We started with hamstrings. Ofer felt my hamstrings were lagging behind my quads and so thought I should make them a priority and train them first when they were fresh. This was something I normally didn’t do in my training because I figured the quads were the stronger muscle group and so needed to be worked first. Ofer set me straight replying that it didn’t matter which muscle group was stronger. What mattered more in his opinion was which areas needed the most development to bring the whole physique into proportion.
Ofer believes it is always important to start with a warm up and for this he always includes one or two light warm up sets in his first exercise prior to increasing the weight. He noticed I was stretching (as I usually do before my workouts) and he suggested I try to incorporate stretching in between sets of the workout when the muscles are warm rather than when they are cold at the beginning of the workout.
Single leg curls – 4 x 15 – 20 reps
Our first exercise was single leg curls on a plate-loaded machine. The machine was kind of built like a lying leg curl except that it tapered down at an angle at the point at which you place you hips. Ofer had me bring my shoulders and elbows as far forward as possible on the support pad. He then had me turn my toes out which put extra emphasis on the outside of the hamstrings. This is important for bodybuilders as the outside of the hamstrings are what the judges are looking at every time they see you from the side. He also emphasized that I should try to keep my hip down and bring my knee off the pad at the top of the movement to contract the hamstrings more strongly. Ofer noticed I was struggling to keep the hamstrings contracted through the top range of the negative so he gave me verbal cues encouraging me to keep them firing all the way down. After two warm up sets of 10 lbs and 20 lbs the weight was increased to 40 lbs for the last two sets.
Glute/Ham raises – 3 x 15 reps
When we were finished we moved on to the next exercise. When we stopped at the lat pull down and Ofer asked me to wait while he went to search for something, I knew immediately what we were doing. I had seen Layne Norton doing them before and I know I would really have to rise to the challenge here. When Ofer returned holding a padded board I said “we are doing glute/ham raises aren’t we”. Ofer nodded and said “oh you’ve done these before?”. The exercise was set up by placing the board on top of the lat pull down seat and kneeling on top of it while hooking your ankles underneath the machine’s knee pads. Ofer then handed me a pole and instructed me to put it out in front of me with one end on the ground to keep my balance and apply some support. I also had to keep my hips and back straight throughout the exercise, which involved lowering myself down to parallel and then curling my bodyweight back up to the starting point. It is the opposite to a lying leg curl where the peak contraction happens at the top of the movement. In this case he majority of the tension is on the hamstrings and calves in the stretched position. It is a very difficult exercise. In fact Will Harris walked past and cringed at the thought of doing these as he is just about to start his contest prep in a few days. Later Will also explained that you need to be careful doing this exercise and not overdo it because it puts a lot of strain on your muscles and you can be at risk of tearing them. After three sets we were well and truly done and Ofer decided it was time to finish the hamstrings with some seated leg curls.
Seated leg curls – 3 x 15 – 20 reps
The seated leg curl is a machine that I don’t have access to at my home gym. Ofer thought I should make the most of this exercise while I could. He positioned me forward on the leg curl so that I was almost hugging the hand grips. Similarly to the single leg curls Ofer had me turn my toes out to target the outside of the hamstrings. He also asked me to pull my toes up so that it created an extra stretch for the calf and hamstring. Other than that nothing special here, just a lot of painful reps! Three sets complete and it was time to hit the quads.
Seated leg extensions – 3 x 15 – 20 reps
We started with leg extensions. Ofer didn’t explain specifically why we started with this instead of a compound exercise. I would assume it was for a few reasons. Most likely it was to get a very strong contraction along the outer quad sweep while my quads were still fresh. It may also have been to pre - exhaust the quads and perhaps to warm up the knee joints. Ofer explained in order to hit the outer sweep of the quads, I should externally rotate my hips or roll my knees out in other words. Each contraction should be strong and I had to emphasise keeping the knees rolled out, pushing them into the pad and lifting the legs up so they almost came off the seat. This allowed contraction of the outer sweep all the way from the knee up to the hip. This exercise was extra painful as Ofer pushed me to the limit of my pain threshold by encouraging strict form, specific contraction and extra forced reps. I am well versed in leg extensions including regular giant sets in my routines, but the way Ofer had me doing these I honestly nearly felt like crying it was seriously that painful.
