What's up, guys? Jeff Cavaliere, Athleanx.com. What you re about to watch is going to be the
most effective leg workout you ve ever done. How do I know that? Because I'm going to get
you to focus on effective reps, which are the very ones that Arnold himself said lead
to the most muscle growth. Well, what if there's a way for us to get to these more
effective reps more quickly? In other words, with less wasted effort along the way. Well,
that's where the 100 workout series steps in and in this case, the 100-leg workout. See here,
we're going to hit both the anterior and posterior chain quads and glutes and hamstrings, and we're
going to do it with our first exercise up here and it's the Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat.
And as is the case in all the 100-workout series, we're going to kick off this workout
with a set we call the Ignition Set. And in this case, the goal is to choose a
weight that will cause you to fail in the eight-rep range. Now it's in this ignition
set, they will likely be reminded of just how easy those first few repetitions are in a set,
even one that goes to eight. But they serve a very important point in this
workout. They're going to set the stage for those more stimulus inducing, growth inducing
repetitions that will come after this point. And it's at this point that I actually take my
first rest-pause, just 15 seconds rest and now the workout begins. Because that ignition set
only served to pre fatigue the muscles to prime them for what's going to happen next.
And what happens next is pretty damn grueling. Your job here is to focus on just that one leg
at this point and try to get 15 effective reps. In other words, every rep that occurs
from this point forward is going to count towards those 15. How you get there, well,
that's up to you. Because you're likely going to have to rest a few times along the way and that's
fine as long as you keep this rest to a minimum at just 15 seconds each time, keep chipping away
until you've reached your effective rep total of 15. And remember to hit your other leg with your
ignition set and get to those 15 reps as well. Now, for the next exercise, we're going to shift
our focus to the posterior chain and get a little bit of a much-needed reprieve for the
quads. And at this point, the exercise of choice is going to be the Barbell RDL. And once again,
we're going to choose a weight that causes failure, but this time at the 12 rep range. Now,
the key to the Barbell RDL, is to make sure that you're just softening your knees enough
to allow the bar to drop just below knee level, hinge back at the waist to do this properly.
All too many times I see people bend forward at the waist, allowing the bar to drift forward.
That could put some unnecessary strain in your low back that just doesn't have to be there. Let
the bar ride your knees on the way down and stay close to your body and do that through the proper
hinge. Now, at this point, I want to take that short, brief 15 second rest once again. Remember,
don't go too far away because you have to pick this thing back up in 15 seconds and get rolling
once again. Due to the fact that we have a higher ignition set rep goal of 12, we're going to also
have a higher effective rep total of 20. Remember to keep chipping away and rest-pause fashion until
you hit all 20 effective repetitions. And at this point now we shift our focus back
to the anterior chain with one of my favorite exercises of all time barbell or dumbbell and
it's the Dumbbell Reverse Lunge. And again, the dumbbells are the option of choice here because
I can easily dump them when I fail. I don't have to worry about getting under a bar or back
under a bar in order to do this quickly. So, I have my dumbbells and I go alternating
fashion right and left leg and at this point I have to admit it is damn brutal. But once again,
like the first exercise, the ignition set rep goal is eight. Now, once I've reached that failure,
mark, I get into that 15 second rest-pause as always, and I get myself right back into the
exercise again to start repping out. The effective rep total once again is 15, like it was in the
first exercise. Remembering to do it on both the right and left leg. A little additional pro tip
for those that find balance challenging on this exercise, think about stepping back and out to
widen your base of support. All too often people step in line with their feet and that doesn't
give you a chance to balance properly. And what I also do is take a little bit of a twist over that
front knee, which will also give you additional support and balance when you need it the most.
