Tom Venuto's BodybuildingSecrets.com

Leg Day… Heaviest And Hardest Yet

Tom Venuto, CSCS, CPT

Sunday, August 28th. It may have just been psychological, but I was looking at my legs this week and they they looked a little down in size. It could be because I’ve been doing so much cardio and with the lower carbs, my muscles are a little flat. It happens in the upper and lower body, but my legs have always been one of my best body parts, and the thought of seeing them down a little in size was totally unacceptable… so, psychological or not… just depleted or not, this motivated the heck out of me today and I really pushed the poundages up today. It ended up being one of the heaviest and most intense leg sessions for squats and hack squats this year.

QUADS & HAMS

A1 Smith Machine Squat
3 warm up sets
Set 1: 175 lbs X 25 reps
Set 2: 215 lbs X 15 reps
Set 3: 245 lbs X 10 reps
Set 4: 285 lbs X 10 reps (with spot)
B1 Hack Squats
Set 1: 410 lbs (4 plates + quarters per side) X 6 reps drive up fast, lower slowly 3010 tempo
Set 2: 410 lbs (4 plates + quarters per side) X 6 reps drive up fast, lower slowly 3010 tempo
Set 3: 270 lbs (3 plates per side) X 12 reps nonstop, no lockout X 2020 tempo
Set 4: 270 lbs (3 plates per side) X 12 reps nonstop, no lockout X 2020 tempo
Set 5: 180 lbs (2 plates per side) X 25 reps, slower tempo 3030
Set 6: 180 lbs (2 plates per side) X 25 reps, slower tempo 3030
C1 Lying Leg Curls (Icarian machine)
2 sets X 200 lbs (stack) X 10 reps
C2 Walking Lunges
2 sets X 30 lbs X 20 reps (10 steps per leg)
D1 Lying leg Curls (Icarian Machine)
2 sets X 140 lbs X 8 reps toes pointed, then 8 more regular reps
E1 Dumbbell Stiff Legged Deadlift
Set 1: 75 lbs X 21 reps
Set 2: 80 lbs X 15 reps
Set 3: 85 lbs X 11 reps

CALVES (pm)

A1 Standing Calf Machine
1 warm up set
Set 1: 500 lbs (stack) X 27 reps
Set 2: 590 lbs X 22 reps
Set 3: 680 lbs X 16 reps
Set 4: 770 lbs X 12 reps, pause, 5 more reps
Set 5: 770 lbs, 680 lbs, 590 lbs, 500 lbs X 10, 10, 10, 10 reps (40 reps total) drop set
B1 calf Press on 45 degree plate load leg press machine
4 sets X 450 lbs X 20 reps, 20 reps, 18 reps, 16 reps

Workout Commentary

The first exercise was squats on the smith machine. I prefer the barbell back squat with free weights and use the barbell most of the time, but if feel even the slightest bit of discomfort or tightness in my lower back, then I prefer to use the smith machine because it allows me to get into a groove, and to place my feet a little more forward to allow a slightly more upright posture with less stress on the low back. I went all the way up to three plates on each side (285 lbs) for ten rock bottom reps.

Hack squats were next… SIX sets! I’ve been using the multi rep method (6-12-25) with great results lately, so I decided to use another variation on this method for hack squats. This time I did two sets of 6 heavy, two sets of 12 medium, and two sets of 25 reps light. I did the heavy sets at 410 lbs, which is four 45 lb plates, plus a 25 on each side – that’s the heaviest I’ve gone all year. The reps were ROCK bottom, no knee wraps. The 12 rep medium sets were at three plates per side (270 lbs). The hardest sets of all were the 25 rep sets with only 180 lbs on the machine. Man, the quads were almost shot after the hacks…. But it was onward to hams a little more quads.

I supersetted my first two sets of leg curls into dumbbell walking lunges. I usually do the walking lunges with 40 or 45 lb dumbbells, but 30 was about all I could take at this point. After two supersets, I continued for two more sets of leg curls, going from toes pointed leg curls into regular leg curls. The toes pointed leg curls are tough… try them sometime.

The workout ended with 3 sets of dumbbell stiff legged deadlifts going up to 85 lbs dumbbells, very strict. No problem with the weight there. Will increase next workout.

I was completely spent after quads and hams, so I came back in the evening for calves and cardio. I went very heavy on calves, loading up the standing calf machine with all the weight it would hold in extra plates on top of the 500 lb weight stack (770 lbs on the heaviest set).

770 sounds heavy, but on this particular calf machine, its not that heavy just because of the leverage factor. At Strong and Shapely gym, believe it or not, they have a standing calf machine with a custom made 1000 pound selectorized weight stack. On that piece, 700-800 lbs feels like you have an apartment complex on your shoulders. (have you ever seen a 1000 pound weight stack before????? gotta love that gym….)

Until next time, wish me luck climbing stairs over the next few days.

Posted 28 August, 2005 in Workouts

Comments

jo said:

Dear TOM, thankyou for being a walking fitness-encyclopedia and a huge inspiration to me and so many others.
You're definitely one determined soul. What's most rewarding that I learned from your program, is the goals and NLP. My house is filled with junk food(thanks to the other 16 and 17 year-old kids just like me, and the very strange parents that live in our house) and now no matter what i always find a way to get unprocessed food-- its kind of a weird thing , this morning I just got up and found some miniature vine-ripened tomatoes and just started automatically eating the damn things like potato chips out of that plastic gladware. Things just keep getting better and better everyday. Good luck to you,
My heartfelt thanks, J
Keep in touch

Posted on Sep 05, 2005 11:15 AM

Tom venuto said:

Jo, you wrote:
"Its kind of a weird thing , this morning I just got up and found some miniature vine-ripened tomatoes and just started automatically eating the damn things like potato chips out of that plastic gladware."

That's a great thing! You mentioned goals and NLP. These techniques I teach in my BURN THE FAT ebook, along with the other subconscious programming methods, work so well that your behavior begins to change automatically. You know you're starting to "get it" when you start craving stuff that's good for you, and junk food no longer even tempts you.

As James Allen wrote in his classic inspirational book, "Change of diet will not help a man who will not change his thoughts. When a man makes his thoughts pure, he no longer desires impure food."

Keep up the fine work, my friend

T.V.

Posted on Sep 05, 2005 01:37 PM

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