Quads

Saturday I trained quads as usual. I also had a good day, I can tell when my physique is looking good by the comments folks make at the gym.


Roy told me to hit the Leg Extension first this time so I did. I always think this machine is useless, but I always use it the closer I get to a competition.


I suppose it has it's uses depending on what your goals are. As far as building big, meaty legs, this is not going to do it. But for cuts and definition, I think it is the way to go. 


I did several sets, as heavy as I could without arching my back and basically looking like I was writhing in pain. You really need to keep your eye on your form, so many people think that even though they are grimacing, twisting, writhing, and squeezing the handles with all their might, it's OK because they have a lot of weight on the machine. 


Nope- not really. The weight should be as heavy as you can lift with good form. So I concentrate on keeping a "pretty face" and my back square against the back rest, my hands lightly gripping the handles and I do not swing the weight.


Afterward I headed down to my favorite power rack. I warmed up and loaded up the weight, I was to do 4 sets of 10 back squats with 140 pounds. All the way down, no shimmy! 


I did it! ha ha ha! I think I still have a little shimmy though, but I am working on it.


Then on to the Leg Press, where I did 5 sets of 10 with 495 pounds. I need to work on adding yet more weight but I start to feel it in my knees and that's bad joo joo so I avoid anything that will cause potential pain.


I then need to do my walking lunges. I don't particularly care for lunges but they are a "must do". I am moving benches trying to make a wide open path and Ryan comes by with a client points at a piece of equipment and asks if I am using something. No, I am only trying to make a huge open space to walk with an Olympic bar and it just isn't happening today, so I will go to get dumbbells and walk down the hallway instead.


I tell him I am off to Mexico soon, going to fatten up before the diet. I ask if he has started his, he competes in bodybuilding and we will be in the same show in May. No, he hasn't started yet but he has been cutting back on calories. He said I  have maintained a fairly lean physique, my diet shouldn't be too hard. I agreed, I told him I have done a good job adding weight but not too much bodyfat. 


I start my lunges, and I have chosen 25 pound dumbbells although I am using heavier ones with Roy, but I have done more quad work today than he and I typically do at once. As I am resting in between sets I almost bump into Denise as we both pace about. We start laughing and talking about dreaded lunges. She shakes her head "You are still changing, your whole backside especially! It's working, you look good." "What do you see?" I ask.


"More muscle, but lean, really lean definitely more muscle, it really is working whatever you are doing."


We talk about diet and how I have been training hamstrings twice a week, and quads twice a week, I have really been working on my legs, my glutes are huge too.


I finish my lunges (3 sets of 15 on each leg) and head off to do some steady state cardio- I am going to get on the stairsteper because all the stairmills are full.


MJ, one of the female trainers waves me over. She is working with a client on a Nordic walker and wants to talk to me. "Do you have a competition coming up?" she asks. "No" I explain, "Not until May."


"You look god! really good, it shouldn't be a problem being ready by then." I then tell her I am going on vacation to Mexico soon, so I may look a bit softer after my return.


"Enjoy it!" she said. "You will have plenty of time to get hard and ripped".


And she's right.

Saturday's Leg Workout

Some days when I get to the gym I feel so alive it's really hard to contain myself. This past Saturday was one of those mornings. I had slept well, I was awake before the alarm sounded.

I watch people in the gym, and I know most of them are not lifting right. They may be swinging their weights around, using weights that are too light or too heavy, not performing the move correctly, you name it. Most people just go through the motions to get it over with. It is supposed to be difficult you know!


I am making an effort to time my sets, it's easy when I train with Roy because he can stand there with the stopwatch, it's harder by myself, but I did a good job this Saturday.


Roy said for hypertrophy I need to aim for sets with a time under tension of 40 to 70 seconds, and to do that I need to lift explosively and lower very, very slowly. It's exactly opposite of what most people do.


Try it. Take whatever exercise you are doing and do 8 to 10 reps, but make each set last a minimum of 40 seconds. It's freaking hard!


You do that with squats, with bench press, with military press, you name it. You may find that you have to lower the weight you are using. My weights went down when I started training with Roy, but I look a hell of a lot better!


