Ugh....Leg Day Thermopyletes (and I'm even in an honest to goodness gym)

The dreaded leg day.  The bane of male gym goers everywhere.  In the quest for the pecs that make her swoon, guns that bring a tear to her eye and abs that beg for a slow mo shirt removal (a la Ryan Gosling)....men neglect the collection of the largest major muscle movers, the legs.  This leads to muscle imbalances that have created their own gym sub culture.  The Chicken Legs.

We've all seen these guys.  Sometimes they try to confuse us with the subterfuge of sweatpants, track pants, lulu's (if they dare) or, in the rare circumstances, we will even see the appearance of the man capri.  An elusive creature that should be hunted out of existence and it's DNA wiped clean from our planet.  (read that with the National Geographic British accent)

I'm not that bad.  It's true that I am one of those guys that spends little to no time on my legs.  My rationale is not the same.  I genuinely hate working legs.  They heal slow, I stay stiff, and the burn is not one that I enjoy.  Granted...I have killer calves though (people who know me will roll their eyes and scoff, but they won't disagree).  They're like granite, same cannot be said for my quads.

Proportionally though it looks like someone took a short He-Man figurine torso and arms and put them on a set of barbie legs.  The only difference is the total package measures in at 5'7".  Think brick on chopsticks...running.  It only hurts a little when someone comments "I can't believe you can move so fast with those little things."  (thanks mom)

Friday was a leg day.  As stated I hate leg day.  However, it's a start to a brand new me and this is a "voyage of discovery and challenge" (it sounded better in my head).  So, on with leg day.  My training partner mentioned to me "I want this to hurt." This is a mistake.  Any comment like that is a challenge, a gauntlet that you have smacked the crap out of me with and then dropped on the ground.

Fair is fair.  We're gonna walk funny for a week.

1. Bikes first - Spin to max intensity out of saddle and then back to spin.  Repeat for 14 minutes or 6km.

2. HIIT Circuit - Plyo Jumps 24" boxes to TRX rows, pulls and bicep curls, split squats with kettle bells, kettle bell pushups and repeat 4 times.

3. Core Rotations on BOSU with medicine balls working on balance and rotation.  Band pulls while in a partial BOSU balance/squat.

4. Swiss ball reverse plank with kettle bell (max weight) 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and then weight free for 5 minutes.

5. Jacobs ladder - 2 minutes (tried to find another machine after...couldn't), Jacobs ladder again 2 minutes.  (cue partner whining)

6. PNF stretching (off color comment from workout partner.  P.S. - I know who my dad is)

Done.

Granted.  People who train legs often will look at this with something between pity and scorn but for a recovering non-leg guy it was a bit of a beast.  No rest, all repeat.  Go till it tingles...in a bad way.

Today it hurts to giggle and my stairs and I are taking a bit of a break (it's not them, it's me).

But, what's the point of wanting to be better unless you are wanting all of you to be better?