FITNESS REVIEWS AND IMAGES: Ashley

Tuesday, 24 February 2015

Ashley Hoffmann's High-Frequency Leg Workout

New Exercise and Fitness Review

Most workout regimens are built on splits that call for just one leg day per week. People trying to lean down or women who want to balance their physiques may add another leg-focused day to their routine, but any more than two leg days per week is pretty unusual. Ashley Hoffmann’s program, though, is anything but usual.

To see enhanced results in her lower body, Hoffmann hits her strong, sculpted legs 2-3 times per week. The volume of her plan is indeed challenging, so she recommends only intermediate or advanced athletes try it. “I didn’t start out training my legs this frequently,” she says. “It’s something I’ve built up to in order to see increased results in my lower body.”

If you’re a beginner, focus on building up your training experience, strength, and endurance for a year or so before beginning a protocol like Ashley’s. But, if you’ve been working hard in the gym for a year or more and want to give your body a new challenge, this leg-developing workout plan will deliver unreal shape and strength.

Before you get into the workouts, read through the recovery and program details so you know exactly how to make this type of intense program work for you.

Prioritize Recovery

As the frequency of your training increases, so must your recovery. The easiest way to decrease your fatigue and prevent injuries is to warm up well. “Warming up before a workout will ensure that your muscles and joints are prepared for the work ahead,” says Hoffmann.

For many people, muscle soreness is the biggest limiting factor in their leg-training frequency. Hoffmann alleviates soreness by taking time to cool down after a tough leg day. “I always take some time to foam roll and stretch post-workout,” she says. Spending 10-15 minutes stretching and rolling out your muscles can minimize soreness so you can get right back in the game when you need to.

In addition to prioritizing recovery before and after a workout, it’s essential to fuel yourself with the right nutrients—ample protein, complex carbs, and beneficial fats—every day. Good nutrition is imperative to healing your body and preparing it for the next workout. “Make sure you are fueling your body with enough nutrients,” Hoffmann explains. While the exact number of nutrients you need depends on a wide variety of factors and your specific diet, at least try to get 20-30 grams of protein per meal to support muscle growth, recovery, and repair.

To augment her whole-foods nutrition plan, Hoffmann also uses specific recovery supplements. “I also drink the Neon Sport Kinetic BCAA formula with added glutamine to help fuel my recovery,” she says.

Sleep is also a huge factor in recovery. “Sleep is when you heal,” says Hoffmann. “Make sure you’re getting enough.” For most adults, eight hours per night is ideal. The secretion of muscle-building hormones is at its highest when you sleep, so catching those ZZZs is a necessary part of good recovery.

Personalize Your Training

“I’ve done a few different variations of this three-leg-day schedule to see what I like best and what my body responds well to,” explains Hoffmann. “I’ve done one total-leg, low-rep strength day; one quad-focused, higher-rep day; and one high-rep, hamstring-and-glute-focused day. I’ve also reversed this protocol and done one heavy quad-focused day, one heavy hamstring-focused day, and one lower-body day with high reps.”

Depending on what you want to get out of your training, you can design how you organize your leg days to hit specific goals. If strength is your top priority, having two low-rep, strength-focused days may be preferable. If, however, you’d like more muscle and definition, then you may want to have two higher-rep days.

Depending on what you want to get out of your training, you can design how you organize your leg days to hit specific goals.

You can also vary which equipment you use to change the way your muscles are stimulated, so you are less likely to hit a plateau. Hoffmann incorporates a mix of dumbbells, barbells, bands, and cables to work her muscles with a variety of stresses.

Execute With Precision

Because you’ll be doing different set and rep ranges to hit particular goals, you’ll have to pay special attention to how you’re executing exercises. If you’re doing heavy, low-rep squats, Hoffmann advises “taking a deep breath and bracing your core, which will help you stay in a more upright position and stabilize the body.”

She also emphasizes the importance of controlling the negative, or lowering, portion of exercises when you’re working on hypertrophy. “If you rush through a workout with poor form, you increase your chances of injury,” she explains.

Hoffmann also suggests leaving some bend in your knees on moves like the leg press. “Don’t lock your knees. There is so much pressure coming down on that joint that it could be easily injured.”

Hoffmann also notes that during those higher-rep workouts, your mind should be totally focused on what muscle is doing the contraction. “Hold the squeeze at the top of each rep for 1-2 seconds during leg extensions and leg curls,” she says as an example. That extra focus will generate more total stress on the muscle, increasing your results.

Ashley Hoffmann’s 3-Leg-Day Program

Squat
3 sets of 6-8 reps

Leg press
4 sets of 10 reps (feet low and close together.)

Hack squat
3 sets of 8-10 reps (narrow feet.)

Dumbbell Bulgarian split squat
3 sets of 10 reps per leg

Leg extension
3 set of 10 reps

Weighted walking lunge
1 set of 30 reps

Lying leg curl
3 sets of 8-10 reps

Leg press
4 sets of 10 reps (feet high and wide.)

