So I had my first posing session with Lisa of Figure911 and let me tell you… it was hard!
My back still hurts (2 days later) as if I had worked out.
On the plus side, my lat spread is actually pretty good. What I have to focus on is my transitions from poses and keeping my hands looking relaxed… and about a million other things, but those were the things I struggled with most. Apparently I do this weird pivoty think instead of stepping to do my quarter turns which looks really funny, but when I tried to correct it I learned that I don’t know my left foot from my right foot… not good. so between my footing and trying to keep my shoulders up and waist in WHILE transitioning through turns, that was definitely the hardest part.
I also have a tendency to flex my wrists up instead of keeping my hands in line with my forearms, which isn’t the worst thing in the world, but definitely not as nice looking as a smooth arm. So that will be my focus for practising.
Erin Stern making the front relaxed pose look easy… it is not!
But the most challenging/tiring thing about posing is actually the relaxed pose… relaxed my butt! this is where arching you back until it cramps comes in, not to mention keeping you stomach flexed, pushing into your front leg to flex your calf, rolling your shoulder back and spreading you front lat to pop your delt and give the illusion of a smaller waist and then staying like this while all the competitors do their turns!!!
What was I thinking entering figure?!
I’m so glad I decided to get coaching for this! Hardest part of the competition prep by far… except for this leg workout I’m going to share with you. 😉
I am starting to taper off my “heavy” lifting session and move into higher repetition, high energy leg workouts. Right now that means reps are around 15-20 and I’m doing mostly triple sets, but my rest period between those sets is still reasonably high (90 seconds). I take no rest between each exercise within the triple set. I am still keeping the weights quite high and they are definitely challenging, but not nearly as heavy as I was lifting 2 weeks ago when I was ok with failure at 6 reps.
So here is the workout I did yesterday that has me walking a little funny today.
Triple Triple Set Leg Workout
Warm up: 5 minutes running and dynamic stretching before weights.
Triple set #1 in the squat rack: Load a bar with about 2/3rds you normal squat weight . I normally comfortably squat 155 for 10 reps, so I dropped that to 95 pounds. Also set up a bar for deadlifts behind you with the same weight so you can easily transition between exercises.
- Barbell back squat – 15 reps to below parallel
- Barbell forward lunges – 16 reps (or 8 reps each leg)
- Straight leg deadlifts – 15 reps
Triple set #2 by a bench: Grab 2 lighter dumbells for step ups (I use 2 20 pound dumbbells) and one very heavy dumbbell for the plie squats and the glute bridges. You will be suprised by how much you can lift with these moves. I normally use 100 pounds for plie squats and 80 for glute bridges, but with the higher reps I use 75 pounds for both.
- Plie (sumo) squats – 15 reps – ensure that your tailbone stays tucked underneath you during this move and push through your heels to focus on your glutes
Jamie Eason demonstrating the plie squat
- Weight step ups – 16-20 reps (or 8-10 each side)
- Weighted glute bridges – 15 reps – puts your shoulders on the bench and hold the dumbbell across your hips, sink you hips to the floor, then flex your glute and push through your heels to straighten your body and bring the weight up.
Triple set #3 with the leg press and hamstring curl machines: Ideally these machines are close to each other in your gym, if not, don’t dawdle while walking between the machines. The weight for this will vary greatly depending on the machines used, so just keep in mind that you will be doing 15 reps and want the weight to be challenging but not impossible.
- Hamstring curls (any machine variation, whichever is closest to the leg press) – 15 reps – focus on a slow eccentric (decline) motion
- Leg press with feet in shoulder width position, high on the plate – 15 reps
- Calf press on the leg press machine – 15 reps (use the same weight for both exercises)
Stretch well for at least 15 minutes.
On The Go Fitness 
Workout sounds awesome! Learning how to pose from everything I’ve heard is about the hardest part of competition. Doesn’t sound like fun, is it somewhat fun even though hard?
It’s pretty cool to see how different your body looks posed vs unposed. But other than that your back is just on fire. Haha!
LOL!