Trained hams, calves, and shoulders with Randy Howard at Strength Beyond in Kalamazoo
Calves:
Standing calf raise:
5×20
Hamstrings:
Lying leg curls:
5×10
Worked up to a final triple drop set with the stack plus a 10lb plate, dropped to about 2/3 that weight for another 10 reps, and then dropped about 1/2 of that weight for another 10 reps
Stiff leg deadlifts:
3×15 135lb
Since I finished my legs EOD routine my weight has shot up dramatically. At one point during the legs EOD program I was in the low 260s. Since finishing the program I’m up into the low 280s….and because of that my lower back is extremely tight/bloated, making it hard to keep my form on these with any kind of weight.
Shoulders:
reverse pec deck:
4×10-15
I worked up to the full stack plus a 25lb plate for a set of 10 on this
Dumbell Presses:
1×15 40s
1×10 75s
1×10 100s
1×10 120s
1×15 100s
Felt good on these. I’m really going to start working on bringing my strength back up. I’ve gone too long allowing myself to train lighter than I should and looking for other ways to increase intensity, but if I’m going to get back on stage at some point I need to quit dicking around with the weights
Seated laterals
Drop set:
1×10 40s
1×10 20s
Drop set #2:
1×8 60s
1×8 40s
1×8 20s
Drop set #3:
1×10 40s
1×10 20s
Seated smith machine presses:
2×15 225lb
Behind the back shrugs (smith machine)
4×15
Had a really good pump today…probably the best I’ve had in a while. I’m sure the majority of that is from the 20lbs of water I’m holding now after ballooning up when my legs EOD program stopped.
It’s interesting to see how my body responded to that. My upper body got very very flat during the legs EOD training (as I expected it to), but I always assumed/hoped that it would fill back out as soon as I got back to training.
It has definitely done that, but even more so than I expected. It’s almost like the rebound and fullness you get after doing a contest diet. My upper body is extremely full right now….definitely at a level of overcompensation and I’m also holding a LOT of water in comparison to when I was doing the legs EOD.
The outcome of the legs EOD on my lower body is pretty much the same. They were visibly improving during the 6 weeks I was training them EOD, but because I was so extremely flat from the training, it wasn’t quite as obvious as it is now.
Now that the EOD training is over, they’re filling up–also in sort of a overcompensation rebound like you get after a contest. My pants are all much tighter around the quads and there are a few pair of jeans I can no longer wear comfortably.
TL;DR
As much as it sucked training legs EOD for 6 weeks, the end result seems to be noticeably larger legs and no loss of upper body size
What do you think the results would be for another lagging bodypart…say back / lats?
Also, were there any changes in diet or supplementation going into the legs EOD program, coming out etc.?
I think the results would be similar for other lagging body parts. I would definitely give the program a try for back….in fact, it’s something I’m thinking about doing myself. I’m tentatively thinking about hitting back 3x a week for 4 weeks.
I didn’t change anything to diet or supplementation going into the program, but if I were to do it again I would plan for extra calories on all leg days and also plan on a MEGA high carb day once a week to help maintain fullness….because I was really struggling to hold any fullness after about the 3 week point….and by then it was too little too late to try to catch up (it was my appetite holding me back at that point…it’s hard to eat a ton after a leg workout….so I was dealing with a lack of appetite for a chunk of the evening every other day)
Thank you for making these logs, definitely gave an insight what to expect going into an EOD experiment. And was very motivating to say the least!
Do you think in an example of doing legs say, Mon-Thurs-Sat would this be as beneficial or potentially even more beneficial in terms of getting the increased frequency AND being able to recover a little more? The recovery seemed to be the common factor through this log that you made.
Thinking of trying to squat every Monday and have a couple days to rest and then back at it after glycogen is (hopefully) refilled and able to do some volume training emphasizing quads one day (thurs) and hamstrings/glutes (sat) on the other day.
What’s your thoughts?
A possible idea would be to add in more stretching & possibly deep tissue massages in if time allows, I read with your hectic life it may be hard but something to consider if you plan on doing Back EOD in the future.
Again, thanks for the log!
Just to add, on Monday I would do more than squat still aiming for basically the same amount of volume you did. And on Thursday & Saturday emphasizing a different muscle group I would still work a couple antagonist exercises in at the beginning of the work out as well. IfQuads, start with seated legs and do lying leg curls as well, vice versa for Hams/glutes starting with leg ext’s.
Alek,
If I were to do the EOD thing again I think I would limit it to 4 weeks and also limit it to 3x per week. That would give two days in a row off once during the week each week, which would go a long way in terms of recovery.
Part of this experiment was just to do something stupid. I had gotten into a bit of a rut with my training and was unhappy with my intensity (it had been a while since I had any workouts worth writing about), so the legs EOD was really 50% trying to bring up my legs and 50% trying to re-motivate myself by doing something crazy.
Thanks for the response & I hope you found that motivation within yourself!
Definitely got me ready to train legs tonight.