Sunday 25 October 2015

I Never Said I Could Lift Heavy: The Leg Edit

Hey Sparkle Finders!

So the challenge has now been set, I am fuelling my body with the right things, and now its time for the real training to begin.

As I have already mentioned here, I am no stranger to the gym and running is something that had already part of my life 3-4 times a week. So when it came to figuring out a training programme, motivation to run was not the issue... it was getting me to train smarter that was the challenge.

Current PB for the 8 Mile Long Run I do on a Saturday
Working with Louis, my lovely PT, we decided that weight and strength training was definitely something I needed to ramp up. Once a fortnight I now have an hour session with him where he shows me the moves and challenges me 'lift heavy', while also protecting me in the scary men's weights section of my local gym.

I never said I could lift heavy!

I had always been petrified about entering that part of the gym before now, shying away to ladies only part where I could huff and puff to my hearts content. The thought of squatting 30kg in front of L.A.D-type males who could benchpress three of me had always been a rather intimidating scenario in my mind.

I will admit, not all the men in that section are like that, some of them are just getting on with their own thing and don't give a hoot if a female is bending over making odd noises in front of them. But I still find it rather nerve-wracking to go in on my own.

However, I have got over my fear (kind of) and I am starting to enjoy the weights side. I love using the squat rack and I am slowly getting used to the odd position needed for deadlifts. In my last session we did clean and press' which were really fun so I will definitely be trying those again next week!

Together, Louis and I have created a light leg session (for after short runs) and a heavy leg session (for Monday nights) to make sure I am getting my leggys big and strong:

The Light Leg Session 

Air Squats x 20

Leg Press 35kg 12reps x 3

Inward Clams 42.5kg 12reps x 3

6kg Lunges x12 each leg

Barbell Squats 12.5kg 12 reps x3

-REPEAT-

The Heavy Leg Session

Squat Rack 22.5kg 12reps x 3

Deadlifts 30kg 12reps x3

7kg Lunges x 15 each leg

Clean and Press 20kg 12reps x3

Leg Press 40kg 12reps x3

Leg Extension (Bottom Rack) 12 reps x3

Outward Clams 45kg 12 reps x3

-ONCE IS ENOUGH-

What does your leg session look like?

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Till next time...
Emily xx