The Ultimate Leg Day: Leg Workout That Will Make You Puke
Today's leg day was one of the most painful and exhausting leg workouts I've ever had. Now part of this may be due to this is the first 'real leg workout' I've had in two weeks as I caught the flu a couple weeks ago so I wasn't able to work legs the week I was sick and the week after I trained with moderate intensity (it's flu season in Florida this time of year; I've always prided myself on never getting sick but this time it got me). But this week I've been training hardcore so I wanted make sure I got a good leg workout in this morning therefore I tried something a little different to induce muscle overload. The first thing that came to mind during this workout was this is a leg workout that will make you puke. Ok, so I didn't puke but I sure felt something rumbling in my stomach throughout this morning’s leg workout.
I started out with the standard squats which is indisputably one of the best exercises you can do for muscle growth (not only for leg development but squats are great for overall muscle mass and strength, as I'm sure you already know). Although I'm a firm believer in lifting heavy weights for maximum muscle overload I don't go heavy on squats anymore. This is partly due to having lower back issues but more so I want to make sure I do full squats, all the way down. Doing squats with only half reps will lead to 'half legs' and you're missing out on the full benefits of squats. So for me whereas I used to pile on 4-5 plates on each side I'm now doing about 225 lbs. on squats with full range of motion (below parallel) and I'm also concentrating on feeling the muscle throughout each rep. In other words you're not just merely lifting the weight from one range to the other; rather you need to focus on the negative movement of squats and contracting your leg muscles throughout every rep.
Well, I didn't mean for this article to be solely about squats so let's move on to the rest of today's leg workout. After squats I moved on to hack squats. Just like with my squats I don't go super heavy on hack squats as I'm again concentrating on the negative portion of the exercise and muscle contractions throughout each rep. I also perform hack squats with my feet closer together (a little less than shoulder width) as this seems to hit the outer sweep of your quads.
Squats and hack squats are done and by this time I was feeling pretty exhausted. Sure, it's only two exercises into the workout but if you do this right (I really want to reiterate on the negative portion of the exercise and focusing on muscle contractions every single rep) your legs are going to be burning with a tremendous pump. However, we're not done yet. Now it's time for leg presses. Keep in mind that after doing two types of squatting movements you're not going to be able to throw on piles of plates on the leg press. None the less this doesn't mean go light either. But here's where the workout changes a little. I did supersets doing a set of standing leg curls immediately after a set of leg press. I did this for three rounds followed by supersets with seated leg curls and leg extensions. After all was said and done I'm barely walking out of the gym. I've written the workout below so it's a bit easier to follow:
I started out with the standard squats which is indisputably one of the best exercises you can do for muscle growth (not only for leg development but squats are great for overall muscle mass and strength, as I'm sure you already know). Although I'm a firm believer in lifting heavy weights for maximum muscle overload I don't go heavy on squats anymore. This is partly due to having lower back issues but more so I want to make sure I do full squats, all the way down. Doing squats with only half reps will lead to 'half legs' and you're missing out on the full benefits of squats. So for me whereas I used to pile on 4-5 plates on each side I'm now doing about 225 lbs. on squats with full range of motion (below parallel) and I'm also concentrating on feeling the muscle throughout each rep. In other words you're not just merely lifting the weight from one range to the other; rather you need to focus on the negative movement of squats and contracting your leg muscles throughout every rep.
Well, I didn't mean for this article to be solely about squats so let's move on to the rest of today's leg workout. After squats I moved on to hack squats. Just like with my squats I don't go super heavy on hack squats as I'm again concentrating on the negative portion of the exercise and muscle contractions throughout each rep. I also perform hack squats with my feet closer together (a little less than shoulder width) as this seems to hit the outer sweep of your quads.
Squats and hack squats are done and by this time I was feeling pretty exhausted. Sure, it's only two exercises into the workout but if you do this right (I really want to reiterate on the negative portion of the exercise and focusing on muscle contractions every single rep) your legs are going to be burning with a tremendous pump. However, we're not done yet. Now it's time for leg presses. Keep in mind that after doing two types of squatting movements you're not going to be able to throw on piles of plates on the leg press. None the less this doesn't mean go light either. But here's where the workout changes a little. I did supersets doing a set of standing leg curls immediately after a set of leg press. I did this for three rounds followed by supersets with seated leg curls and leg extensions. After all was said and done I'm barely walking out of the gym. I've written the workout below so it's a bit easier to follow:
Squats:
2 x 10 (these are warm up sets done with light weight)
3 x 8 (full squats, below parallel)
Hack Squats:
3 x 10-12 (feet close together)
Leg Press Superset with Standing (or lying) Leg Curls:
3 x 10-12
Seated Leg Curls Superset with Leg Extensions:
3 x 12-15
At a glance this may not seem like much but in all reality it's a fairly mid to high volume workout. Again, for all leg exercises, especially squats and hack squats in this particular workout, it's important to focus on the descent of the movement (the negative) and focus on muscle contractions on every rep. You won't be able to do as much weight but your legs will get a far better workout and pump. Remember you want to actually work the muscle if you want your muscles to grow rather than just going through the motions and merely lifting the weight. Make sure you go below parallel on your squats too. This is imperative to full leg development.
This leg workout may not necessarily make you puke but if you do this right you will indeed be limping out of the gym in pain. This was definitely an 'ultimate leg day' for me and I'll be hitting this workout again for the following weeks to come before I change it up a little (as I tend to do every 3-4 weeks).
2 x 10 (these are warm up sets done with light weight)
3 x 8 (full squats, below parallel)
Hack Squats:
3 x 10-12 (feet close together)
Leg Press Superset with Standing (or lying) Leg Curls:
3 x 10-12
Seated Leg Curls Superset with Leg Extensions:
3 x 12-15
At a glance this may not seem like much but in all reality it's a fairly mid to high volume workout. Again, for all leg exercises, especially squats and hack squats in this particular workout, it's important to focus on the descent of the movement (the negative) and focus on muscle contractions on every rep. You won't be able to do as much weight but your legs will get a far better workout and pump. Remember you want to actually work the muscle if you want your muscles to grow rather than just going through the motions and merely lifting the weight. Make sure you go below parallel on your squats too. This is imperative to full leg development.
This leg workout may not necessarily make you puke but if you do this right you will indeed be limping out of the gym in pain. This was definitely an 'ultimate leg day' for me and I'll be hitting this workout again for the following weeks to come before I change it up a little (as I tend to do every 3-4 weeks).
Posted by Jason M. Stallworth, posted on February 9th, 2011
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