Legs A — quad emphasis

Time: ~75 minutes. This is the longest session and the one people skip. Do not skip it.

#Notes

Four minutes rest after squats. Not padding. Central fatigue from heavy squats is systemic and carries into everything after it — cutting rest here costs you stimulating reps on the next three exercises.

Squats and RDLs stop at 1 RIR. Loaded spinal movements are the one place the program does not chase failure. Form degrades before the stimulus improves, and the injury risk buys nothing.

Hack squat can go to 0 RIR — that is why it follows the squat rather than duplicating it. Stability is handled by the machine, so the set ends when the quads end.

Leg extension leaning back. Rectus femoris crosses the hip. Squats leave it shortened at one end and lengthened at the other, netting a poor stimulus — this is the exercise that fixes what no squat variation can reach.

Depth over load, always. A quarter squat with more weight in your log is a worse stimulus and a better lie.

#If your lower back is the limiter

Common, and it means your erectors fatigue before your legs do — so your legs are being trained by your back's endurance.

Fix: swap the back squat for a hack squat or safety-bar squat, and the RDL for a seated leg curl plus a 45° back extension. You lose almost nothing in leg stimulus and remove the bottleneck entirely.