Tom Venuto's BodybuildingSecrets.com - 1000+ lb. Leg Presses! (New Training Photos)

1000+ lb. Leg Presses! (New Training Photos)

Tom Venuto, CSCS, CPT

Saturday, September 3rd, 2005. Strong & Shapely Gym. East Rutherford, NJ. I couldn’t believe it – with my bodyweight down yet another pound this week to 190 lbs and my calories and carbs reduced again last week (2900 calories and 180 grams of carbs), nevertheless, my lower body strength was at an all time high today. Some days, you’re just “ON”, mentally and physically. When I’m not ON, I listen to my body and go easy and lighter, but when I’m ON, I run with it! I hit an all time record today on the leg press – 1010 lbs for 8 reps. These were full, slow reps with a narrow stance too, not the quarter reps most people are talking about when they do heavy leg presses. Check it out – we got a few pictures today!

QUADS

A1 Plate Loaded Leg Press (Nebula machine): 3 warm up sets; Set 1: 720 lbs (8 plates per side) X 25 reps; Set 2: 810 lbs (9 plates per side)X 15 reps; Set 3: 900 lbs (10 plates per side)X 10 reps; Set 4: 1010 lbs (11 plates per side)X 8 reps + 2 forced reps
B1 Swing Squat Machine (custom hack squat): Set 1: 140 lbs X 20 reps; Set 2: 160 lbs X 15 reps; Set 3: 180 lbs X 12 reps
C1 Barbell Lunges, Dynamic (stepping): Set 1: 135 lbs X 20 reps right leg, then 20 reps left leg (40 reps total); Set 2: 135 lbs X 15 reps per leg, alternating left, right (30 reps in a row total); Set 3: 135 lbs X 12 reps right leg, then 12 reps left leg, (static lunge on last set)

HAMSTRINGS

A1 Lying leg Curls (Bodymaster Machine): Set 1: 110 lbs X 15 reps; Set 2: 120 lbs X 11 reps + 3 forced reps; Set 3: 130 lbs X 9 reps + 3 forced reps; Set 4: 140 lbs X 6 reps, 110 lbs X 6 reps, 80 lbs X 8 reps
B1 Dumbbell Stiff Legged Deadlift: Set 1: 80 lbs X 15 reps; Set 2: 85 lbs X 14 reps; Set 3: 90 lbs X 12 reps

CALVES (pm)

A1 Calf Press on Cybex Horizontal Leg Press Machine: 6 sets X 140 lbs X 12-20 reps
A1 Standing Calf Machine: 6 sets X 500 lbs (stack) X 8-15 reps

Workout Commentary

Last week I felt very strong on legs, going up to 3 plates per side on smith machine squats for 10 reps and four plates and quarters per side on hack squats. Once again I felt very strong today, which was great considering how depleted I am from dieting. I was happy to get in another heavy workout today because I know that in the final four weeks before a show, there won’t be much more heavy lifting as I will be emphasizing a lot more detailing and pumping work.

I’ll continue to train with moderately heavy weights when and where I can, but for safety reasons, you don’t want to be pushing max weights a week or two before the show because you’re so dry and depleted. A lot of injuries occur from super heavy training right before a show, but today, at four weeks out, I felt strong and confident to blast through one last heavy leg day. I probably won’t see these poundage’s again until late October and November when I start to transition back into off season heavy training and my bodyweight is back up (and after several good Pizza sessions!)

My training partner Kostas has been solid as a rock. Never a missed workout, never an excuse, never say die! Although our schedules don’t mesh during the week, we’ve been working out every weekend for the last two months like clockwork, and he’s been great for pushing me. He pushed me to go for 1000 lbs+ on leg presses today and I did it.

