Suga’ Built Quads

Hey Friends!

So I’m just typing up this post waiting for my ‘Every Leg Day Friday Ice Cream’ cheat meal to crash my lil body into a suga coma. I had to travel alllll the way to Guelph to pick up my digestive enzymes (annoying lil things are disappearing from stores for some reason and so I have to drive 30 minutes to now pick them up now that I’m with my parents at home -_-) from GoodnessMe!.

It definitely wasn’t all bad though as I got to snag a date with a McMaster friend of mine who now lives in Guelph, Gabriella, and she indulged my typical Thai+ Baskin Robbins cheat meal with me.

Perils of Praline + Gold Medal Ribbon

This shop didn’t have Salted Caramel (sob) but they had a new to me flavour…

Perils of Praline (bottom). Vanilla Frozen Yogurt with Pralined Pecans, Chocolate Cookie Pieces, and Caramel Ribbon throughout.

It was super nomz (so much caramel!) BUT it melted so fast because it was frozen yogurt I guess and you know how I feel about soft serve. MUST BE FROZEN! But it had so much caramel in it. I got a lil bit nervous because it had cookie bits in it (gluten + dairy..?) hopefully I don’t regret that decision tomorrow morning but I’m trying to put that out of my mind.

On the top was..

Gold Medal Ribbon. Vanilla and Chocolate Ice Cream with a Caramel Ribbon

I have to say that this flavour is meh for me. It’s too chocolate-y for my liking (ie. plain). I get it more for the caramel and it never has enough. I also like my bits and bites of stuff in my ice cream, ya feelz?

I shoulda stuck with my plan to get added caramel sauce (did you know they have peanut butter and caramel sauces you can add to your ice cream?!?) but I chickened out to be honest.

Challenge failed.

Wait…Reframe. Will try again next week.

I always pray that a different Baskin Robbins will have the flavour I have been lusting for …

Made With Snickers. Why am I not eating it yet you ask?

BECAUSE YOU NEVER HAVE IT!

Sigh…

Anyways, this post wasn’t supposed to be a review of ice cream, I came to actually share with you the Death By Legs legs workout that makes up the morning of my cheat day.

It is my quad focused leg day (my hams/glutes is Monday) and while both leg days really take it out of me due to the size of the muscle groups being worked, hello zombie all day + need a nap + cannot stop hanger, quad day seems to be worse.

So what better day for ice cream eh? Especially when ice cream is still such a guilt-triggered thing for me so I need a ‘reason’ to focus on at the moment still.

#StraightToTheQuads. #EatToGrow.

Anywho, brace yourselves but don’t be afraid. Take it at your own pace if you wanna try it out (which I would love to hear how you like it!) and don’t give up 🙂

Have I mentioned I like volume and crawling out of the gym when I’m done?

Leg Day, July 31st.

Core Warm-up Superset (do back to back).

1. Oblique Mountain Climbers with feet elevated and hands on Bosu Ball. Added 35lb plate on my back and would ‘climb’ for a minutes. 4 total sets + held plank for extra 30 seonds for the last set.
2. Weighted (35lbs) Situps. I sit on the lat pull down machine for this one. You get a greater range of motion on the down. 3 total sets + double drop set (25lbs)(no weight) for last set.

This is the idea of the OBLIQUE Mountain Climber, mountain climbers with knees out to the side BUT I have the ball the other way around (round part on the ground for greater instability) and hold onto it with my hands. I have a plate on my back (35lbs) and my feet are elevated on a bench behind me rather then being on the floor. Go with with a level you’re ready for.

Working Super Set 1

1. Squat Dropset. 5 working sets of 115lbs with an immediate drop to 105lbs.

I warmed up with the bar first, then did one set of 105lbs. I also finished with a final set of just 105lbs again. Total number of weighted sets = 7.

2. Dumbbell Stiff Leg Deadlifts. I used 30lb dumbbells and did 5 total sets. Go to failure and go as low as you can with proper form to feel the stretch in your hamstrings.

Check out the workout video and description on this one on bodybuilding.com. Take care to keep the chest up, shoulders rolled back (don’t slouch them forward!) and reach reach down. Pull back up using the hamstrings and glutes. Lastly, don’t swing up and hyperextend your back backwards. You don’t need to have your back bending backwards to feel this exercise.

