Tom Venuto's BodybuildingSecrets.com - How To Isolate Quads More On Leg Presses

How To Isolate Quads More On Leg Presses

Tom Venuto, CSCS, CPT

Tuesday, August 23rd August 11th, 2005. Yup… Leg day again! No “quad hobbler” this time… I’m feeling pretty carb depleted today and I think that repeating last week’s routine would just about kill me. Leg presses, front squats, leg extensions, leg curls for today, nothing too fancy, but check out the commentary and I’ll show you how I change my foot position to really blast the frontal quads and avoid “big butt syndrome”

QUADS (AM)

A1 Leg Press, narrow stance, feet bottom of platform: 2 warm up sets; Set 1: 540 lbs (6 plates per side) X 30 reps; Set 2: 630 lbs (7 plates per side) X 19 reps; Set 3: 720 lbs (8 plates per side) X 13 reps
B1 Front squat: 1 warm up set; Set 1: 185 lbs X 15 reps; Set 2: 225 lbs X 9 reps; Set 3: 235 lbs X 8 reps; Set 4: 245 lbs X 5 reps; Set 5: 175 lbs X 15 reps ¾ of the way up, constant tension X 4030 tempo, then rack weight, step under bar and do 12 more reps of back squats
C1 One legged Leg Extension: 3 sets X 70 lbs X 10-12 reps X 4032 tempo

HAMSTRINGS

A1 Lying leg Curl (Icarian machine): Set 1: 200 lbs (stack) X 6 reps; Set 2: 200 lbs (stack) X 6 reps; Set 3: 150 lbs X 12 reps; Set 4: 150 lbs X 12 reps; Set 5: 100 lbs X 25 reps; Set 6: 100 lbs X 25 reps

Workout Commentary

I changed my technique on leg presses today to emphasize more isolation in the quads, especially the “teardrop” shaped vastus medialis muscle. The standard foot position on the leg press is shoulder width or slightly wider, and in the middle of the platform.

By placing my feet at the bottom of the platform it takes a lot of the butt and hamstrings out of the movement and puts much more emphasis on quads. Three sets of as many as 30 reps

My second exercise today was front squats with a barbell. I worked from 185 lbs, pyramiding up in weight and down in reps to a maximum set of 245 lbs for 5. I’m not as strong on these as I’d like to be, but considering I’m less than 6 weeks from a show and pretty depleted, it’s not so bad.

Last but not least, I finished with one legged leg extensions. I didn’t do these for weight at all today; I did these super strict , really squeezing and holding for a couple of seconds at the top of each rep.

I only did one hamstring exercise today, as I was pretty beat and stiff leg deads would have damn near killed me, but I did 6 sets for a total of 86 reps: 2 sets heavy for 6 reps, 2 sets medium for 12 reps, and 2 sets light for 25 reps each. The hams were toast after that. This is one of several ways you can use the 6-12-25 multi rep system. I’ll show you a couple other ways later this week.

That’s all folks… gotta log off this computer and go do cardio session #2 (yes it does suck!)

Posted 23 August, 2005 in Workouts