Gym Workouts

The beloved leg day... oh how we have been waiting for this one. Mainly a gym routine BUT (there is a but!) it can be adapted for the home workout setting with ease. Click on the image to the left and you will be brought right to the programming document. I have gone through this workout many times myself and love every bit of it. Speed/Agility/Quickness are optional as written in the template but I often add lateral box step overs or some speed steps in a squatting position or even the dreaded lunge jumps for that ultimate burn. In this workout the lower body muscles are targeted- quads and the rectus femoris, vastus medialis, intermedius and lateralis to the hamstrings with the biceps femoris, semitendinosus and semimembranosus and of course the ever-targeted glutes with the gluteus medius, minimus and maximus. Every exercise has a purpose and has a specific muscle group that it is working. That is one of the things I love about programming for specific muscle groups as a student and trainer- there are so many approaches that allow for various exercises. One muscle may have anywhere from three to over ten exercises to target all of the heads or angles. My example for legs comes from the quads. The quads are the shortened term for quadriceps which means your 'quad' has 4 heads that include the muscles mentioned above: rectus femoris, vastus medialis, vastus intermedius and vastus lateralis. Each of these muscles of the quad has exercises that can target it and that is the part I love- anatomy and the understanding of how these muscles work can allow for more effective training and that is why I am here and this specificity is what I can offer you as a trainer!

We all love squats or at least most of us say we do- but what happens if you are in a time crunch and your favorite squat rack isn't available? Go dust off some of those machines. Machines are a great way to train specific muscle groups and most of the time they are organized by upper and lower body machines at gyms and other clubs. You can set up the 2 machines you want to use at a time and go back and forth in your supersets if they are right next to each other. One of my favorites in this is the leg extensions paired with the hamstring curls- these are absolutely killer. Start with the prone curls and try some single leg variations then move to the quad focused leg extension with single leg movements then back to the seated hamstring curl to finish it out. Many people overlook the machines as they do target specific muscles rather than large functional groups. While this is true and it is important to train functional movements- not everyone can perform a single leg barbell squat, so that is where machines come in. Going from bilateral movements such as squats and deadlifts to a unilateral single leg movement really allows us to have a better idea of any weaknesses or inequalities between body parts and focusing on these weaknesses rather than breezing over them in your big lifts will improve the quality of the lift and prevent injury overall. Onto the leg press: there are various opinions on the leg press movement and machine. The leg press is a great way to isolate the legs and train with heavier weight without worrying so much about your upper chain and bar positioning as seen in a squat- BUT I would say that it is an accessory to your squat. Many individuals can usually move more weight in the leg press movement than the squat due to this restricted range of motion and lesser need for upper chain and core engagement so paired together the leg press is a great accessory movement to change up your training, reduce fatigue from squatting while still working your prime movers for squats.