Week 2 Day 1 - BOOM!!

6/04/15 Day 8 – Legs & Abs

I'M BACK BABY!

Today hit me like a truck, with Week 2 starting all the rep ranges I am working through are going to be that much higher than last week, but this doesn't mean I am allowed to just take off a few plates and make it easy, oh no, this is where we make it harder once again!

Without realising I was actually hitting pretty much the same weight on all the matching exercises from Week 1 on the session today. With the first week being all about lifting as heavy as possible, its quite amazing that I am hitting the same weights, on a rep range that has been increased from 8-12 to 14-18, that's a big difference.

So expect to sweat, expect to be sore and expect to see some serious growth. Today's session is:

Barbell Squat – 2 Sets x 14-18 Reps

Wide Stance Barbell Squat – 2 Sets x 14-18 Reps

Leg Extensions – 4 Sets x 14-18 Reps

Seated Leg Curl – 4 Sets x 14-18 Reps

Hack Squat – 4 Sets x 14-18 Reps

Seated Calf Raise – 5 Sets x 18-20 Reps

Crunches with Legs on a Bench – 4 Sets x 10 Oblique Crunches, 10 Normal, 10 Second Hold

Crunches – 4 Sets x 30 Reps

Cardio - Interval Training 15mins Total

I made sure starting with a big warm up, active stretch session and some real light sets to loosen the joints of for the session. Remember you can never warm up too much!

The idea of today's session is getting the big, free standing compound movements out the way at the beginning of the session, then look to isolate the same muscles used, this will allow me to fatigue my muscles as much as possible, before moving onto another big compound exercise. So we are making it hard on ourselves by taking the energy away so the muscles have to work harder to contract, and therefore pump more, tear more and grow more.

For the Barbell Squats & Wide Stance Barbell Squats I really wanted to go heavy and slow on these exercises as its an area I really want to progress on, so I don't want to throw the weight around and allow momentum to do the work, I want to put in the hard yards to get my squats stronger and more powerful.

Slightly out of breath from those extra reps I moved onto the Leg Extensions and got ready to isolate, squeeze and embrace the burn. First set, smashed it, second, smashed it, then I hit a wall, not even making it to my lower rep range I had to start pausing between my reps. Now I don't consider pause rest cheating by any means, if it helps to get the reps out then you have to do what you have to do. It made me realise what a massive difference and extra few reps can do to your training!

With my John Wayne legs on I stumbled over to the Laying Leg Curl machine, as we don't have a Seated Leg Curl machine at my Gym. So here I was focusing on my Eccentric Phase (actively lengthening the muscle). As I'm working against a weight and gravity, this is where I can get the most microfibre tears, which is what I want if I'm going to grow!

Then came the hard part. With my legs already shaking like Bambi on ice, I plated up. I refused to work below 40kg on the Hack Squat, which in hindsight was a great mentality after, but during the sets...oh my Arnold, I hated myself! But again, don't take the easy way out. If you want quads that can light a fire as the rub while you walk, you are going to have to force them through some SERIOUS reps.

To round off the Legs I jumped on the Seated Calf Raise. Without realising I was repping on the same weight as Week 1, which I was actually pretty chuffed with! Pausing at the top of the raise for a second before returning to the bottom of the range, I wanted to squeeze some blood into those bad boys, after all, what the point of being Quadzilla if you have chicken leg Calves!?

Finally some rest!...that isn't long lived, I kept my heart rate up and moved swiftly onto my Ab work. The first set of abs was without a doubt the hardest! That 10 second hold feels like it goes on forever! And with under 30 seconds rest between each set the lactic acid builds up at an exponential rate! With the standard Crunches I kept the feet of the floor to engage my lower abdomen, as this is a week point for me, but not for long!

Then off to the stair master for my cardio. Which I embraced after the crazy amount of food I consumed yesterday, feeling fat is an understatement!

So good to be back in the Gym!

Hope you are all enjoying the Bank Holiday Monday with the people that mean the most to you. Much love to all of you, following me through this journey.

Happy Lifting

Matt