Tom Venuto's BodybuildingSecrets.com - Ripping Up & Detailing The Quads & Hamstrings

Ripping Up & Detailing The Quads & Hamstrings

Tom Venuto, CSCS, CPT

Wednesday, September 14th. Empire Fitness club, Hoboken, New Jersey. Leg Day again! Including today’s session, there’s only three more leg workouts before show day. I don’t plan on doing anything really heavy at this point; I mostly want to force blood in the muscles using high reps and constant tension, and work on details like quad separation, striations and hamstring/quad/glute tie-ins, etc.

QUADS

A1 Icarian 45 degree plate load leg press: 3 warm up sets; Set 1: Feet high on platform, shoulder width, 630 lbs X 30 reps, then rest 15 seconds, 6 more reps, rest 15 seconds, 5 more reps, rest 15 seconds, 4 more reps (45 reps total); Set 2: Feet low on platform, feet together, 540 lbs X 16 reps ¾ of the way up, continuous tension, then lock out, pause 5 seconds, 7 more reps, rack weight rest 15 seconds, 6 more reps, rack weight rest 15 seconds, 5 more reps.; Set 3: Feet middle of platform, feet wide, 450 lbs X 15 reps continuous tension, then pause 10 seconds, 6 more reps, pause 10 seconds, 5 more reps, pause 10 seconds 5 more reps.
B1 Smith Machine Split Squat: 3 sets X 105 lbs X 12-15 reps X 4020 tempo, all the way down, ¾ of the way up, slow, continuous tension
C1 Leg extensions: 3 sets X 160 lbs X 12, 11, 10 reps, super strict; 5023 tempo (5 seconds down, no pause at bottom, 2 seconds up, 3 seconds squeeze at top of every single rep.)
C2 Sissy Squat: 3 sets X body weight X 15, 13, 12 reps ¾ of the way up, no lockout 3030 tempo; No rest between supersetted exercises C1 & C2, 60 seconds rest between supersets.

HAMSTRINGS

A1 Lying leg Curls (Icarian machine): 3 sets X 160 lbs X 10-15 reps
A2 Dumbbell Stiff Legged Dead lift: 3 sets X 80 lbs X 10-12 reps, continuous tension, come up just short of lockout; No rest between supersetted exercises A1 & A2, 60 seconds rest between supersets.
B1 Hamflexor (Flex one legged leg curl machine): 3 sets X 50 X 10-12 reps X 4021 tempo
B2 Hyperextensions: 3 sets X 25 lbs X 10-15 reps, squeeze at top; No rest between supersetted exercises B1 & B2, 60 seconds rest between supersets.

CALVES (pm)

A1 Calf Press on Cybex Horizontal Leg Press Machine: 4 sets X 180 lbs X 12-20 reps
A1 Standing Calf Machine: 4 sets X 500 lbs (stack) X 12-15 reps, hold top of each rep for 3-5 second contraction
B1 Seated Calf Machine: 3 sets X 115 lbs X 20-25 reps

Workout Commentary

Having shredded legs, or shredded ANY body part, is primarily a matter of low body fat. No specific exercises will get your lower body looking cut if you’re covered with a layer of fat.

At 2 or 3 weeks out from a show, however, the diet is at its strictest and almost all the fat should be gone. Strength and mass training is no longer the goal and your attention turns towards details such as: cross striations in the quads, deeper separation between the quadriceps group, rectus femoris popping out, running “all the way up into your posing trunks”, lateral quad/ ham separation, and of course, the glute-hamstring tie in. Did I mention ripped glutes?

You could argue that many of these attributes are a matter of genetics and low body fat, and I agree that those are first when talking about this level of physique detail, but I believe all these areas can be improved with training, and the results will be visible when the last vestiges of body fat are gone.

What I’m doing for these last few workouts for detail includes the following: (1) forcing blood into the muscle with continuous tension and ¾ reps on some exercises, (2) working on peak contraction on other exercises, especially on leg extensions, (3) lots and lots of lunges and split squats (essential for the outer quad/hamstring split), and (4) adding in sissy squats. I also work hard on squeezing at the top of the hyperextensions which works on both the lower back (“Christmas Tree’) and the glute/hamstring tie ins.

One technique in today’s workout that I haven’t used often in previous workouts was the use of rest pause on the leg presses. I often will do continuous tension reps, usually in the range of 10-15 before the burn reaches a peak that almost forces a pause, then I will lock out (WITHOUT racking the weight), and take a few seconds and a few deep breaths and keep going with regular, non continuous tension reps (full range, with a lockout).

Today, this was a very different type of rest-pause, On the leg press, I pushed to the point just short of total failure, and then completely racked the weight, releasing all tension. I took about a ten to fifteen second pause, then continued for 5-6 more reps, and then repeated this procedure once again, and even a third time. I don’t use this method that often, but when I do, it is intense and very result-producing.

I hit the hamstrings hard with more volume than usual today, but I kept the rest periods short and zipped right through two separate superset pairs very quickly.

Posted 14 September, 2005 in Workouts

Comments

alberto castillo said:

wow ...............
this workout its completely amazing
and this blog its absolutely incredible

your techniques and the form of you mixed one to another its too much to say .
i read hundred of books of resistance training and i never seen something like that........
plese do it an ebook with all youre favorite HIT techniques .

SEND YOU REGARDS FROM COSTA RICA

Posted on Mar 20, 2007 08:23 PM