Exercise Log 12.11.13 (Leg Day + Cardio)

Woke up today a little on the late side, close to when I had planned to hit up lunch, so I set out for a brisk (and chilly) 2 1/2 mile walk on an empty stomach. Fasted morning walks/jogs are a great and consistent way to burn fat, so I was feeling pretty good about that cardio.

Today was leg day, so when I got to the gym I did my usual warmups and then started front squats. After a warmup round on a bare bar, I did 1 set of 8 reps @ 95lbs, 5 reps @ 115lbs, 5 reps @ 135lbs. I tried and failed to hit 155lbs twice, but learned something valuable. I was using the standard open squat rack not the power rack today, and I noticed that if I’m standing just outside the rack and doing my squats all the way to the floor, that if I failed a rep that the lower mounts (to rack the barbell for deadlifts) was right at that height where when I was down in a fully squatted position I can just wiggle up and rack the barbell there. This was something I had worried about a little bit as I prefer to do my front squats with maximum depth and the open squat rack (at my gym) is not adjustable and a little above hip width.

After the failure, I decided to skip the burn sets to work on my back squat form. I’ve neglected back squatting in the past few weeks. My back squat form is low bar (resting the bar a little below the traps on the ridge of the posterior delt), and with back squats the open rack’s “higher” rack level is fine for squat depth as I’m worried more about strength and weight than depth and form. So anyways, proceeded with the first set of 5 reps @ 115lbs, 5 @ 125lbs, 5 @ 145lbs and one solid rep at 165lbs (just a few pound short of my max, and that rep was at much better form than I recall my max rep before being). Now I was done with squatting so wrapped up with two drop sets, 8 reps @ 125lbs and 12 reps @ 95lbs (the final set I stepped outside the squat rack and went for better depth).

Alright after this hit up the marching lunges with a pair of 40lb dumbbells, 3 sets back and forth across the weight floor. One trip across the weight floor is about 20 reps of lunges to march across, took a bit of time these always wear me out. Then did 2 sets of vertical leg presses (10 reps) superset with calf raises (12 reps) @ 360lbs of plates, then 2 sets @ 450lbs of plates. Lastly did some hip extensions, 4 sets of 9 reps each leg at 140lbs to keep my glutes nice and tight.

Since I had free time at the end of my workout due to doing cardio beforehand, I decided to do some nice long strengthing probably spent a good 10-15 stretching my body out. Felt real nice and is always a refreshing way to wrap up a good workout.

Nothing fancy today, no plateaus so not syndicating this post… this one is just for the books.