Machine Leg Day Workout With Upper Body Supersets

Nikkiey: Okay, so I had a plan. I had a plan for the type of exercises I wanted to do. However, we are at one of the biggest gyms in America, and it's in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. How amazing. It was like a 40-minute drive to get here. My whole game plan completely changed because there is a ton of equipment here that we can do some fun moves on. So I'm recalibrating my entire workout for today. Hang tight.

Let's go start with some reverse lunges. This one's calling my name. It's like your own station. You know when you go in to get your hair cut? There's also a barber over there. You come in here, pick your station, set up, put all your stuff down, and claim your spot while you do your workout.

Trying to wake up the whole body here, because we're about to have some fun. I was going to start with some boring old Bulgarian split squats with just dumbbells that you could do at any basic gym. But we're going to do reverse lunges to start. That sounds pretty basic, but not when you're in front of a mirror on your own platform inside of a dope-ass gym.

So we're going to do reverse lunges, about eight reps per leg for three sets to start. Nice and controlled, not trying to go too heavy. This is really warming up the legs and getting them ready for the next exercise, because we're then going to head over to do some standing hack squats, which you don't see at a lot of gyms. So let's get to it. I'm feeling some Linkin Park.

Go a little bit heavier. You definitely want the last couple reps to feel a little bit challenging. If it feels the same as the start of the set, challenge yourself. Put more weight on and get a little bit heavier, because otherwise you're just going through the motions and it ain't gonna do shit. You also got to get off your phones. The person behind me has been on their phone the entire time since I started my set. Let's go.

The one thing that stinks the most about this is that my back and my traps are hella sore from a workout two days ago, so placing the bar on top of them is like adding fuel to the flame. One more set, though. One more set and then we'll go get jiggy with it on some of the machines. All right, last set.

The glutes are awake. That's so juicy. I love that. It's an alternative to a squat, my friends. You have a little more control on a machine or a piece of equipment than you do with a free-weighted barbell.

Anyway, I'm going to do reverse hacks first, and I'm going to do a good morning with it. That's a little more of an advanced exercise on this type of machine. I'm not using the equipment for what it's meant to be used for, but it's an alternative way you can use it. So we're going to do reverse... not reverse. We're going to do good mornings, but on the reverse hack squat. I'm going to aim for three sets of ten reps, focusing on the glutes and hamstrings. Getting it to burn.

Yeah, that was good. It's like doing an exercise you haven't done in a minute on that type of equipment: you've got to get your bearings. As you saw at the beginning, I had to move my feet around because my stretch just wasn't there. Sweating. This pump cover is working. My head's also up against this, so I'm like, am I going to make this pimple worse? What's going to make it worse is me doing this. Anyway, second set, ten reps. Let's go.

If you're wondering why I'm choosing to do this movement on this piece of equipment rather than with a barbell, it's because you have more control with the equipment than when you're trying to control the movement with a barbell. I feel more secure and stable on this, so I'm able to put more attention and brain power into the muscle itself, which creates a better mind-muscle connection.

Honestly, for the first two years of my journey I barely touched any barbells. I barely did squats. I barely did deadlifts. That was my prime, where I built the most muscle, and it was usually just on equipment and the Smith machine. No joke. I honestly prefer the ability to create the mind-muscle connection, because that's the most important part of growing the muscle itself. Anyway, let's get to it.

Damn, you really get deep in there. You really can get to the depth of the muscle connection. That feels good. I don't think I'm done with legs yet. Let's turn it into a leg day. There are so many fun pieces of equipment for a leg day. We can do some RDLs on there. I'm turning this into almost a leg day, but it's still full body. Stay with me. I was excited by all this equipment. One more set.

You probably saw me move my feet all the way up on that last set, and that definitely hit it the most. Honestly, all of the sets hit pretty solidly where I wanted them to in the muscle. The one thing that helped me the most on that last set: this was driving into my shoulders very uncomfortably, so I shifted my feet up a little to take some pressure off there, and I was able to connect even better to the legs.

Okay, on to the next ride. I didn't re-rack my weights. Don't be that person, my friends. Re-rack your weights.

Okay, I've got a fun leg extension superset. Let's go. I love this machine for a couple of reasons. One, it's easy to do a superset, because you can do single, single, then double, and you don't really need to adjust the weight much since you preset the weight on the inside at the beginning. At a normal gym that doesn't have this piece of equipment, you'd have to dial the weight around between supersets. So we're going to do single leg, single leg, and then both together.

Another reason I love this piece of equipment is if you have some type of imbalance with your quads, like I do. You can't really tell standing here, but if you look back at my competition days on stage, my left quad is a heck of a lot smaller than my right quad, because that knee underwent two ACL surgeries. Immediately after ACL surgery, your quad starts to atrophy. So this one's a little smaller than the other one and also a little weaker, especially my hamstring, since they used a piece of my hamstring to fix my ACL. So this is really good if you have any sort of imbalance, because you're working one muscle at a time rather than your other side possibly overcompensating during the movement. Let's get through it. We'll do three sets of eight to ten reps.

Okay, both together. Okay. It's okay that my right leg is stronger than my left leg. Even though the weight on the right leg may feel like it's not that heavy, it's still pretty heavy for my left. You want to keep it the same on both sides so the left one can catch up. You don't have to make one side heavier. Keep it the same weight across the board.

