This is Turk and we are at the Xtreme Edge Gym in Beaverton, Oregon for the first set in today’s high intensity leg workout. We have a new guy who is going to be working out with us today. His name is Chris Finch and he is a bodybuilder that is training for an upcoming show. The first exercise in today’s leg workout is going to consist of leg extensions and then we are going to roll right into partial hack squats with slow reps and then we will finish up the workout with regular squats on the smith machine. On the smith machine squats, Chris will be pausing at the bottom of each repetition to really burn out his quads. This giant set is the first set of our leg workout which will target the quadriceps muscles primarily.
High Intensity Leg Workout – 1st Exercise (Set #1):
Exercise:
Leg Extensions
Workout Advice:
The key to the first exercise in our workout today is to keep constant tension on the quads while doing this movement. So, the weight stack should be constantly moving during the entire range of the set. Do not rest and let the stack come back down and hit the rest of the weights since this will eliminate the constant tension principle we are going after. The other important factor with this exercise is that we will be going to absolute positive failure on this set. You want to really focus on burning out your quads and go all the way to failure. If you slow down and stop during the exercise, terminate the set and move onto the next exercise.
High Intensity Leg Workout – 2nd Exercise (Set #1):
Exercise:
Hack Squats
Workout Advice:
We are doing these hack squats using super slow reps along with a partial movement in order to target the vastus medialis (VMO) or what is also called the “teardrop” muscle of the quadriceps. You will be using a partial range of motion on this exercise so you only want to focus on going down to about 30 degrees which will hit the vastus medialis muscle very well. You also want to focus on super slow repetitions, so make sure to go down and lower the weight (eccentric portion) in 8 seconds and then back up (concentric portion) in another 8 seconds. You really want to focus on keeping constant tension on the quads with this exercise.
High Intensity Leg Workout – 3rd Exercise (Set #1):
Exercise:
Smith Machine Squats
Workout Advice:
The key to this exercise is to pause at the bottom of each repetition which will cause your quadriceps to really work on this movement. When you lower the weight to the bottom position, pause for 1-2 seconds and then explode back up to the starting position. Try to force yourself to go to absolute positive failure on this exercise and really push yourself. Since this is your third exercise in this giant set, your quads will be absolutely burning but just focus on pushing through the pain and making your legs grow! It’s always good to have a spotter to assist you if you need any help while you perform this exercise.
Make sure to watch part 2 of our high intensity leg workout which will include the second set where we target the hamstrings muscles with 3 different exercises that includes stiff-legged deadlifts, leg presses and barbell lunges.
