Week Seven|Saturday|Workout

Workout:

Superset:

• Barbell front squat: 3 x 12, 75 lb
• Stiff leg deadlift: 3 x 15-20, 50 lb

Superset:

• Linear leg press: 3 x 12, 388 lb
• DB goblet squat: 3 x 15-20, 25 lb

Superset:

• Seated calf raise: 3 x 12, 100 lb
• Smith machine narrow stance squats: 3 x 15-20, 80 lb

Superset:

• DB curl: 3 x 12, 50 lb
• Weighted Dips: 3 x 12, 15 lb

Superset:

• Leg extensions: 3 x 12, 60 lb
• Leg curls: 3 x 12, 60 lb

Tri-sets:

• Lying leg raises: 3 x 20 each leg
• EZ bar goodmorning: 3 x 15-20, 20 lb
• Smith machine vertical leg press: 3 x 15-20, 295 lb, 345 lb

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Linear Leg Press (Exercise How to &YouTube Video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdaRhKPRzvA

Most gyms will carry this machine, but I have seen them shaped seemingly different. The above video is of myself demonstrating how to use one (I did 4 x 20 at 180 lb) but of course depending on your goals and fitness level that could be different for everyone. Something I want EVERYONE to keep in mind during this exercise since so many people have gotten hurt utilizing this machine (because they did not use it properly) is DON’T LOCK YOUR KNEES! also, this machine weight DOES NOT MEAN YOU WILL BE ABLE TO BARBELL SQUAT IT! so many people assume because they can leg pres 500 lb they can then squat 500 lb — that is not how this works and you will harm yourself assuming otherwise. Please head to my warnings, if you want to see some videos of people who have broken bones during this exercise, let me know.. ha. 

 

So now that I have the warnings out of the way, this exercise is actually a decent workout, now people with knee problems or issues this machine might not be for you (ask your medical doctor first) but I have known people with knee surgery, etc to utilize it afterwards (post their surgery after rehab) so don’t assume you will not ever be able to – anything is possible with a mindset of success. I personally use this machine as a superset and pyramid workout as well, I think it definitely is one that will leave your leg day worthwhile after doing so many reps and sets. 

 

How does one use this machine/do this workout:

 

1. Sit down at the machine and place legs on the platform in front of you. There are three stances you can use on this machine but I will be talking about the medium (shoulder width) foot stance. 
2. Lower the safety bars while pushing the platform all the way up until your legs are fully extended (without locking your knees)
3. Inhale and lower the platform until your upper and lower legs make a 90 degree angle
4. Push using the heels of your foot, and quads.. go back up to starting position.
5. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions and be sure to remember to lock the safety pins again when finished. 

What muscles are being worked?

• quads
• hamstrings
• glutes
• calves
• hip and torso for stabilization

Depending on foot placement on the platform you can isolate which muscles you want to work on more directly. I tend to like the variety this machine offers. 

 

I would recommend this machine for beginners as well as intermediate athletes, because like I said it can be used as a superset, pyramid or even just a way to strengthen your leg muscles. 

 

Fitness WonderWoman,

Shay-lon 

 

Do any of you not like using this machine? 

 

My Gym Workout – VERY light leg day

Good day bloggers,

 

Today’s workout was a very light leg day workout, I didn’t want to overtrain my body and it needed somewhat of a rest without resting inactively, so I did a light workout for my legs (didn’t lift as heavy) so hopefully that will help with my legs so they don’t get to the point of injury. If there is one thing I have learned about training, it is don’t overwork yourself ALL the time, know when to lighten shit up and do less, because it is better to lift little weights than to get injured and not lift at all. I know we have to workout hard and strong most days (the majority of us) but it is okay to lighten up the weights or the amount of reps if you need to. I do this more often than some of you may think.  We don’t have to “go hard or go home” all the time.

 

Workout Session:

 

• Smith machine squats: 3 x 6, 105 lb, 125 lb , 155 lb
• Leg extension machine: 4 x 12, 70 lb 
• leg curl machine: 4 x 12, 2 x 50 lb, 2 x 70 lb
• leg press: 4 x 12, 180 lb
• hip abduction machine: 3 x 15, 110 lb
• DB swings: 4 x 12, 20 lb
• Push ups: 20 reps

 

Gym Workout – Jan. 26th

Hey FitFam, 

I woke up later than usual today due to a phone conversation last night that seemed to last longer than I would have expected but it was well worth it until I woke up and realized how tired I still was – ugh. I swear I looked at my alarm clock (yes I use an alarm clock and not my phone because I am still somewhat in the 90’s lol) and realized is it really after 10am .. do I need to go to the gym today; then realized I had promised someone I would post a video of me doing my squat challenge today since I am feeling much better in the female department — next time I will not make any promises so I can sleep in instead, lol. jk. 