Our first exercise was the leg press machine using the Nebula plate loaded machine at Strong & Shapely Gym (great piece of equipment). After my usual 10 minutes of warm up on a cardio machine, and then 3 light warm up sets, I started the first work set with 8 plates on each side for 24 reps. Set two: 9 plates per side for 15 reps. That filled up the entire first rack, so we started using the second rack for a total of 10 plates per side for 10 reps. That was 900 lbs, which I’ve done before, but this was the easiest 10 reps with 900 lbs I’ve ever done before, so we knew I had to slap on another plate – which made “only” 990 lbs – so we added a ten on each side for good measure… a total of 1010 lbs… new territory for me… never did this before in my life…

I paced around the machine a few times, working up a good psych and getting my mind focused. I put my headphones on and turned up the volume full blast (Master of Puppets), then got into position. With my feet still fairly narrow to really work the quads and not let the hips take over, I unracked the weight and slowly lowered down the first rep. I didn’t go all the way down on rep one… maybe about 3/4, as I was cautiously getting a feel for this uncharted territory. It felt like a freakin apartment complex as I lowered it – but when I started pushing up, it went RIGHT UP! right then, my confidence was jacked and I banged out 7 more reps, full range, thighs all the way down to my chest, every rep SLOWLY. Then Kostas barks out at me, “Come on, TWO MORE!” so I kept pushing and with a little spot, squeezed out two more reps for a total of TEN REPS WITH 1010 lbs!

Man, what a rush! It’s an awesome feeling hitting a new Personal Record (PR), and to hit this PR now, while dieting and at a bodyweight so much lighter than my full off season bodyweight, well, I was psyched.

I briefly entertained the idea of going for 1100 lbs for 6 reps, but quickly dismissed it. We’ll pick up with 1100 lbs and beyond after the contest in the off season… (and with some good fortune, the low back will be strong and I’ll be getting back into some heavier squats and front squats as well).

After leg presses, our second exercise was the Kick Ass Swing Squat machine which I have written so much about before in these blogs. Strong & Shapely is the only gym in the area that has this piece of equipment. I went considerably lighter on these today because after those leg presses, my quads were already smoked. However, the form on these was impeccable… really SLOW reps, and rock bottom.

You can go so deep on this machine with out knee strain because there is less resistance in the bottom position and more at the top position. Three sets and quads were trashed. But there was still one more exercise.

With 135 lbs on the bar, the final quad exercise was barbell lunges. Each of the three sets was performed differently: the first set I did all the reps on the left leg first, then the right leg (20 reps per leg for 40 reps in a row total). The second set I alternated legs (left, right, left, right) for 30 reps total (15 reps per leg). The third and final set I didn’t do the stepping “dynamic” lunge but instead did the static lunge with an up and down pulsing movement for 12 reps per side. That was it.

I was exhausted and drenched in sweat at this point, but we still had hamstrings. We did 4 sets on lying leg curls with forced reps on every set and a drop set on the last set. Then the workout ended with dumbbell stiff legged dead lifts for 3 sets with 80, 85 and 90 lb dumbbells for 12-15 reps per set.

Sometimes I do calves right after quads and hams, but usually I’ve been coming back later in the day for calves in a separate session so I can hit them when I’m fresh. The calf workout today was just two exercises supersetted back and forth 6 times. Sometimes for variety I do low sets of multiple exercises (example 2-3 sets each of 3-4 exercises), other times I do only 1 or 2 exercises with high set volume like I did today. It keeps the muscles guessing. After calves it was 45 minutes on the Stairmaster and I called it a day.

Posted 03 September, 2005 in Workouts

Comments

Mariela said:

Congratulations on that Personal Record! That is awesome! Delivering a baby would be a piece of cake for you if you were a woman.

Posted on Sep 13, 2005 02:31 PM

Jessica Britt said:

Heck yeah!That's what I'm talking about! Way to go, Tom! It feels great to hit new records. Hopefully you'll have more ON days. I know what you mean. I've had ON days before and it's crazy because it just comes out of nowhere. You must have been sore for days after this workout!

Posted on Sep 14, 2005 06:37 PM

Chris said:

Sounds like a good day. Grats on the PR.

I'm a huge fan of lunges, especially barbell step backs. Which way do you do your lunges, forward or backwards?

TY for the website and GL with the upcoming contest.

Posted on Sep 17, 2005 12:29 AM

Tom Venuto said:

I do the lunges every which way possible: backward, forward, sideways, 45 degrees, multi-angle, barbell, dumbbell, static, stepping, walking, off floor, off step, split squats, bulgarian split squats, smith machine split squats and on and on. In fact, I've used at least 40 different variations on lunges before.

Posted on Sep 17, 2005 06:28 AM