Core Super Set 2

1. Leg Raises with 5lbs with drop set to Knee Ups with that 5lbs on the Captains Chair. 4 Total Sets
2. TRX Oblique Tucks

Working Super Set 2

1. Front Squats. 95lbs to failure. 5 Total Sets, final set was a drop set to 75lbs.
2. Laying Hamstring Curl. 4 Total sets with final double drop set.

Working Super Set 3

1. Leg Press (feet together). 5 total sets with final drop set.
2. Walking Dumbbell Lunges with a 35lb dumbbell on each shoulder

For the lunges I have been focusing on trying to not pause between lunges. Instead, just keep pushing up and walking constantly. It’s harder, but worth it.

Working Super Set 4

1. Isolateral Quad Extension. 4 Total Sets with triple final drop set.
2. Goblet Squats with a 55lb dumbbell and a drop set with a 25lbs plate with raise onto the toes. 3 total sets with a final drop set of 10 jumping or ‘pop’ squats. <- trust me just those 10 are hard after all of that.

For the goblet squats, I stand on the assisted pull up machine stand so that I can hold the dumbbell by my hips rather then up on my chest as my arms get too tired with the weight I want to use before my legs tire. Go all the way down ladies for that booty boost! Immediately after you do the goblet, grab you plate and do more squats until failure once again.

Final Burn Out Set

1 final set of dumbbell Stiff Leg Deadlifts ‘run the rack’ style. This means that you start with one weight and go to failure then pick up the next weight down and do the same. The idea is to go for the rest of the rack or just a massive drop set, but I managed 3 rounds.

35lbs -> 30lbs -> 25lbs

Done and I’m dead to the foam roller.

I hope you enjoy guys and post any questions you have!

Yes I know there is a lot of hamstring work here too for a quad focused day. I like supersets and I don’t want to kill my main (or first lift) by supersetting with a second quad exercise so I try to keep the 1st exercise to more quad focus and heavier while the second is the quad+ham or ham/glute exercise for in between.

-Chelsea

Ohhh Canada! Workout Wednesday

Hey Friends!

Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends and soon to be July 4th for all zee American’s. Sorry you don’t get a day off during the week like us lucky ducks up in the great white North do. Sorry for your luck. 😉

I have to ask my American friends, why is Canada associated with the moose? It actually confuses the hell out of us up here for realz.

We don’t eat moose.

The moose is not our spirit animal or anything.

Where did this moose thing come from?

Seriously?

Anywho, I wanted to share a workout with you because it’s been a year hot minute since I even shared my fitness shtuff with you all so why not follow Josie’s lead (check out her latest edition to her Workout Wednesday series here) and share my own workout this morning.

Because, what else would you do when you have the whole day off?

Guys I meant the gym. Geesh. 😉

So this morning I headed into Goodlife for 9:30ish to find more people then normal but hey, still had to crush my back so let me take you into how I got my sweat on!

Today’s plan was back and obliques.

NOTE. I train my abs every day. Do you need to do this? No, I don’t believe or preach training them every day for you to see results. I do a lot of full body lifts (squats, bench, pullups, etc) that work the whole core indirectly, but I have always incorporated targetted exercises as part of my supersets as I never just do one exercise at a time because I’m a volume lover and I can’t sit still and just rest. So with that in mind, I alternate ‘abs’ and obliques and on leg days (I have two) my core exercises get dropped to half the number as my back tends to get really fatigued on these days due to heavy squat volume.

After warming up, I like to “warm-up” my core. I do this with planks and one other exercise, which is normally a weighted sit-up variation, for 3 sets.

Superset the following:

1. Side Plank (weight- 25lb dumbbell) for 1 minute, switch and repeat on the other side. I also add tucks into this to make it more dynamic and challenging.
2. Knee raises (7.5lbs) on the Captain Chair.

Remember that a superset is where you do exercises back to back without rest.

Now I begin the actual workout…

Superset #1

1. Pull-ups –> 6 sets
2. Weighted Oblique Situps (25lbs) –>as many reps as possible with unweighted Russian Twists to finish. 5 sets.

For the Pull-ups I alternated wide overhand grip with the v-bar. So I did 3 sets of each grip for as many reps as possible. Obviously wide grip is harder, so those were less reps. Total reps were about 6 reps for wide and 8-10 for the other grip. For the Sit-ups I do these on the lat pull down machine for a greater range of motion and hold a 25 pound plate.

