?"
"I'd say, plastic surgery."
With our testosterone levels now just a little higher, Frank put the pin
in the last hole and I immediately fired up the first rep in explosive
fashion while controlling the negative. At rep 12 twelve I had nothing
left, however, with Frank's constant supportive encouragement (he was
calling me a "big pussy"), I managed three more forced reps. My quads
were so pumped that my sweatpants now fit like bike pants!
Now it was Frank's turn. He set the weight at 180 lbs., but before he got
started I pulled the pin and set it at 210 lbs.
"Eric, what do you think you're doing?"
"Sorry Frank, pay back's a bitch!"
With quads now behind us it was time for hamstrings. For hammies we did
lying leg curls with feet pointed to truly isolate the muscle, seated leg
curls, and stiff-leg deadlifts. On the deads we made sure to keep a
slight bend in the knees, our backs straight, and to stick out our rear
ends on the descent to get a really good stretch. These are important
points as the wrong form on this exercise will limit one's results or
even cause an injury. Although we were quite tired we didn't let up on
the intensity one bit as we stretched, squeezed and blitzed our hams just
as we did our quads.
We finished the workout on the adductor or "inner thigh" machine. I know
most macho bodybuilders only pay attention to this machine when a
scantily clad babe is on it, opening and closing her legs, but it happens
to be an important movement for men as well. Having well-developed
adductors makes you stronger on compound movements such as squats, helps
prevent injuries, and gives a more complete look to the thigh, especially
when your bodyfat is low.
With the workout now behind me I had a chance to reflect upon my day at
the gym while on my drive home "Man I love training legs. All that
weight. All those reps. The nausea. The lightheadedness. It's
awesome!"
A few minutes later I was home. With sweat still dripping from my
forehead I blended and swigged down a shake made up of whey isolate,
simple carbs, creatine and glutamine. I then changed into my bathing
suit, went out back and immediately jumped into the pool. The water felt
even better than it had earlier because I was secure in the knowledge
that I had won yet another battle in the war for bigger, better
legs!
Muscle Mass Gaining Tips click here for free reports!
Eric Broser (gopro on the forums): Moderater of training, diet & nutrition, and
supplementation on IronMagazineForums.com, is available for online
personal training, dietary guidance, and contest prep coaching. For
details send him a e-mail
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Votes: 6
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