Second exercise – the Jefferson squat. Or the Jeff. As in, “hey bro, let’s do some Jeffs.” Now, truth be told, my version isn’t really Jefferson squats. Technically, they are hanging lunge squats, I guess. But I started referring to them as Jeffersons a long time ago, and be it right or wrong, I’m sticking with it. So deal.
Tough exercise, by the way. Put a bar between your legs. Some of us will be more comfortable with this than others. Start with just the bar. The bar will go opposite the direction you are facing. Start position will look something like this:
From there bend your knees and let the weight move to the floor. With no weight on the bar, bend a decent amount so that your front thigh gets at least close to parallel with the ground. I try to get my back knee to the ground, but depending on the weight, I don’t always succeed. Should look kinda like this:
I mean it’s not rocket science. Start with the weight in one position, lower it down to the other one. Once you’re comfortable with the motion without weights, start loading it up. Go slow as you ascend through the weights. Stay in the 8-12 rep range. If you feel like you want to crank it up, you can go down to 5 reps, near the end of your sets. I do 3 sets of this, after whatever squat motion I start with (regular, front, box).
After those big moves, if I feel I burned quads more up to that point, I’ll do ham curls, or if I feel I burned hams more, I’ll do leg extensions. If you’re feeling crazy or over pre-woed, feel free to superset them. I do 3 sets of this in the higher rep range – 12-20 per set.
Finish off with calf raises. As with anything else, lots of warm-up sets to get to your working set weight. Then hit them with 3 strong working sets. I usually stay in a higher rep range with these, as well – 12-20. I like to do them either standing on a Smith Machine or on a machine dedicated to standing calf, or a seated calf raise machine. Best to alternate.
Cocktail of the day is the vodka gimlet. Not a vodka fan. Maybe because of an incident involving a handle of Smirnoff (gross – I know) and a massive amount of vomit on my sweet new denim jacket back when I was 16, but who knows?
It is a however a classic (or at least a twist on a classic) cocktail. And I like classics!
Exercise song of the day is Startender by Boogie wit da Hoodie. Maybe do this one early to start getting up to speed.
Until next time – enjoy!