Training the tear drops which are defined as the vastus medialis muscle group located in medial aspect just above the knee. This is a difficult muscle to isolate and develop. In tall people the leg muscles are lengthy which adds more difficulty in developing this muscle group. Here is how the trainer @craigtinnelle on Twitter had me train this AM.
Warm up:
100 reps on leg extensions set weight
25#db in each hand knee step ups to high step on box 10 each leg x 3 sets
Isolated leg extensions 10 x 3 sets pyramided ( this machine targets the tear drop area)
No rest in warm up sets.
Working sets:
Leg press: Three different positions 1. Toes down heels up on closest bar toward bottom of sled. 2.Walk feet up midway keep feet slightly apart and 3. Walk feet up to top of sled keep feet slightly apart.
Set 1:
Position 1 x 10 reps hold at top additional 45# plate added another 10 reps
Set 2:
Position 1 x 10 reps hold at top additional 45# plate added feet move to position 2 additional 10 reps, feet move to position 3 additional 5 reps
Set 3:
Position 2 x 10 reps hold at top additional 45# plate added feet move to position 3 for 10 reps then move feet to position 1 for 10 reps
Set 4
Postion 3 x 10 reps, move feet to position 2 for 5 pump reps then move feet to position 1 for 10 last reps!
The idea here was pre exhaustion on the tear drops with warm up sets so by the time the leg press was started the tear drops were already burning and tight. Ending weight on leg press was 370 which is not much weight but lots of volume was put into the pyramided sets. The only rest between sets was long enough to unwrap and rewrap knees. It is necessary to do full range of motion with sled all way down to bottom touching and all way to top. After completing set 4 my tear drops were exploding on fire. That was it for today.
Happy Training.
