Are you busy most days? Have you ever found yourself short of time for a workout? Has your current routine become stagnant? Do you understand the importance of leg training for your total body development? Do you want to put on Lean Mass and Slash fat? If any of these statements apply to you then I have the answer for you. You need to shake up your workout and try something new. Frequently we add more and more exercises when we find ourselves in a rut. For some this may work. However this will not solve the problem if your major issue is that of time constraints. It may seem counter-intuitive, but you should consider the opposite. Reduce the number of exercises, as we will be covering here. Less exercises and more intensity! This is the key to busting out of a training rut. How does this apply to sculpting solid pins and shredding your entire body?
A reduction in the total number of exercises obviously saves time. The reduced number also takes the guess work out of shaping a workout. Most importantly with fewer exercise, chances are you ability to give 100% with each set will increase. It is this 100% that we are counting on here. The key to making changes in your body is to push it beyond where it has been! When you know that you have only a limited number of sets of exercises to complete, chances are great that psychologically you are going to hammer those fewer sets. You will give each set in a shorter workout greater intensity that you would in a super long multi-set workout. This sounds good, but what does it boil down to?
Increased intensity and pushing the body causes it to adapt. Your body wants to be able to deal with the stresses you put on it. The result? You will put on lean mass in the legs. Why? Your hormonal system will adapt and give you a surge of natural testosterone and growth hormone to deal with the new stress resulting in a lean mass increase and a fat decrease. This is great news! Less time and more results for building muscle. So how does this help shape the rest of your body? Simple. The improved metabolism and increase hormonal levels that results affect the entire body! Your arms, chest, abs, back etc reap the benefit of the brief and challenging leg blast. What might one of these leg-slaughters look like?
To build these ripped wheels give “Tabata Training” a try. Tabata training is a form of exercise where you give all out intensity followed by a short rest and repeat. The basic cadence goes a little something like this:
- Work All-Out for 20 seconds (Max reps)
- Rest for 10 Seconds
- (Repeat for a Total of 8 Work Sets)
If you do the math you will see that a Tabata training circuit takes approximately 4 minutes total. That’s not much time for awesome results like increased lean muscle and decreased fat, not to mention cardiovascular benefits. There is one major challenge of Tabata Training? You must be able to load the muscles with enough weight to challenge the body. If you go light or just body weight it becomes more about cardiovascular training and less about building muscle. On the flip side if you get under a bunch of weight and push to complete exhaustion without the proper safety measures you can hurt yourself. How do you go about using enough weight for muscle gain and perform the reps safely at the same time? On a machine you can load the weight and perform the reps safely. This is the key, as you have to be confident in yourself and the apparatus you are working on when pushing to complete temporary fatigue (polite way of saying “muscle failure.”)
When you are capable of pushing to this limit you will see results quickly. So what do I mean by total leg development in TEN Minutes if I said that the Tabata Training only takes Four minutes. Well it’s simple. You have an upper portion of the leg and a lower portion. The Tabata Training Leg Workout trains both areas. First, you work the upper portion which takes about four minutes. Next, you take a two minute rest and let you body prepare for the second half of the workout. Then you move on to the lower portion of the leg. The exact workout is as follows:
- Warm-Up
- Machine Squat: 8 Sets of MAX Reps (20 Seconds per Set with 10 Seconds Rest between Sets)
- Rest: 2 Minutes
- Calf Raises: 8 Sets of MAX Reps (20 Seconds per Set with 10 Seconds Rest between Sets)
- Cool-Down
This workout when done to the limit will surprise you! All I can say is give it a try and you will see what I mean. Once you have done this work-out a couple times you may be itching to try some new variations to spice it up a bit. Here is a novel idea: do it twice or even three times if you are really adventurous. That’s nearly 50 all out sets in less than 30 minutes! This is for a workout veteran not something for a beginner to try. The burn is insane and the results incredible. With each round you just drop the weight a bit from the previous round. Here you are combining the idea of “Tabata Training” with “Drop Sets.” The result? Nothing short of insane.
Next, we will be tackling the subject of balancing the body with isolateral movements in this style of workout. That is however subject matter for a different article. In the meantime just let me say that we will delve into a new variation that will have your body screaming. It will expedite results even more while creating a more balanced physique.
Ian Lauer is a certified strength and conditioning specialist. His background in personal training made him an expert in providing countless of valuable advice and a proud member of Team Powertec. Powertec is the pioneer and leader in the area of strength equipment. Headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, Powertec produces a full line of strength equipment for home and light commercial purposes. Our brand is highly sought after by the educated buyer looking for weight capacity maximization without sacrificing safety, customization of their Workbench home gyms through extensive accessory modularization, and commercial gym quality at home gym prices. Visit our website at http://www.powertecfitness.com or our online magazine at http://www.mag.powertecfitness.com for more fitness advice.