You’re going to follow this workout for 4 weeks, and it begins with barbell squats, which work all of your leg muscles. This warms up your legs for easier moves that come afterward, allowing you to feel the individual muscles or groups of muscles in your legs work more effectively. I always start with a couple warm-up sets to make sure my body feels sturdy before increasing the weight. Don’t count these warm-up sets toward your working sets in this workout.
Keep in mind that you’re going to feel really pumped during this workout because you’re beginning a new program—enjoy that feeling over the first few days. This program is going to get tougher, day-to-day and week-to-week, as your diet really kicks in. I’ll be providing you with tips and suggestions about how to overcome your lagging energy later in Operation Aesthetic.
OPERATION AESTHETIC NOTES
*I like to do a pyramid style of lifting where I increase weight as I reduce reps. I think this works well for growth as well as when you’re dieting to reduce body fat.
*When you can’t increase weight that’s when you need to drop weight and go down the ladder, increasing reps with lighter weights.
*This workout starts with two compound movements, and you’re going to feel it when you move on to leg presses, the second of these compound moves.
*After these two, you’ll perform what I like to call “accessory” movements, otherwise known as isolation moves for legs—leg extensions and lying leg curls.
*The last move on this Phase One sequence for legs is stiff-legged deadlifts, which is a great hamstring builder. That’s one area that I want to improve, and that’s why I’m including it. Feel free to substitute another move that targets your biggest weakness with legs.
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Early morning cardio
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1
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25 minutes
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Getting in cardio before you eat supports burning body fat.
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EXERCISE
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COMMENT
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Barbell squats
Make sure to lower your hips to knee height or below for every rep—and keep control.
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6 SETS / 12, 10, 7, 3, 15, 20 REPS
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Leg presses
I start light with this exercise even though I’m warmed up—it’s a working set, but a little on the light side.
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5 SETS /
12, 10, 7, 3, 15 REPS
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Leg extensions
Work hard on every rep and really contract your quad muscles.
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5 SETS / 12, 10, 7, 3, 15 REPS
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Lying leg curls
Keep this move under control throughout the set, emphasizing the stretch and contraction in your hamstrings.
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5 SETS / 12, 10, 7 3, 15 REPS
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Stiff-legged deadlifts
Focus on pushing your butt back more than bending over to better target hamstrings.
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4 SETS / 12, 10, 7, 3 REPS
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Post-Workout cardio
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1
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25 minutes
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Cardio post-workout supports both fat loss and recovery from challenging workouts.
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TIP: Your nutrition goal for the first day of Operation Aesthetic is just to clean up your diet and hit your calories, macros, and supplements for each meal. One of the challenges of a fat-loss program is the rigorous schedule of meals and supplements, and you need to adhere to it. The difference for today is that you’ll be targeting specific calories and macros as compared to the clean foods you’ve been consuming for the 3 days before beginning this program.