Leg Press – 4 x 15 – 20 reps
I have to admit I was a bit worried when Ofer stopped at the 45 degree sliding sled leg press. I knew my lower back didn’t like the mechanics of this machine and so I requested we use a different machine. Ofer reassured me saying he was going to show me a new way of using this machine that would again help to build the outer quads and that it wouldn’t require me to go too heavy. He also showed me how to bring my shoulders forward so the tailbone would stay firmly against the seat. The idea again was to place my feet with the toes and knees angled out and to place all the pressure through the outside edges of my feet. Of course I also had to consciously try to contract through the outer part of my quads. This was a difficult exercise which when done correctly didn’t require much weight. We started with two plates per side and went up to a maximum of five forty-five pound plates on each side and my legs were shaking after only ten reps at this weight. Usually it’s no problem for me to leg press eleven or twelve plates per side for my maximum lift. A few things I found difficult about this exercise were letting my knees relax at the bottom of the movement and keeping my knees as far as possible out to the side especially as we increased the weight. We completed four sets here before, you guessed it, hack squats.
Hack Squats - 3 x 15 reps
I had always read that hack squats worked the outer quads and found this to be the case last week when I tried the machines at Gold’s which were different in structure to the one in my home gym. Of course Ofer had another variation in terms of form in store for me. In similar style to the leg press the feet and knees were turned out and the weight was taken through the outside edges of the feet. Pushing the chest out, shoulder blades onto the back support and tail bone onto the back support I squatted through a full range of motion, right to the bottom. At the top of the movement I was to squeeze the outer quads without pausing too long. This was different to what I usually do for this exercise, which is a parallel stance, squatting to parallel. I think we went up to a maximum of two forty-five pound plates and one twenty-five pound plate per side. After three sets, thinking the workout was over I went to shake Ofer’s hand and thank him for taking me through the workout. Apparently we weren’t done because he wanted to show me one more exercise for the quads, hamstrings and glutes.
Smith reverse lunges 1 x 15 reps
Our very last exercise of which I only managed to complete one set was reverse lunges on the smith machine. I include these every few weeks in my regular routine so I think the only real difference here was that Ofer had me place my front foot further forward and my back foot further backwards than I usually have them. I only managed to complete a measly 12 reps with 20 pounds per side with my right leg before Ofer reduced the weight for my left leg to ten pounds per side for which I completed 18 reps. I was really done after this so I went to lay down for a few minutes. In fact the workout was so exhausting that I napped for three hours after my post workout meal (I train my legs hard but I have never had to go to sleep before).
I also want to mention that Ofer discussed my diet with me. He asked me how many grams of protein I was eating per day and from what sources. I told him about 250 grams and from tinned tuna, egg whites, almonds, whey protein and various lean meats such as chicken breast, turkey, fish or red meat. Ofer believes the best sources of protein are ground meats such as turkey and egg whites and that other sorts of protein such as whey protein, chicken breast and tuna were only secondary sources. He likened the trained body to a Ferrari running on poor quality fuel. Of course you would only give a Ferrari the best quality fuel and so it only makes sense to do the same for you body. Certainly something to keep in mind next time I am grocery shopping.
Anyway after eating, napping and eating again I returned to finish of my calves, inner thighs, abs and lower back that evening.
Calves and Inner Thighs
Standing calf raises – 200 x 20, 220 x 18, 240 x 16, 260 x 15
Seated calf raises – 160 x 20, 170 x 20, 180 x 18, 190 x 18
Superset with:
Seated toe raises – 20 x 20, 25 x 15, 25 x 12, 30 x 12
Leg press calf press – 270 x 30, 360 x 28, 450 x 25, 540 x 22
Seated adductor – 250 x 24, 265 x 18, 280 x 16, 295 x 15
Abs and Lower Back
Leg raises – BW x 35, BW x 30, BW x 30
Hyperextensions – BW + 25 x 30
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