And that brings us to the fourth exercise of the workout and this time back to the posterior
chain for the Cable Pull Through. And the great thing about this variation is that it's going to
actually make sure you get the hinge right. So if you struggle with the hinge on the Barbell RDL,
this is going to make sure you get it right potentially even when you're most fatigued
here. You're just going to step far enough away and let the hands drop back in place
to take your body back into that hinge. As long as you're just unlocking it the hips
and allowing them to drop back, the hinge is going to happen. Now, when you drive forward,
the goal is simply just to use your glutes to squeeze you forward and not think at all
about pulling on the ropes. My target ignition set number once again is going to be 12. So,
you're picking that weight that causes the failure at the 12-rep range and again,
it leads right into that first rest-pause. And as I come out of the rest-pause, what am I trying to
target once again? Twenty effective reps. Continue to chip away until you've reached all 20. And if
you've been counting all along at this point, you've got 70 effective reps performed. But if
you're going for 100, that means you've still got 30 left. We've got some work to do. And
for that I'm going to throw one unique exercise at you that's going to hit the quads in a way
you've never felt before. It's actually called the Spanish Squat, but it's oftentimes done unloaded,
or at least with nothing other than a band. But we can make it a lot more difficult,
we do that by holding a set of dumbbells as well. And what we do here, guys, is anchor the band
around the back of your knees and you want one that provides pretty good resistance. And you
step back to the point where you're resisting leg extension. In other words, this is a way
to do resistant leg extension in a closed chain fashion. Now, if you don't have access to a band,
you want to perform a leg extension, you guys know how I feel about that, I don't really like it.
But if your knees are okay and you could do it, then go ahead and slide that into the spot.
But for me, I'd rather see you do this. And with the additional weight, we challenge the
squat portion of this. But more importantly, the band is resisting that terminal knee extension
that really will light up your quads. The effective total is eight. And believe me,
if you do this exercise right, you're not going to require a really heavy set of dumbbells as
long as you have a good resistance on that band. And with eight the ignition set target, remember
the effective rep total here is going to be 15. See if you can grind your way through these and
I mean grind your way through these because these are going to burn you up like never before.
And of course, no leg workout will be complete without working on that portion, you know,
below the knees, and here we're going to focus on our calves. And of course,
I always think people focus way too much on their gastroc and soleus not enough on their soleus and
there's a big difference. You need to find an exercise that allows you to perform it with the
knee bent. And for us, we can easily do a Dumbbell Seated Calf Raise. Grab a pair of dumbbells,
put them on your knees and sit at the end of a bench with your feet balanced on a plate. The
plate is going to allow you to get a good stretch at the bottom of every repetition. And at the top,
of course, I want to pause and hold. The key for me to doing calf exercises
effectively is to not just get that good peak contraction and squeeze at the top but allow
for a prolonged stretch at the bottom. Because what that will do is actually diminish some of
the ballistic capabilities of the Achilles tendon, making the muscle itself do more of
the work to initiate the up contraction. So, we're going to do that and we're going to do
that with a weight that causes failure again in the eight-rep range. So, with eight reps,
the target, after we take this first rest-pause, your pursuit of 15 effective reps will begin.
And just as we've done throughout the rest of the workout, your job is not complete until you've
achieved that last of the 15 effective reps on this exercise. Now, while I can't do the
workout for you or make it any easier that way, I can make following the workout a hell of a lot
easier. And we do that like this, by laying this workout out step-by-step, rep-by-rep,
and allowing you to take a screenshot that you could take to the gym with you.
Now look, I get it, leg training is really damn difficult, but if you find that you're having a
hard time getting back into the exercise, you can extend that rest time and your rest pauses
by a few extra seconds. But the more you can keep towards the 50 seconds, the more you're honoring
the spirit of what I put together for you. Speaking of that, if you're looking for workouts
guys, you can find them over at Athlean-X.com. If you're looking for a whole series of playlists of
all the 100 workouts, I'll link that for you right here. If you haven't done so,
make sure you click Subscribe and turn on your Notifications, so you'll never miss
a video when we put one out. Our guys. Good luck, you're going to need it. See you.