Lifting with the Editor: Lower Body Day

Prevail Strength Coach Jacob Goodin

(note: if you read my Upper Body Day post, you can skip ahead to the next section)

Sometimes people mistakenly think that because their trainer or coach prescribes them certain workouts, that trainer must do the exact same things in their own training.  While this is true in a very general sense because all of us at Prevail practice what we preach, each Prevail coach has their own unique style of training based on what they enjoy and their current goals.  Here is a small window into another single day of of my training along with a glimpse of how my overall program is structured.

The Program (review from last time)

I train 4 days a week using an upper/lower split, focusing on a single primary barbell lift followed by several assistance lifts to augment strength gains and bring up any weaknesses. The primary lift gets the most focus and I plan out my sets, reps, and percentages carefully. The assistance lifts are usually done for sets of 8-10 using as much weight as I can muster on any given day. See below

Day 1 - Overhead Press + assistance work

Day 2 - Front Squat + assistance work

Day 3 - Bench Press + assistance work

Day 4 - Deadlift + assistance work

Day 2 - Squats!

This week was my scheduled "5/3/1" week, which means that each day I will complete 3 work sets of my primary lifts at 5x75%, 3x85%, and 1+x95% of my 1 RM. The 1+ denotes that on the last set, I will grind out as many reps as I can, hopefully setting a new rep PR. On this day I was able to get 4 reps at 205 (95% of my 1RM), which was awesome!

On Squat days I like to alternate between warm-up sets and an explosive movement before my work sets. Here I chose to do box jumps. As you can see, A1) is my front squat, showing 4 warm-up sets and 3 work sets.  A2) is the box jump, and I did 4 sets of 4--one set for each squat warm-up set.  The boxed-in 205x4 was my final set and a 4RM PR for me.  Woohoo!

B1), B2), and B3) are my assistance lifts, which as mentioned are performed for higher reps.  

C1) was my finisher of the day.  I've been alternating between RFE and FE split squats, sometimes with chains, or a weight vest, or a plate, or a combination of those.  It's a fun mental test.

Video Time!

Quite graciously, my training partner Tom Walters of AKI declined my offer to film him for this post because his squat form is so crisp that it might make me look bad. Ask him to demonstrate next time you see him!

I've been filming one or two lifts every training session so as to keep my focus off the camera and on the lifts, so these videos are not all from the same session. They should however, give you a good idea of what the aforementioned training session looks like.

Front Squat 205x6

Sliding Leg Curl x12

FE Split Squat 85x15

BAM!  Another training session is in the books.  Remember that your training should always reflect your goals, strengths, limitations, and passions.

Jacob Goodin is a Prevail strength coach, Westmont College instructor, and Providence Hall High School head track and cross-country coach.  "Like" him on Facebook or go to prevailconditioning.com to set up a training session today!