Day 26:Legs (All Groups)

Last week I emphasized the cardio element of this workout. Today, you can take up the weight a little bit if you want. That’s up to you: Do you feel like you need more of a cardio-style workout with slightly lighter weights, or do you want to emphasize a little more muscle building by using a little more weight with slightly longer rests between sets? Even if you go with longer rests, I don’t recommend going beyond about 90 seconds between sets when you’re dieting.

Make sure you keep your form tight with Smith machine front squats. You can allow the bar to rest on the top of your arms, across your chest or just at your shoulders. This depends upon how your upper torso is shaped. One of the benefits of this move is that it really forces your quads to work because the load is farther forward.

While performing barbell squats it’s important that you don’t “shrug” the weight, allowing your upper body to reduce the load. Take a look at my form in the video to see how I do not incorporate my upper body as I drive through my heels, using all the muscles of my lower body.

With hack squats you want to find the foot placement that’s right for you. I go fairly deep with these, but I stop just short of allowing my knees to drift out over my toes. I place my feet on the pad with my toes just creeping off the edge to make sure the placement is ideal for me.

When you’re performing walking lunges, your stride should be long, but the pace should be just like you’re walking down the street. You want to avoid swerving and weaving by holding your core tight. Push through the whole of your front foot to drive your trailing leg forward in a smooth motion.

Finish up the weight-training portion of today’s legs workouts with pop squats. Take a look at both how I hold the weight, allowing it to move throughout the set, and how tight I hold my body during each jump. Keep in mind that any jumping motion will incorporate your full lower body; that’s especially true when you’re changing your foot position with each jump.

Don’t forget that you also have abs and cardio today. But most importantly, I want to congratulate you on completing all of the weight-training moves on Phase One of my 8-Week Fat-loss Figure Trainer. Over the weekend, you still have a day of active rest and one of rest and reevaluation.

Next week, we’ll start with a whole new line-up exercises on Phase Two of my 8-Week Fat-loss Figure Trainer.

Smith Machine front squats	4 SETS / 25 REPS
Barbell squats	4 SETS / 20 REPS
Hack squats	4 SETS / 15 REPS
Walking lunges 15 Steps per Leg	4 SETS / 15 REPS
Pop squats	4 SETS / 20 REPS
Wheel roll outs	3 SETS / 15 REPS
Twisting ball crunches	3 SETS / 15 REPS
Cardio	20 MINUTES

CYDNEY SAYS:

My thinking points for today’s workout are all about form. Keep in mind that your primary goal is to improve the look of your body’s form. It only makes sense that the way you perform every rep of every set will have a significant impact on your appearance. Never lose sight of your goal—you’re not lifting weights to complete a set; you’re performing sets and reps to sculpt your figure.

Amino synergy

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