Fat-Burning Post-Cheat Leg Workout from Hell

While I’m still pursuing my target of 4% bodyfat by April 15 for the end of the AST Ultimate Challenge, I indulged one too many times over the weekend (vanilla bean coconut ice cream and half a bag of gluten-free oreos on Friday night, then pizza, cookies and brownies at a bar mitzvah party on Saturday night). One of our big suggestions for recovering from cheats is to always train the day afterward, and to make it a very intense session with lots of reps and little rest. This is what I came up with:

First Exercise – Barbell Squats

No good repentance workout is complete without some sort of squat, and I went with the classic squat. Not paired with anything, just pyramided sets of 10 reps with about 60-75 seconds of rest in between each set, until I hit my last set and did a set of breathing squats. Breathing squats are where you take what you could normally do for 10 or 12 reps, and go for 20 reps, taking 3 deep breaths at the top in between each rep. You essentially take 10 seconds of rest in between each rep, and the whole thing takes several minutes to get through. I didn’t quite make it to 20 but made it to 17 with 185lbs (20lbs over my current bodyweight).

Superset – Glute/Ham Raises and Drop-Thru Split Squats

I did the glute/ham raises starting with my legs straight and torso perpendicular to the floor (almost like a traditional hyperextension) and then took them all the way up for sets of 12 with added dumbbell weight, then went to drop-thru split squats (both feet elevated on platforms so that the knee can “drop thru” where the floor would normally be), also for sets of 12. I absolutely HATE drop-thru split squats as the burning in the quads and glutes gets so intense that I need a fire extinguisher to put it out afterwards. 3 rounds each with 60 seconds of rest in between each exercise.

Finisher – Prowler sprints

Just awful. 3 sprints of 80 yards with 110lbs on the Prowler with as little rest as I could handle. The first sprint actually looked like I was running, but it quickly degenerated into something resembling a motivated hobble.

From start to finish it took less than 30 minutes but I’ll be feeling it for a few more days.