Leg Day Workout

Hey Everyone!!!

So recently I posted an upper body workout, so I thought I would take some time to put together a kick a$$ leg day workout as well.

For leg day I like to focus on the four different parts separately. Most exercises will use a little of every muscle, but it's beneficial as well to focus on each separate muscle to get the most bang for your buck. For example - Sumo Leg Press is going to work the quads, hamstrings, and glutes; but a secondary muscle would be your calves.  So I like to break down the leg and focus on each individual muscle for at least one set.

BEFORE YOU START:
-Make sure to warm up your legs. Going into a workout with being stretched will give you less flexibility and less power to complete moves. It takes 5 minutes and will be the difference for your workout I promise!!
-Make sure to have your BCAA's!!! (if you don't know about these, I have a post about supplements that you should def read!!)



Without further ado, the workout!

1. Sqauts (5x10) superset with Up-Downs (10 each leg)
2. Deadlifts (5x10) superset with Sidekick (10 each leg)
3. Single Leg Press (5x10) superset with Glute Bridge (10)
4. Bulgarian Split Squats (5x10) superset with wall sits
5. Leg Press (5x 8,12,16,20,25 )

-Run 1 mile
-Stretch!!!!




Info on exercises:
1. Squats - do weight that is appropriate for you. You want to make sure that you are able to go to parallel and you may not be able to use a lot of weight. Start light and increase throughout the sets.
    --Up-Downs - start on your knees. Start with right leg and get yourself up into a squat position. Hold this for one second and then return to kneeling position. That is one rep. This move is super challenging if done correctly. It really focuses on the quads! Do 10 starting with right leg, then do 10 starting with the left leg.

2. Sidekicks - similar to a kickback, instead of using the glutes to push your leg back, use the glutes to lift your leg to the side.
3. Single Leg Press - using a smith machine set yourself up as if you were going to do a leg press. Bend on knee and place the other foot on the bar. You will do a "pulse" up. You want to squeeze the glutes and quad. Don't bend the leg, don't try to make a large move up or down, it's a short motion.
4. Leg Press - I like to use the inverted leg press for these sets. This is the burn out set. Start with heaviest weight that you think you can complete 8 FULL reps. Then remove some of the weight and do 12, etc. etc.


Happy Lifting!! :-)

Monday Post

Good Morning!!!

So today I wanted to share my workout schedule and some goals for this week. In my last post I talked about being prepared so I hope this will be helpful for you guys, and you can modify to your life!

Goals:
1. Get to work on time every day (seriously I get to work at 8:02 - I need to be here earlier!)
2. Focus on getting appropriate rest.
3. Put 130% into every workout.

Workout Schedule:
Monday - off
Tuesday - Legs (Squats) and HIIT
Wednesday -  Upper Body (Back Focus)
Thursday - HIIT and Abs
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Legs
Sunday - Upper Body (Shoulder Focus) and HIIT

So I will try to post as much info about workouts and meals as I can (but let's be real, I probably won't do it as often as I should :-P). So below is my tentative meal plan for the week and my workout from yesterday.

Meal Plan:
- Breakfast - Protein Shake
- Snack 1 - Chocolate Chip and Banana Muffin
- Lunch - Chicken Noodle Soup (under the weather today)
- Snack 2 - Greek Yogurt and carrots
- Dinner - varied?!?!? (today it's kabobs!)


Shoulder Workout: 500 rep WOD
1. Shoulder Press (smith machine/barbell) (10x10)
with bicep curl (3x10)
2. Upright Row (barbell) (5x10)
3. Lateral Raise (5x10)
with triceps extension (3x10)
4. Front Raise (5x10)
5. Arnold Press (10x10)
with dips (3x10)
6. Rear Delt Raise (5x10)
7. Shoulder Circles (10x10)


--I incorporated other upper body exercises to give the delt muscle some rest. I tried to do the whole workout in 1 hour (it took like 10-15 more minutes than that). What you want to go for is minimal rest but effective reps. Remember to do a weight that is appropriate yet challenging.


I hope you all have a great Monday!! :-)