 

Oh and let’s not forget, there is this certain blogger who keeps reminding me about having to do pull -ups, I won’t speak his name or anything because I don’t want all of my blog followers to bring torches to his page, but yeah he is also the reason for my going to the gym today. LOL  but seriously.. I am glad he reminds me, because we have this small challenge going on and it has helped me develop my pull ups 🙂 

 

On to the good stuff, but WAIT! Yes, I did have a YouTube video for today and will post the link and what not in the next blog post for all the world to see, please subscribe to my YouTube channel, I love feedback and positive vibes or criticisms. I have a fun announcement to make in my next blog post as well, which hopefully will get people excited with me! be on the lookout for that! 

 

Now on to the good stuff…. 

 

Workout Session:

 

• Bench press (narrow grip): 3 x 10, 1 x 55 lb, 1 x 70 lb, 1 x 80 lb. Superset with Pull ups: 3 x 10 
• Overhead triceps extension: 3 x 10, 20 lb. Superset with smith machine one arm upright row: 3 x 10 per arm , 25 lb
• Triceps Pushdown: 3 x 10, 1 x 40 lb, 1 x 50 lb, 1 x 60 lb. Superset with Low row (narrow grip): 3 x 10, 1 x 55 lb, 1 x 70 lb, 1 x 85 lb
• Kneeling Triceps extension: 3 x 10, 1 x 15 lb, 1 x 20 lb, 1 x 25 lb Superset with Cable rope curls: 3 x 10, 1 x 20 lb, 1 x 25 lb, 1 x 30 lb
• Bodyweight squats: 230 reps 

So this probably looks like a short workout, but when you consider it being done as supersets, it isn’t as easy as it looks after all. I had a wonderful time during my workout and as I am typing, i can feel the soreness coming from a good workout today. I PR in my bench, which was nice. I went from a good 70 lb struggling to do 10 reps, to now 80 lb with 10 reps! I love that, my goal is 100 lb by the end of Feb, so hopefully that increases. If anyone does any of these exercises or does this routine, please leave me a comment letting me know what you think of it, love hearing from all of you. Thanks for reading.

 

Your Fitness Blogger,

 

Shay-lon xxx

My Gym Workout- Another lengthy one.

FitFam Monday Jan. 9th 

Remember how I shared with all of you about my workout on Saturday being lengthy, well come to find out, today’s workout was also very lengthy as well. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but realized I had to make up for another day at the gym I missed. I woke up this morning getting my workout together on paper, when I realized, holy shit, I missed another day, I was trying my best to talk myself out of caring, but just couldn’t do it. LOL. So cheers to another time consuming workout that really challenged my mindset and my time management skills. 

 

I did not do a “warm up”, but instead did my 1st cardio workout first to get my body warmed up for my lifts afterwards.

 

Workout Session:

 

• Cardio: Steady state (any mode of your choice), 45 minutes, 65%-75% of HR
• Dumbbell push up to row: 3 x 6-10, 40 lb
• Romanian Deadlift: 3 x 6-10, 155lb Superset with DB sumo squat: 3 x 6-10, 30lb
• Pronated wide grip pullup: 3 x 6-10
• DB lunge: 3 x 6-10, 40lb Superset with leg extension: 3 x 6-10, 110 lb
• Standing calf raise: 3 x 6-10
• Overhead press: 3 x 6-10, 40lb Superset with lateral DB raise: 3 x 6-10, 30lb
• Triceps dips: 3 x 6-10 Superset with barbell bicep curl: 3 x 6-10, 40 lb
• HIIT Training: 20 minutes, 30 seconds all out, 90 seconds recovery

I did some good PR’s while I was at, I did one for the push up to row (went up about 10 lb) which made me happy, plus my form during that exercise was a lot better and I was able to keep my balance better as well. Overall the workout wasn’t horrible, just long and tons of cardio got worked in. Hopefully tomorrow my workout won’t be as lengthy – fingers crossed.

Feel free to leave your workouts and gains in the comment section, share this with your friends/family and follow me if you don’t already.

 

Your Fitness blogger,

 

Shay-lon xxx

My Gym Workout – Nov. 23rd

Hello FitFam,

I have to admit by saying that today I was not prepared for the gym, not that my body was hurting or my brain wasn’t functioning right, it was the fact that I had not came into the gym with a plan written down for my workouts. I have been doing well with having my workouts written down prior to entering the gym, I bring my notepad and a pen with me and write down the amount of weight as I stroll along, but today it was a blank canvas and it caught me off guard. I was close to calling it a “cardio” day but if I did cardio for a full hour or so, then my gains would risk leaving. What I did instead was call it an upper body/Ab day since leg day was yesterday and I didn’t have any particular parts of the body that I wanted to work on today. With this being said, it was a short list, simple list but exercise doesn’t haven’t to be long and complex to be beneficial. 

