Awesome Leg workout!

My alarm  went off at 5am this morning.  Man, I didn’t want to get up.  I felt like I’d been hit by a truck.  My back hurt like hell!  I think it must have been from all of the traveling (sitting) I’ve done the last 2 weekends.  My lower back and glutes felt as tight as a drum and were killing me!  As I was training my morning clients I was wishing that I had some hydrocodone with me….it hurt that bad. 

Since it was Monday I planned to work legs, but I didn’t see how that was going to happen.  I was fortunate that Massage Envy was able to get me in as soon as I got done with my clients.  The therapist, Barbara, spent most of the hour working on my back and the upper part of my glutes.  By the time she got finished it was feeling much better, but I still didn’t know if I’d be able to squat today.

Well, I headed to the gym.  I started with some really light leg presses.  Even the lightest weights felt heavy, but I added a pair of 45’s after each set and amazingly it wasn’t much more difficult as I continued to go up doing sets of 20.  I ended up doing 20 reps with 540 lbs….90 lbs heavier than I’ve lifted since my surgery.  I was really feeling it in my knee though, so I lightened the weight to 450 and performed  sets of 30 and 40 reps with the weight that I was struggling to get 20 with last week.

Then I decided I would go ahead and try some squats.  Squatting  just the bar wasn’t easy.  But, once again, as I continued to add weight I was able to get through the sets of ten.  I had planned to not go over 185.  The most I’ve done since my injury was 205 for 10 reps.  I completed my set of 10 with 185 lbs and it didn’t feel too bad.  I decided to go ahead and see if I could get some reps with 225.  It felt heavy at first but as I cranked out the reps, one at a time, I kept thinking “ok, I can get one more”.  I was able to complete 10 good (below parallel) reps!  Then I lowered the weight to 185 for my final set.  Again, it felt heavy at first.  My thighs were tired.  But, one at time, I knocked’em out and finished 15 solid reps.  Pretty damn good for a day that I thought I might not be able to train, and certainly didn’t think I’d be able to squat.

Bodyweight 175.6 (up 3 lbs from last week)

Leg Press 8 sets 20-40 reps

Squats 5 sets 10-15 reps

Leg Extension (each leg separately) 3 sets 10-12 reps

Seated Leg Curls (separately) 3 sets 10-12 reps

Donkey calf raise 4 sets 12-15 reps

Standing calf raise 3 sets 12-15 reps