Barbell good morning
3 sets of 10 reps

Stiff-legged dumbbell deadlift
3 sets of 8-10 reps

Barbell hip thrust
4 sets of 8-10 reps

Hyperextension with band
4 sets of 10 reps

Squat
3 sets of 12-15 reps

Leg press
4 sets of 15, 20, 20, 25 reps (decrease weight as the reps increase.)

Superset

Leg extension
4 sets of 15-20 reps

Lying leg curl
4 sets of 15-20 reps

Stiff-legged barbell deadlift
3 sets of 15 reps

Cable pull-through
3 sets of 15-20 reps

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About The Author

I’ve been working in the field of exercise science for the last 8 years. I’ve written a number of online and print articles.

Bodybuilding.com Articles

Ashley Hoffmann"s High-Frequency Leg Workout

Thursday, 22 January 2015

Ashley Hoffmann's Best Workout For Building A Sculpted Back

New Exercise and Fitness Review

A developed back is essential for a well-rounded physique.

With all the focus on arms, abs, and glutes, many women often overlook the importance of building a sculpted back. Mirror muscles are quick to get all the glory, but a developed back is essential for a well-rounded physique. You wouldn’t want one leg to be stronger than the other or one biceps to have a bigger peak; it’s just as important that the back of your body is as developed as the front.

Because it’s composed of so many major muscle groups—including everything from the lats and traps to the delts—the back is a highly intense area to train, which is even more reason to include it in your weekly rotation. Lucky for you, Neon athlete and WBFF fitness diva Ashley Hoffmann has the art of building a sculpted back down to a science.

Building the back is as much about balance as it is about actually lifting. The right amount of horizontal movements combined with vertical movements will fine-tune your physique and bring out the definition you crave.

Here’s Ashley’s workout advice for a body that will make others do a double take when you walk into, around, and out of a room.

1 Don’t Make A Mind-Muscle Mistake

The first mistake most people make when training back is not fully targeting the muscle they’re working by neglecting the mind-muscle connection. “If you can’t feel the contraction in your back, lighten the weight, focus on form, and drive with your elbows,” Ashley explains. “The last thing you want to do is just go through the motion or focus solely on heavy weight.”

If you are lifting too heavy, it’ll be hard to really feel the specific muscles you’re targeting because you’ll be recruiting other muscles to assist. Don’t let your ego get in the way of progress. Very often, getting the best and most challenging back workout actually means dropping 5-10 pounds on the bar.

A photo posted by Ashley Hoffmann WBFF Pro???? (@missashleysarina) on May 2, 2014 at 9:24am PDT

2 Perfect Your Form

Next, take steps to ensure your form is perfect. When you’re training back in general, and specifically training bent-over back exercises, “think chest up and shoulders back, while keeping a small but tight arch in your lower back,” Ashley says.

Failing to maintain this position might also force other muscles to come into action that shouldn’t be assisting the movement, taking the focus off target muscles. Sometimes maintaining good form can be made easier with a few cues and some good imagery.

“Sometimes people think they need to be pulling the weight toward them, so they end up using their biceps to bring most of the weight down and don’t feel much of anything in their back ,” says Ashley. “I like to imagine my hands as hooks, which are helping pull the bar down by driving with my elbows. Think of putting the biceps to ‘sleep’ and you’ll get more out of every back workout.”

3 Squeeze During Every Rep

When training back, Ashley also likes to keep her entire body tight and squeeze at the peak contraction of every rep. If you’re struggling with good form, she emphasizes control and contraction: “If you’re worried about form, lighten the weight up and focus on holding the contraction,” she says. “Squeeze the muscle and control the negative movement as you return to the starting position after each rep.”

A photo posted by Ashley Hoffmann WBFF Pro???? (@missashleysarina) on Jun 16, 2014 at 9:31am PDT

4 Avoid Momentum

A big mistake many people make when training back is letting momentum take over the movement pattern. The minute you’re swinging the weight up or down, even to the smallest degree, is the minute you’re moving away from results.

Using momentum to move the load will simply set you up for injury, not better gains. Momentum often becomes a problem if you’re lifting with your ego. Once again, the best remedy here is to lighten the load and focus on controlling the movement through all portions of the lift. Remember that both the concentric (lifting) and eccentric (lowering) phases count as far as building lean muscle is concerned.

5 Utilize Multiple Implements

Finally, to get the most from every session, attack your back with a variety of implements and movement patterns. For instance, in Ashley’s workout below, you’ll see she uses barbells and dumbbells, as well as her own body weight, in an effort to build a fully functional, aesthetic back. Each mode of resistance training offers unique benefits that will help take your physique and progress further.

A photo posted by Ashley Hoffmann WBFF Pro???? (@missashleysarina) on Feb 2, 2014 at 7:44pm PST

Back to the Front

Don’t ever let your workout grow stagnant. Keep mixing it up and trying new exercises as you make progress. If you’re in need of something new, channel your inner Ashley Hoffmann and take a swing at her favorite back workout.