12 Week Lean Muscle Trainer Day 1:Legs, Calves And Abs

Welcome to Day 1 of your 12-Week Lean Muscle Program! You’re going to train like you’ve never trained before, and I’m going to push you to achieve physical and mental goals that you never thought possible. Along the way, you’ll be encouraged and inspired by Danielle and Kai—my two clients—who have already completed their transformation. Check out their introduction videos if you haven’t already.

Today, we’re jumping into the fire. We’re starting with legs. I really like to place legs on the first day of the week after you’ve had the weekend to recover. Working your largest muscle group when you’re recovered encourages better muscle growth and greater fat loss.

As you know, the legs consist of many different muscles and muscle groups. My programs will target quadriceps (quads), hamstrings, calves and glutes. I’ll be mentioning these throughout the program as Kai and Danielle demonstrate the exercises. At times I’ll break these muscle groups down and discuss how particular moves work different aspects of a muscle group such as the outer sweep or the teardrop of your quads.

We’ll target all these lower-body muscle groups on the first day of each week. Then we’ll hit calves again on the fourth day of most weeks with shoulders. That’s because calves are a stubborn muscle group, and they respond better to frequent training with higher reps. With that said, let’s get started.

Your first move is leg extensions. You’ll perform these at a moderate pace, and you’ll begin with a light weight that allows you to perform 20 reps, pumping blood into your quads to warm them up. Watch my video to see how I motivate Danielle and Kai to work through a full range of motion without resting between reps.

Next up are machine squats and leg presses. Notice that I have Danielle perform all of her sets for machine squats while Kai is performing leg presses. Then they swap exercises. That’s because we don’t want to spend a lot of time switching weights between sets—I want them to perform all of their sets and reps and spend their rest periods stretching. You can perform either move ahead of the other. If you’re performing this 12-week program with a partner, then you can alternate sets of the same move if you’re using similar weights; or one of you can perform one exercise while the other person completes the other move. Check out my video to see specific tips on how to perform these moves.

The fourth leg exercise today is lying hamstrings curls. You’ll perform this move at a slow pace, completing 3 sets of 15 reps today. Notice that my clients perform their reps smoothly and without resting at the bottom or the top. The goal is to keep all of the effort in the hamstrings without allowing these muscles to rest between reps. In general, we’ll perform most exercises with this type of direct targeting, but I will discuss some more advanced techniques — such as rest-pause — once you have more experience on my program.

Our last legs move today is standing calves raises. I really want you to stretch between sets. The calves have a very thick webbing of fascia that prevents the calves from growing. The stretching between the sets encourages elasticity to provide more room for the muscle to grow. And remember we’ll hit them again three days after this workout.

Next up, we’ll perform abs work. The first move is elevated sit-ups. You’ll place your lower legs on a bench while you’re lying on the floor. Your knees will be slightly farther away from your body rather than directly above your hips. That’s to allow more of a stretch and better development of your rectus abdominis, the coveted six-pack muscle. The next abs move is lying leg raises. While the first move activates from the top of abs, lying leg raises activate from the lower portion. It’s good to include moves that work your abs in different ways for more complete development.

For cardio, we start easy this week. You’ll perform 15 minutes of steady-state cardio each day. On most days, you’ll perform your steady-state cardio upon waking. But today I want you to perform your cardio immediately after you finish your legs and abs workout. That’s because it will help you burn out lactic acid and recover better.

That’s all for today. You’ll feel this workout in the morning (if not before you go to bed tonight). Make sure you’re following all of my nutrition and supplement suggestions. I’ll continue to remind you about these as we go through the program.

Workout

Leg Extensions 3 Sets/20 Reps Rest 2 minutes and stretch between each set
Machine squats 3 Sets/20 Reps Rest 3 minutes and stretch between each set
Leg presses 3 Sets/20 Reps Rest 3 minutes and stretch between each set
Lying hamstrings curls 3 Sets/15 Reps Rest 2 minutes and stretch between each set
Standing calves raises 3 Sets/20 Reps Rest 2 minutes and stretch between each set
Elevated sit-ups 3 Sets/Failure Rest 2 minutes and stretch between each set
Lying leg raises 3 Sets/Failure Rest 2 minutes between each set

Cardio

15 minutes

Steady-state post workout

GETHIN’S GO-TO:

While you’ve only performed one workout, it’s important to recognize that your immune system will be significantly taxed by the new demands you’re placing on your body. It’s not uncommon for people to get sick while they’re following one of my programs. The supplements, nutrition, and recovery techniques are all designed to support your overall health while you also make enormous strides in achieving your physique goals.

WHAT SUPP?

GLUTAMINE is the most abundant amino acid in the human body, and it can be synthesized from other amino acids. When your body has a greater need for glutamine, such as when you’re on an intense training program, it may break down muscle tissue for this purpose. Supplementing fermented GLUTAMINE helps prevent this. In addition, supplementing with glutamine helps restore glutamine levels after training and supports muscle recovery.

DOSE AND TIMING: Get in 3 servings of fermented GLUTAMINE each day while following my 12-Week Lean Muscle Program. Good times to take this product are upon rising, before workouts, after workouts, and before bedtime. I personally have my clients put all 3 servings in their gallon jug and sip it throughout the day.