29-10-2018, 05:00 PM
2087
Re: Post your daily exercise routine
Monday 29/10/18: Legs; 45mins.
A day late with my weekly weights workout for the legs (yesterday was spent shopping and generally taking things easy, which was probably best as my legs were still a little restless from Friday’s cardio and the previous two hours on the upper body weights), but what a corker of a session it was today.
Making my way to firstly to the incline press to discover that it was broken, which was a blow as I had intended to go mega heavy on that but not to worry, I soon made up for it on the sled press instead.
(Pics included as info for others, although most of this equipment is self-explanetary. The people in the photos are not of myself by the way).
Sled press:
50x120 warm-up
20x150, 20x150, 20x150, 20x150, 20x150, 20x150
10x200, 10x200, 10x200, 10x200
50x100 high reps
*The trouble with the sled press is that the stack only goes up to 200kgs, when the incline press is virtually unlimited (my all-time best being 425kgs not so many years ago), but I made up for the lack of weight by doing many more sets instead – the multiple sets of 150 and 200 were ‘paused’ not dropped; i.e. I didn’t put the stack down but instead held the full weight in front of me for a few seconds until I carried on with the next set (if you get my drift?!).
Anyway, by the end of this lot my thighs were expanded to the point of looking like sandbags and felt very heavy and bulky as I walked to the next machine.
Seated ham curls:
20x50, 10x60, 10x60
6x70, 6x70, 5x80
25x35 high reps
*The hamstrings were already quite worked following the sled press but in the absence of the incline press (which is more suitable for the backs of the thighs than the sled), these reverse leg curls were adequate enough. Plus, I haven’t reached 80kgs on this machine for a while and that’s a boost to both ego and soul.
Leg extensions:
(that’s Ronaldo!)
20x50, 12x70, 8x35
6x100, 6x100, 6x100
15x100, 15x100 “bounce” sets
25x40 high reps
*Lots of work on here today as I am now convinced that my knee issues are caused not by exercise (on the contrary – it helps) but by twisting the foot as in crossing the legs below the knees: that causes a sharp pain and I now know that if I keep myself from angling my feet at awkward positions, my knees do in fact have no niggles.
So with digressing aside, I managed satisfactorily to lift the whole stack on this exercise too with no problems – although I didn’t do too many sets as my inner quads were still complaining from the amount of sled work.
The ‘bounce’ sets mentioned above were done by extending the legs as normal but then doing a number of 6-inch extended reps at the top of the movement without returning the lift to its original position to strengthen and isolate the muscles above the knees more.
Adductor:
25x60, 25x60
Abductor:
15x60, 15x60
(or “good girls and bad girls”)
Ab crunch:
50x30 (feet in front on foot bar)
50x30 (feet on floor)
*Different positions on this ensure the higher and lower abs are worked equally.
Looked at the clock and it was a couple of minutes shy of 45 minutes, so I returned for quick knockout blast on the sled once more, the glutton for punishment that I tend to be lol.
Sled press (finale):
100x80 high reps
*With the legs now begging for mercy, I crawled away to the shower.
There’s no getting away from still wanting to test my strength in the gym. I can’t help it, it’s the way I’ve always trained and even age won’t let me take a breather on the bodybuilding which is inbuilt inside me. But although I keep telling myself (and you folks) about me easing off a little on the heavy stuff, I’m fine with it because it’s good to keep the body strong as we get older as it helps to stave off weakness in the joints and bones.
The main thing for me is to remember to be careful with potential injuries which may happen if I don’t execute the apparatus properly…I do get a bit gung ho at times throwing caution to the wind!
But having said that, I do a good mix of cardio, light weights and heavier work which I’m feeling is about right for me as I travel headlong into my sub-Autumn years!
Thanks for reading