Train your Legs Isolateral Style

If you had a chance to read the recent article “10 Minutes to Total Legs” then you picked up some great ideas for transforming your body. Just in case you didn’t have a chance to review the article I will give you a brief summary.

If you find yourself in a training rut it is often a good idea to completely revamp your workout style. A great option for a leg workout change, especially if you are short on time, is a Tabata style workout. The base of this concept is cadence style training where you exert yourself “all-out” for a period of time followed by a brief rest. This is repeated for a specified number of sets. The total workout is very short, only 10 minutes with a two minute rest in the middle. The very short workout makes it possible for you to work-out at a much higher level of intensity than you would be able to for a longer 45 minute workout. The result of this higher intensity is a shock to the body that causes Lean Muscle Gain and Fat Loss. The exact workout appears as the following:

- Warm-Up
- Machine Squat: 8 Sets of MAX Reps (20 Seconds per Set with 10 Seconds Rest betwee
Sets) - Rest: 2 Minutes
- Calf Raises: 8 Sets of MAX Reps (20 Seconds per Set with 10 Seconds Rest betwee
Sets) - Cool-Down

This workout WILL get results; however, now I want to help you reach the next level! This workout will be a variation on the Traditional Tabata Style workout and focus on Iso-Lateral movements.

At this point, unless you already know what Iso-Lateral means, you should be asking, “What the hell are Iso-Lateral movements?” Well sit up and listen you’re about to find out! Iso-Lateral movements are exercises in which you work one side of the body independent of the other. For example, an iso-lateral chest movement would be Dumbbell Bench Press. As you can imagine each arm is responsible for doing its own work. One arm does not rely on the other arm in the action. You can take this to another level by pressing with just one arm at a time. This is a way to add abdominal and stability muscle recruitment to a basic and effective movement. Now that we are clear on that, let’s apply that concept to the Tabata Style Leg Workout.

In this version of the workout, instead of squats you will be doing Single Leg Lunges. Also Instead of Double Leg Calf Raises you will perform Single Leg Calf Raises. This will cause an increase in abdominal muscle recruitment. Furthermore, you will be forced to train each side with equal resistance. You see when you press with both legs in a squat there is a good chance you are pressing harder with your dominant leg. Don’t feel bad. That’s really common and hard to completely avoid. But when you do just one leg at a time it’s not possible to rely on the dominant leg. Problem solved. Don’t get confused and think I’m saying you should only do Iso-Lateral Training. What I’m saying is that it is an awesome alternative and should find its way into your regular training split. Now that we are on the same page, let’s get into the specifics of the workout.

Because we are doing each leg individually in each movement, it would lead to a longer workout if we stuck to exactly the same number of sets per body part. In order to keep the workout at roughly 10 minutes what we will do is alter the sets and rest period slightly. We will also alternate from side to side to reduce the need for rest while keeping the intensity at an all time high. The workout will start with the single leg lunge on either the right leg or the left. After the 20 second “all-out” effort a 10 second rest is observed. Immediately following this brief rest the opposite leg gets to work. This is done for a total of 5 rounds on each leg. This should take approximately five minutes. Next, a one minute break is taken. Then the Single Leg Calf Raise is completed in the same fashion as the squat. Alternate from one leg to the other each set for a total of 5 rounds. This will take approximately five minutes. The total for all of these calves and squats is only roughly 10 minutes! The workout breakdown is as follows:

- Warm-Up
- Machine Squat: 10 Sets Total of MAX Reps, more specifically 5 Alternating Sets on each the Right/Left Legrn (20 Seconds per Set with 10 Seconds Rest betwee
Sets) - Rest: 1 Minute
- Calf Raises: 10 Sets Total of MAX Reps, more specifically 5 Alternating Sets on each the Right/Left Legrn (20 Seconds per Set with 10 Seconds Rest betwee
Sets) - Cool-Down

The result of these two exercises is a complete leg thrashing. What’s more is that the ABS and Stabilizer muscles are getting a great workout too. If you are feeling really adventurous I suggest going through the same workout style two more times while reducing the sets by one each round. That will look like the following:

- Warm-Up
- Machine Squat: 10 Sets Total of MAX Reps, more specifically 5 Alternating Sets on each the Right/Left Legrn (20 Seconds per Set with 10 Seconds Rest betwee
Sets) - Rest: 1 Minute
- Calf Raises: 10 Sets Total of MAX Reps, more specifically 5 Alternating Sets on each the Right/Left Legrn (20 Seconds per Set with 10 Seconds Rest betwee
Sets)

- Warm-Up
- Machine Squat: 8 Sets Total of MAX Reps, more specifically 4 Alternating Sets on each the Right/Left Legrn (20 Seconds per Set with 10 Seconds Rest betwee
Sets) - Rest: 1 Minute
- Calf Raises: 8 Sets Total of MAX Reps, more specifically 4 Alternating Sets on each the Right/Left Legrn (20 Seconds per Set with 10 Seconds Rest betwee
Sets)

- Warm-Up
- Machine Squat: 6 Sets Total of MAX Reps, more specifically 3 Alternating Sets on each the Right/Left Legrn (20 Seconds per Set with 10 Seconds Rest betwee
Sets) - Rest: 1 Minute
- Calf Raises: 6 Sets Total of MAX Reps, more specifically 3 Alternating Sets on each the Right/Left Legrn (20 Seconds per Set with 10 Seconds Rest betwee
Sets) - Cool-Down

Talk about an awesome one! In about 25 minutes per workout this will shred the legs and elevate the metabolism like mad! Hit this workout the way it’s intended and you will be priming your body for extreme change.