Leg Day!
This is the first official day of the 100-reps of leg press to start every workout. We’re going from Jan 20 to Feb 20. Quad Queen is doing this with me, and given her name, I suspect it’s a total breeze for her!
Wanna join us? What’s really cool is that you get significantly better each time you do it.
Leg Press
• 100 controlled reps, no weight
Knees felt incredible! I think pumping a ton of blood into the quads and warming up the joints like this may be what I’ve been needing all along. Last time I had to pause every 25 reps. This time I only paused at 50 reps and 75 reps. My goal is to get through all 100 reps without having to pause for a few seconds at the top.
More Leg Press
• 4 sets of 6 slow controlled reps, every minute on the 2 minutes (EMO2M)
This ended up giving me well over a minute of rest between sets. I inched the weight up a bit every set for funsies.
First set: 90 pounds
Second set: 100 pounds
Third set: 110 pounds
Fourth set: 120 pounds
Abductor Machine
4 sets of 15-20 reps, drop set and repeat, then partials
This is such an isolated movement that going to failure doesn’t seem to negatively affect me. No CNS fatigue, just burning pain and a massive pump in the glutes. I don’t care that this isn’t a big lift. It feels incredible and makes my butt perky.
Ham Curl on Ball
4 sets: 15 reps, 12 reps, 10 reps, 8 reps
Slow and controlled with a pause at the lengthened position. This doesn’t just hit the hams, you also feel it in the glutes and calves.
Treadmill walk. Every muscle group in my lower body was pumped. My workouts are minimal right now, but is there a point in doing more if you’re already getting the results you want?
Random Thought
Loaded carries translate the most to real-life activities that require strength.
Our contractor is in his late 60s, so I’ve insisted on hauling the heavy stuff up to the second floor for him. I’d feel like an utter slob if I made him go up two flights of stairs holding slabs of sheet rock, bags of cement, floor tiles, etc. This is a real-life situation where strength is required.
Would maxing out for one rep on anything make me more efficient at this task? I have doubts about that since I did it relatively quickly without having worried about 1RMs since about 2019.
Another real-life situation I’ve been in recently? Carrying a dog with a hurt paw. Again, loaded carries are the thing that’ll prepare you best for that. Bicep curls too. Not even joking.
Even a dog as light as 35-pounds will make your biceps BURN if you have to carry her down a mountain or even just a few blocks from your house. Deadlifting translates here too, but you’re kind of only doing it once. And you don’t even have to be that strong in the deadlift. If your dog is under 100 pounds, then that shouldn’t be too hard… aside from the fact that they’re dog-shaped.
Another recent real-life situation where strength was involved? Moving furniture around the living room. Aside from loaded carries, sled work translates here too. You’ll be able to push an awkwardly shaped, ever-moving swivel chair on carpet fairly easily if you’re decent at moving a heavy prowler.
Question: What exercises would prepare you for the real-life things you’ve found yourself doing recently?