Ox 51
Musclechemistry Guru
Training Day: Kai Greene
Check out Kai's intense leg workout.
By Sean Andros
Next up is the lying leg curl where you really got things moving. You move like a machine on this exercise and there appears to be a perfect mind-muscle connection. Explain what you are thinking and feeling on this move.
I think about my hamstrings as piano wire throughout the entire range of motion. That feeling is the telltale sign that your hamstrings are responsible for moving the weight. This is just a great move for me to get deep into my hamstrings and feel every fiber working.
Six sets of lying leg curls is quite a few. Is this partly a warm-up or do you push each set?
I’m already warmed up. The reason for the extra sets just had to do with my mental state on this day. Sometimes I need to do some extra sets because I was not focused on the first few. As a result, I don’t feel the feedback. It should be the second or third set, so I push on until I get the three or four great sets my muscles need. Nothing is set in stone. I set out with a plan to do four sets, but that’s just an estimate based on experience. Some days I might be so tuned in that I get the most stimulation possible in three sets; other days it might take six.
During this workout and some of the others we’ve seen at flexonline.com, you haven’t done the seated leg curl. Do you ever use this exercise?
I used to do them a lot, but not much these days. I’m very leery of movements that are comfortable. You just sit down, lean back and do the exercise like you’re at home on the sofa. I want my entire body to be alert and involved. If I do use the seated leg curl, it’s a secondary movement that accompanies a group of other movements [like the second part of a compound set].
Moving on to stiff-leg deadlifts. You started with 25s on the bar and only moved up to the 45s for your last two sets. That seems like light weight for a guy your size.
It feels heavy to me! I turn my toes in and my heels out so I can feel the most pull on my hamstrings. Sometimes it feels so exaggerated, but when I look in the mirror my feet still look pretty straight [laughs]. I try to make the muscles of my hamstrings and my glutes responsible for moving the weight. Years ago, I would use a lot more weight and just throw caution to the wind and jerk my body up and down. Besides being dangerous, this method isn’t very effective for muscle growth. These days, I don’t worry about weight; I just worry about getting into the muscle as effectively as possible — even if you think it’s light
Why did we take it outside for lunges?
A lot of gyms are not equipped with glute kickback machines and lunge machines [although this one is]. The solution is walking lunges, but they are only effective when done over a great distance [at least 40 yards or 20 yards each way]. Most gyms don’t have the space unless you can get onto a basketball court or large aerobic studio. So I just decided to head outside and have all the space I needed. Besides, I saw some awesome footage of Ronnie Coleman doing parking-lot lunges, so I had to do them myself.
Check out Kai's intense leg workout.
By Sean Andros
Next up is the lying leg curl where you really got things moving. You move like a machine on this exercise and there appears to be a perfect mind-muscle connection. Explain what you are thinking and feeling on this move.
I think about my hamstrings as piano wire throughout the entire range of motion. That feeling is the telltale sign that your hamstrings are responsible for moving the weight. This is just a great move for me to get deep into my hamstrings and feel every fiber working.
Six sets of lying leg curls is quite a few. Is this partly a warm-up or do you push each set?
I’m already warmed up. The reason for the extra sets just had to do with my mental state on this day. Sometimes I need to do some extra sets because I was not focused on the first few. As a result, I don’t feel the feedback. It should be the second or third set, so I push on until I get the three or four great sets my muscles need. Nothing is set in stone. I set out with a plan to do four sets, but that’s just an estimate based on experience. Some days I might be so tuned in that I get the most stimulation possible in three sets; other days it might take six.
During this workout and some of the others we’ve seen at flexonline.com, you haven’t done the seated leg curl. Do you ever use this exercise?
I used to do them a lot, but not much these days. I’m very leery of movements that are comfortable. You just sit down, lean back and do the exercise like you’re at home on the sofa. I want my entire body to be alert and involved. If I do use the seated leg curl, it’s a secondary movement that accompanies a group of other movements [like the second part of a compound set].
Moving on to stiff-leg deadlifts. You started with 25s on the bar and only moved up to the 45s for your last two sets. That seems like light weight for a guy your size.
It feels heavy to me! I turn my toes in and my heels out so I can feel the most pull on my hamstrings. Sometimes it feels so exaggerated, but when I look in the mirror my feet still look pretty straight [laughs]. I try to make the muscles of my hamstrings and my glutes responsible for moving the weight. Years ago, I would use a lot more weight and just throw caution to the wind and jerk my body up and down. Besides being dangerous, this method isn’t very effective for muscle growth. These days, I don’t worry about weight; I just worry about getting into the muscle as effectively as possible — even if you think it’s light
Why did we take it outside for lunges?
A lot of gyms are not equipped with glute kickback machines and lunge machines [although this one is]. The solution is walking lunges, but they are only effective when done over a great distance [at least 40 yards or 20 yards each way]. Most gyms don’t have the space unless you can get onto a basketball court or large aerobic studio. So I just decided to head outside and have all the space I needed. Besides, I saw some awesome footage of Ronnie Coleman doing parking-lot lunges, so I had to do them myself.
