Leg day – well and truly smashed. And now I’m well and truly broken.

Day: 51 of 77
Date: 1/07/2013
Workout Day: 34
Weight (lb): 159.2 (12.6 lb loss)
Body Fat %: 13.1 (3.5% loss)
Health: Fine 10/10

The day started the same as yesterday with a bulletproof latte, which this time didn’t work so well, since the protein powder formed into lumps when it touched the hot coffee. I must cool down the coffee first before mixing it with the vanilla isolate. It was still very nice and fuelled me for some cardio.

Later on was the proper session of legs+abs. It’s three supersets, starting with hams and glutes, then squats and then finishing with abs. My last attempt at this workout didn’t go so well, but this time I was a lot more prepared. I’ve been doing a lot of homework and my substitute exercises worked a lot better. I still don’t see how glute bridges can be done with any weight without a partner to load the weight/barbell onto your lap. And if trying to do that oneself, the time taken to faff around with this interrupts the flow and timing too much. In turn I replaced these with Glute Ham Bridges with no weight. This involves lying on the ground with your feet on a bench and knees at 90 degrees. Then pivot on one foot and raise your waist into the air, creating a straight line between your knee and shoulder, pause and feel the tension in the hams and glutes.

The front squats were this time replaced with narrow stance back squats which according to Ben Pakulski will work the quads the same way. They went well but I failed at doing all 10 supersets of squats in the 25 minutes. Maybe I went too heavy but I was getting too out of breath to cope with the rest intervals and 15 rep sets. It probably took me 35 minutes in the end.

Today was different in the intensity I used with each movement. I really focused on form and maintaining continuous tension throughout the movement, especially at the extremes. I also added tension with some additional pressure, e.g. pressing feet together in a squat to add tension to the inner quads. I was especially keen on my form in the lunges, again following some of the newly learned best practice. All this added up to one hell of a workout. I left everything on the gym floor, and am now completely drained. My legs feel empty and my nervous system feels numb. But this is what I expect to feel like, and it gives me great satisfaction that I’ve done it right. I’ll endeavour to do the same every time.

My best friend today was the towel. The photo above shows a broken man. I pray for a good night’s sleep to fix me.