Heavy Leg Day: 82.5%

Today was a MUCH better leg day...and probably the best leg day I've had in a while due to my IT-bands bothering me. Well, the massage therapy really helped! I had 30 minutes of work done on just the areas I needed it. Got to the gym, hopped on the bike, and felt loose enough that I didn't need it. Started to foam roll, same thing. Started to lift, stretched in between sets, and by the time I got to the Hack Squats, I had no pain. I had tension/strain, but no shooting pain like before...so I ended up being able to do lunges again which is very important to me. So let's start it off...

BB SLDL/RDL Hybrid: 405 for 5 reps, 5 reps, 5 reps, 5 reps - Sporto Tempo

These felt just fine on the legs, but my core didn't exaclty loosen up until the last set. I mean, it wasn't painful, just stiff. Since I was going slow with the Sporto Tempo, I was able to feel if something was going to tweak or not. No tweak, legs felt good, so I was off to the hack squat...

Hack Squats: 6 plates + 25lbs each side for 5 reps, 5 reps, 5 reps, 5 reps - Sporto Tempo

I'm not going to lie, this was pretty tough to do with the Sporto Tempo, but I sucked it up and got it done. I think mentally too I was just "aware" that I might have pain, so I could have been distracted from the set a little mentally. But, to my surprise, no shooting pain. It's like, I could feel it stretch and strain a little, but no sharp pain. Thank God. This meant I was going to push it and do some lunges, which I have been missing for a couple of weeks now...

DB Walking Lunges: 125s in each hand for 9 steps each leg, 9 steps each leg

Finally...no pain! Now, this doesn't mean I stop here and just do massage therapy before a leg workout (which I am going to continue to do), but I am still going to work on correcting the root of the problem. I will soon be working with a chiropractor to see what all may be causing this (in addition to all the things some of you have posted for me to look into - which is much appreciated!). But, thankfully, I am back to lunges. After 2 sets, I was getting the good ol' fashioned feeling of the muscle tear (in a good way) all over the glute/ham area. That's exactly what I needed! To take a break and a breather, we did some calves...

Seated Plate Loading Cow Raises: 6 plates for 8 reps, 6 plates+20lbs for 6 reps, 6 plates + 30lbs for 5 reps
Standing Machine Cow Raises: The stack + 90lbs for 10 reps, 9 reps, 8 reps

By this time, my calves literally felt twice as big with the blood pump I was getting...I was walking a little funny after the sets when going over to get a drink of water. The weird looks were worth it though...I've got work to do! And now, for the fun part of it hurting to breathe...

Weighted Ab Crunches: +95lbs for 10 reps, 10 reps
Weighted Leg Raises+Hip Lifts: +30lbs for 8 reps, 8 reps

Bumped up the weights a bit again and found my groove...I will probably be here for a bit for some solid weighted ab work...really hammered the core with these and felt really good after the 10 seconds post set when my stomach was stinging lol

Well, I'm excited...back to walking lunges without pain, so no more losing ground to my competition in the glute/ham department - because nothing fries that area for me like that exercise! It will be nice to see some development progress when I shed off the blubber in my ghetto booty...

Sporto