Today's Lower Body Workout – Deadlifts, Squats, Leg Curls and Leg Extensions
In the Table below of today's lower body workout, please keep in mind the order of the workout. You do not have to follow that order, but I have found it to be effective, especially alternating between leg curls and squats. Each time I did leg curls which are in the second column, I would follow the leg curls with squats until I completed all of the squats that I wanted or felt strong enough to do. I am mainly interested in leg curls to warm up my hamstrings and balance the muscle workout of the quadriceps and my squats seem to be easier when doing leg curls in between each set of squats. After I have completed the squats, then I go to deadlifts and in between each deadlift set I like to do the leg extensions. Another reason that I like to alternate leg curls and squats and then deadlifts and leg extensions is to keep my legs warm and feeling more flexible. One more reason is for time savings. I generally rest a few minutes to a max of five minutes between each set and that is why it makes sense to me to save some time and work an opposing muscle group during the rest phase that is not being hit by the squats or deadlifts. You got me, leg extensions do hit the quadriceps which the deadlift does as well, but they are a pretty easy exercise sitting in a chair like the chairman of the board as opposed to the deadlift that takes so much out of you. Total time for today's workout was 50 minutes.
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So today I did my high deadlifts of 170 lbs and high 5 repetition set of squats at 110 pounds. I also did my high 5 set repetition of deadlifts of 165 pounds. Even I was shocked! I never imagined that I could do 5 repetitions of 165 pounds but while I was in the gym this morning I saw a guy doing many repetitions of deadlifts with over 300 pounds, let me figure it out, he had 3 45lb plates on each side of the olympic barbell which is 135lbs on each side plus another 25 pound plate which equals 160lbs x 2 = 320 pounds plus the weight of the barbell itself which is 45 pounds for a grand total of 365 pounds…..yowsa! When I saw that, I pushed myself a little harder and tried to emulate his style a bit which was to lower the bar and hit the floor and come back up right away. In the past, I would lower the weight and let it sit and then try to lift it again. I have to try this way out for a bit but it did feel good. See, this is a good reason to go to a gym where there are more people who have more expertise than you do. On that note, I am going to be publishing an interview soon that I am doing with Peter G. Hammer who is a personal trainer at New York Sports Club. He is the real deal and seems quite fit but I will let him tell you everything. I have seen him do many reps of controlled pullups and squats, just about any workout you would imagine. He must have some secrets that he can share with us newbies!
Today as I mentioned above, I was inspired to attempt to up my game on deadlifts and instead of starting my deadlift workout with 95 pounds and building up to 135 lbs, I began the deadlift workout with 135 lbs and did 5 repetitions right out of the gate! I have to admit, that felt pretty good, alot better than just one repetition. So I did the same for the following sets:
By the time that I got up to this point in my deadlift workout, 165 pounds, my hands were killing me, especially my palms. It would probably be a good idea to have some type of gymnastic chalk or gloves, but on the other hand, I want to keep building up my hand and grip strength, so I will just keep doing the deadlifts without the gloves. In any case, I did 5 reps with 165 pounds, my absolute highest weight that I have ever deadlifted for 5 repetitions.
After deadlifts, I went over to leg extensions and did 5 set of 5 reps starting with the default weight of 25 pounds and going up to 55 pounds.
So there you have it, a full lower body workout for today which took all of approximately 45 minutes to do.
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Rich is a certified personal trainer-AAPT and the author of