Here's my morning:


Stretching
Seated leg Curl 5 sets of 8 @ 100 pounds (time under tension ~36 (I was trying) (60 second rest in between sets)
Unilateral Kneeling Leg Curl 5 sets of 8 @ 20 pounds (time under tension ~32) (60 second rest)
RDL's 4 sets of 6 @ 195 pounds (time under tension 32, 31, 32, 32) (90 second rest)
Front Squats 5 sets of 8 @ 95 pounds (time under tension 48,47,48,51,51) YAHOO! (90 second rest)
Walking Lunges with 20 pound dumbbells 3 sets on each leg (10 per leg) (30 second rest)
Glute Ham Raise 4 sets of 10 body weight (60 second rest)
20 minutes on the stairmill


Protein and carb shake afterward and coffee, coffee, coffee.

BodyComp Personal Training Gym

  

We all love Fridays don't we? At least those of us who work a regular Monday to Friday 9 to 5 job do! I love Fridays even more, you see I get off work at 11:30 am just to train with Roy.

I really enjoy the brutal sheer effort that is required of my training on these days. I am working on my legs, I have always struggled with them, they are lean and nice looking, I want them big and muscular.

At one time I used to train with an IFBB Figure pro - one who has graced the stages of the Olympia- she used to say "If I had your legs and my upper body, I would win every time!". Well, I wouldn't agree but the point is, they are nice enough for most people, but not for me!

So what does a typical Friday consist of? I get up at my usual 4:00 am and go to Courtside, I stretch and do 20 minutes of cardio on the stairmill then stretch some more. Easy stuff but necessary.

Work for 4 hours then off for the weekend!

12 noon I meet Roy, the owner of BodyComp Personal Training Gym and I will start my warm up. Below you will see me flipping a 500 pound tire, I suppose it is from an earth moving machine - it's huge!


Notice I said "warm up" ? Yes this is supposed to jack up my central nervous system and get it primed for the squats to follow.


I believe the whole thing started with Isaac (the other trainer there), mentioning that the tire weighed 500 pounds. I said "what tire?" and he responded "that tire". I was confused and I asked again "what tire are you talking about?" and he looks at me like I am a raving lunatic and says "Kristy! Do you see any other tires besides the one that is as big as you sitting right there in the corner?"


No, I guess not. I told him it couldn't be 500 pounds, I have flipped it a few times. A wide grin slowly spread across his face and he said to Roy "I think it's time for the tire!"


There will be 5 very short videos following and you will need to navigate directly to the blog to view them.

I rest 10 seconds when I get to the door, then go back the other way to the gym.





That was one set. I rest 30 seconds then do it all over again, for three sets total. These videos were on my last set- I am pretty "warmed up" by now!


And, I am sure there must be some hot woman out there that can make it look graceful, but the thing is HEAVY and it's not as easy as it looks after several flips. 


Notice the tire is going right in between my red BMW, Lisa's gold Jaguar and almost hits the red Ducati! I guess they trust me.


Now I will do several sets of squats, heels elevated on a foam wedge, as low as I can go. Honestly, I wouldn't do as many sets as Roy has me do if I were training on my own, it's easy to give up when you feel fatigued. 






I cannot remember how many of these I did, but it was many, many sets. 


Next we went on to lunges. I have done lunges all my life, but Roy is pretty particular about the way they should be performed. Slowly, back straight, use the glutes. It's easy to do them with huge weights in your hands when you don't do them correctly, a lot harder when you do them right. 



And of course there was not just one set, but many of them back and forth, back and forth.

I love Fridays, I love this kind of training, it makes me feel strong and alive. Not to mention the aches the following couple days.

Too many women shy away from big explosive exercises, or whole body movements. These are what make you strong, muscular and lean. Isolation exercises have their time and place, but they shouldn't be the core of your training at all. 

Every Friday I walk out of here, having spent only an hour or so and I feel like I am in a cloud, like I am on drugs. I absolutely love it! 

You can bottle some of this drug for yourself by contacting Roy at BodyComp Personal Training Gym, just don't even think about Fridays at noon though, that's my time!