Superset #2

1. Lat Pull Down –> 5 sets + drop set
2. Isolateral dumbbell row –> 4 sets
3. Weighted Oblique Dips on back extension bench (17.5lbs)–> 4 sets per side + drop set (10lbs)

I hold a dumbbell rather then a plate

With the Lat Pull Down, you want to ensure that you really let the bar stretch your lats at the top of the movement before bringing it back down. The stretch is important as well as the pull down portion for full range and benefits. For the Rows, I stuck with only a 25lb dumbbell because 1. it was a superset and 2. because I really wanted to feel my back pulling the weight up. By doing this exercise isolaterally (one arm at a time) you can really focus on proper form. Lastly, with the Oblique Dips, make sure you’re moving slowly (not swinging up and down) so that you’re using your obliques to pull your body up (adjust weight accordingly) and also breathe out as your come back up to get the full contraction.

PS. a drop set is where you complete your set and then drop the weight and do another set on that same exercise without rest.

Superset #3

1. Triangle Pull Downs –> 5 sets + drop set
2. Straight Arm Rope Pull Down –> 4 sets + drop set
3. Oblique V-Up’s on a bench superset with tucks –> 4 sets

Triangle Pull Downs

Rope Straight Arm Pull Down. I used the rope attachment instead of the handles.

The Oblique V-Ups are similar to this but on a bench and I keep my full butt on the bench (ie body not on the side) and just position my legs to the side. The tucks are then done in a similar fashion but knees are bent and they are done at a more rapid pace.

With the Triangle Pull Downs, really focus on bringing that triangle to your chest and you should really feel the movement pulling down through your upper to mid back. With the Straight Arm Pull Downs you don’t want to go heavy with this one because you want to use your lats to pull the weight down. If you go too heavy you will be swinging the weight down and not gaining anything for your lats. Also, normally this is done with the straight bar attachment, but I saw someone using the rope and thought it would be fun to try and a good way to get a lil greater range of motion.

Superset #4

1. MTS row –> Done isolaterally for 4 sets + drop set.
2. Neutral Grip Pullups –> 3 sets to failure
3. TRX Oblique Crunch –> 3 sets each set finishes with Oblique Mountain Climbers.

MTS Row with underhand grip. I did this isolaterally.

TRX Oblique Crunch.

For the MTS Row, once again I did them isolaterally to be able to focus on each side alone. Really focus on driving that elbow back and down to really feel a mid to low back contraction. For the Pullups, I love burning out with them at the end of my back workout. That being said, I would only get about 5 to 6 despite this being the easiest grip to do because I have just worked my back completely and it’s pretty burnt out at this point. The TRX is something I recently started using and it’s a fun thing to throw in for core to switch it up. You could use a ball for the Oblique Crunches but if you have access to the TRX, try it out!

So there ya go, about 2 hours later, my whole workout is done. I try to hit all areas of the muscle that I work so for this back workout, you want to hit all of the regions of the back. That includes upper, mid and lower back. I want to really work on the ‘wings’ so I tend to focus on the upper and mid the most. Additionally, I feel that my lower back does get hit pretty hard on my leg days so I don’t tend to do many exercises like back extensions.

Hope you enjoyed and have a great humpday evening friends!

Go watch some fireworks for me!

Do you enjoy my workout posts?

Gimme you’re thoughts and suggestions! 🙂

-Chelsea

Workout Split Vlog + Leg Workout Example

Happy Thursday friends!

Can you believe that this time next week we will be celebrating Christmas??

So exciting! What are you plans?

As I mentioned in the video, I had just come back home from my leg workout (2 hours of legs to be exact….#Exhausted) so I decided to tackle Andrea’s question regarding my split.

I had a few disruptions during the video so I hope it still explains everything okay, but if you need more clarification, don’t be shy to ask in the comments!

Click on the picture for the link up to my YouTube as usual

Also, I mentioned I would link up a picture or demo of those weighted “press up situps” I believe so here that is. Oh how I love bodybuilding.com. Click on the picture for the full instructions and video demo by Jamie Eason.

The only difference is that I use a plate and bring it back over my head before coming back to press it back up.

Happy “almost Friday” for all of you still working or grinding out those last exams.

-Chelsea