Health & Fitness News
Women’s Leg Training: Phase 2
The second installment of this workout series to firm up your bottom half
by Charles Poliquin
Now that we have you warmed up from my first program, here’s a much more intense program designed to accelerate your progress. As with the first workout in this series, this program consists of only two training sessions a week, but they are so effective at working the lower body muscles that performing three such workouts a week would result in overtraining.
Phase 2: Agonist Supersets
Generally, when exercises are paired together they work opposite muscle groups, such as using an exercise that works the biceps (which flexes the arm) paired with an exercise that works the triceps (which extends the arm). This is called an antagonist superset. In this program you will perform an agonist superset in which the two exercises work the same muscle group, which significantly increases the amount of work you’re doing in training the muscle group. That is the first difference in the supersets performed in this workout.
The usual way supersets are designed is that an exercise that isolates a specific muscle group is followed by a compound exercise that uses the same muscle group along with others; for example, pairing a biceps curl (isolation exercise) with a chin-up (compound exercise). If the easier exercise is performed first, it’s called a pre-exhaustion superset, and if the harder exercise is performed first, it’s called a post-exhaustion superset. As an additional change, for the first superset in the Monday workout, I decided to offer a much more intense superset by pairing two compound exercises, a Front Squat paired with a Heels-Elevated Back Squat.
Finally, you’ll see that the rest between supersets is only 10 seconds, which essentially serves to extend the duration of the set and increase the time the muscles are placed under tension. The effect will leave you breathless, both literally in how it affects you physically and figuratively in how it enhances your results.
Monday
A-1. Front Squat, 4 x 4-6, 40X0, resting only 10 seconds, then decrease the weight by 10-15 percent
A-2. Heels-Elevated Back Squat, 4 x 6-8 reps, 20X0, rest 3 minutes
B-1. Lying Leg Curl, Feet Neutral, 4 x 6-8, 40X0, rest only 10 seconds, then decrease the weight
B-2. Romanian Deadlifts, 4 x 10-12 reps, 4020 tempo, rest 3 minutes
Thursday
A-1. Bent-Knee Deadlift, 4-6, 40X0, rest only 10 seconds, then decrease the weight by 10-15 percent
A-2. Dumbbell Lunge, 4 x 10-12 reps per leg, 20X0, rest 3 minutes
B-1. Poliquin Neutral Leg Curls, 4 x 6-8, 80X0, rest only 10 seconds, then decrease the weight. In this exercise variation you lift the weight with feet dorsiflexed (toes pulled towards you) and lower them plantar flexed (toes extended). Because you are stronger with the feet dorsiflexed, this serves to increase the eccentric load on the hamstrings (because you can use more weight) and therefore increases how hard the muscles are contracted.
B-2. Eccentric Overload, 45-Degree Back Extensions, 4 x 10-12, 4020 tempo, rest 3 minutes
For a description of this exercise, click here.
This type of training isn’t easy, but after you see the results from applying yourself to it, I’m certain you’ll agree your hard work really pays off!