The other day I'm walking into the gym. I always pre-make my post-workout shake: protein powder, bananas, almond milk and water. It's in my bag. You probably know where I'm going with this. I'm walking through the gym, I get to the locker room, and I'm unpacking all my stuff. Typically afterwards I sauna. I open up my bag and everything is floating. Everything in my bag is covered in my protein shake. I'm just like, damn, this sucks. Comment below if that's ever happened to you, where the thing exploded in your gym bag.

So I had to rally up some towels. It was a newer bag; I had just gotten it. Not luckily, because that sucks: it's a newer bag and I'd already pretty much destroyed it. But I didn't have as much stuff inside it as I normally do, so everything was salvageable. It definitely sucked, and I took probably 10 or 12 of Lifetime's towels to clean up my mess. And because I didn't have my protein shake, I didn't get to sauna afterwards like I wanted to, because I had to go home and make a new protein shake. So that kind of sucked. Anyway, on to the next set, right now as I go into this superset.

My left one gave out so much sooner than my right one there. The right had at least five to seven more reps, but oh well. Let's start with the left first this time. That's what I'd recommend sometimes too. In both of those sets I started with my right, so this time I'll start with my left, then go into my right, and then do the superset together. That way this one technically gets a little more rest in between. I would do that for anything you're alternating, if you're ever doing single-leg or unilateral work.

You've got to maintain a positive attitude. Don't say, oh, this sucks, I don't want to do this. You've got to fucking do it. You can do this. Let's go.

Well, friends, that's a wrap. Upper body time. That's enough legs.

All right, I re-racked my weights, my friends. I don't deserve this karma right now. There are three plates on either side of this piece of equipment that I have to re-rack, because the person on the machine before me did not re-rack their weights. I should go find him. It's like cardio in and of itself right now. Anyway, let's get to it.

Okay. That was smooth. That was real smooth. This is a plate-loaded high row. I haven't used this piece of equipment in a long time, but I used to have it in almost every single training block in my prep days. I may just bring it back, because that felt great. A couple of things for my next set: it was a little too light, so we'll go a little heavier, and then we're going to superset it with some chest.

We're just going to do push-ups for chest, because I don't feel like moving everything around to find another chest piece of equipment. Chest is meh to me, so we'll just knock out some push-ups. Knuckle push-ups, the bear claw. That's the way I like to do my push-ups. Try them next time. Either way is fine, but through my years of experience, my first coach told me to try it this way because you get more engagement in your chest muscle than with palms flat. So give it a try on your next push-up day, your next chest day.

I forgot to mention the sets and reps for this. I'm doing three sets of a superset: plate-loaded high rows for about 15 reps, and then 12 reps of push-ups. All right, I'm going to make this next set a little heavier.

Okay. That was brutal. Let's get on the shoulders. See this, guys? You see the weights? You see me taking them off and putting them back where they belong? I encourage you to do the same thing. That was mean. That was six plates, and not six 25-pound plates. It was six 45-pound plates. Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

Yo, that's legit. That's legit. I saw the girl down there and thought she was correcting me. That's why I was like, wait a second, am I doing this wrong? That's one reason I shouldn't second-guess myself. She wasn't correcting me, but she pointed at me and then went and did this, and I was like, am I doing this thing wrong? So I had to try it, and no, I'm not doing this thing wrong. It's definitely standing. Had me second-guessing there for a second, though.

Yeah, when I do dumbbells, at least for me personally, I pull in my traps because I'm just trap dominant. This thing totally isolates the shoulder, so overcompensating with the traps or anything else is really hard to do, which is nice. That's another reason I love equipment compared with barbells or dumbbells. Dumbbells and barbells are great, don't get me wrong. Like I said earlier, they're good for your form, for getting down free-weight movements, and for learning to have more control of your body. But pieces of equipment and machines help you solidify your form and make sure it's spot on. They don't allow you to overcompensate, and they help you stay focused on the muscles you're working. A good blend of both is nice.

All right, let's move on to some bis and some tris. Don't. I did that for a reason. You're trying to call me out right now. I did that for a reason. That's five pounds, my friend. And since you didn't capture that content at the beginning of my set, Connor, there were already ten pounds and five pounds on there.

I was playing around with this machine. A couple of things: it takes a few tries before you feel comfortable on a machine you haven't used in a while, so I was just adjusting it. Second, this will make you feel hella strong, because I'm about to curl 45 pounds between both arms. Actually, when I think about it equally, that's about a 25-pound dumbbell curl, and I can easily do that too. Okay, I still need to adjust here, and I think I can go a little heavier. So it's 55 pounds.

That's a pump. That'll get the biceps going.

When you're doing a bodyweight anything, like bodyweight dips or bodyweight pull-ups, I would do as many bodyweight reps as you possibly can first, and then finish out with anything assisted. So I just dropped the assistance pad. I'm going to knock out as many dips as I can at bodyweight. I'll probably get through one full set, and then I'll probably have to add assistance toward the end, on the third set, because I'm going to be fatigued by then. We're doing three sets of the superset: three sets of curls and three sets of dips, ten reps each.

The muscle always gets that rush at the end. It's hard to explain. All right, guys, pulling in the assistance here. Where's the weight management? Enough rest to be able to bang out four more. Where is that control? All right, let's get to the last set here, guys.

That's a good one. That's a good way to finish it.

That's a wrap, my friends. Just like that, we are done with a full-body workout. We're probably about two months into the new year when this video comes out to you. Maybe you're still struggling, coming into the gym and trying to figure out what you're doing and which exercises you should be doing. Maybe you're changing it up every single week and you don't have a routine down yet. Check out WarriorBabe. This is what our professional coaches can help you do, along with other amazing things like accountability and nutrition. Check out the links in the description, and I'll see you next time.