 

Warm up:

 

• I didn’t perform a proper warm up because I was too cool for that today. 

Workout Session:

• One arm pulley row (pyramid): 4 x 12, 20lb, 27.5lb, 35lb, 42.5lb
• Dual pulley row (Pyramid): 3 x 12, 27.5lb, 35lb, 42.5lb
• Triceps pushdowns (pyramid): 4 x 12, 20lb, 30lb, 40lb, 50lb
• Abdominal crunch machine: 5 x 20, 70lb
• Triceps dip (standing): 4 x 12
• Cable Crossover: 4 x 10, 20lb
• lat pulldown machine: 3 x 12, 70lb
• cable curls: 4 x 8, 25lb
• cable upright rows: 5 x 8, 25lb

That is all folks, because I did not do a proper cool down neither. Tomorrow the gym closes at noon for Thanksgiving and reopens on Friday. Chances are, I will be at the gym tomorrow, but not on my blog tomorrow because I have cooking to do and getting ready for the dinner. I most likely will not be on my blog Friday because I have to work all day, but if I find time, I will. The weekend I will not be on the blog because I give those days to myself. If I don’t speak to you before than, have a wonderful Thanksgiving! also feel free to share workouts in the comment section.

 

Your Fitness blogger, 

Shay-lon xxxx

My Gym Workout Oct. 27th

Hey FitFam,

Today was leg day at the gym, and I know many of you love your leg day exercises, Today my leg day exercise was semi intense, but nothing out of sorts for me. I didn’t do as much as I wanted to for my leg day but accomplished some cardio exercise at the end of the workout that I felt was much needed. I am going to need to start writing down workouts for myself so I don’t have to spend 5 minutes thinking about what my routine will be. I get so off track when I have to think about what to do next, I rather know once I get there and not spend time deciding all the time, Something I will work from here on out, possibly starting Monday, Since I am unsure if I will make it to the gym tomorrow morning with my busy schedule and having to work all day. I do know one thing though, I will not be doing any blogging Fri-Sunday because I like to give myself some days off from blogging so I can recoup and start back up on Monday. This is why some of you don’t hear from me for 3 days. If I do decide to blog on Friday, it won’t be anything too time consuming because I work all day and have other obligations (Fridays are hectic for me) so my apologizes. If you email me, or leave comments, I will most of the time try to reply during the weekend but sometimes I just wait until Monday, just as a heads up. Alright so you guys want me to stop talking and sharing the workouts, right.. 

Warmup:

• My warm up was on the leg press machine as my first 10 reps with no weight.

Workout Session:

Circuit exercise (1st round)

• Linear Leg press: no weight, 3 sets, 10 reps
• Russian Twist (25lb weight plate) 3 sets, 30 reps 

Circuit exercise (2nd round)

• Linear leg press: 90lb, 3 sets, 10 reps
• Russian Twist (25lb weight plate): 3 sets, 30 reps 

Circuit Exercise ( 3rd round)

• Linear leg press:180lb, 3 sets, 10 reps
• Russian Twist (25lb weight plate): 3 sets, 30 reps

Circuit exercise ( 4th round)

• Linear leg press:370 lb, 3 sets, 5 reps 
• Russian Twist (25lb weight plate): 3 sets, 30 reps

Linear leg press: 370lb, 1 set, 7 reps

Between rounds I took a 2-3 minute active rest break. I went back and forth between leg press and Russian Twist ( after one set of leg press, I would do 1 set of Russian Twist) instead of doing 3 full sets of leg press then 3 full sets of Russian Twist. I like the whole going back and forth more. I didn’t time any of the circuits. 

The last Linear leg press 1 set, 7 reps was to see if I am ready to add more weight to the 370 and I am, so I will go up about 5-10 lb next time to see how well I do. 

• Hip adduction machine: 110 lb, 3 sets, 20 reps ( I am ready to move up on weight for this as well, 110 is too easy for me) so next time, I will go up 10-15lb.
• Treadmill- Ran. 6.0 speed, 2.8 miles, 19 minutes, no incline.

Cool down:

• I did 5 minutes, no incline, the treadmill controlled the speed this time. 

Overall, I am not upset about my workout, I needed to finally run and work on my cardio a bit more, the run felt good, I didn’t stop during the run other than to tie my shoe. I haven’t ran in a long while, so I needed that, especially now that I know where my cardiovascular sits, I want to keep working on it again, so it is back to where I want it. Taking time away from cardio, really can hurt your results if you haven’t done it in a while  (especially running). I had worked on my running long before and was doing great with breathing and had no issues, this time, I recognized some differences since I haven’t ran in a while. I might add running to my routine for the week, don’t know how many days yet, but you will see more running added to my workouts. 

Hopefully all of you enjoyed my workout as much as I have today. Feel free to take some ideas for yourself and post your workout in the comments.

Your Fitness blogger,

Shay-lon xoxo