Them damn legs...

[boris20]

Okay, so as alot of others, I have the leg disease, some call chicken legs. Its in my blood. Father, the whole family. Been working em out 1x a week for the last few years pretty hard. Over the last 8 months or so I went to an older school routine. Ive seen some good strength gains, and some size gain, but not enough to catch em up to my upper body. I would consider them now to be just okay legs, nothing where people look and thing "OMG toothpicks" but they arent on par with everything else, and I want to be as symetrical as possible if I am to ever get my stage time. Here is what I currently do.

I start the workout with heavier based str training squats

4 sets x 4-8 reps. (after warm up set)

then Move into the muscle portion

Leg presses 3x10-12
some variation of a front squat or lunges 2-3x8-12 (some days ill leave these out and do leg extensions 3x12ish reps)
laying leg curls 3x10-20
Dead lifts (this is hit or miss depending on how my back feels, if its sore or got pain from sqauts I dont risk it)

I am needing to do something different, because I just am not growing compared to the rest of me. I am debating of forming some sort of 2x per week leg routine, say every 3-4 days. Its the only idea Ive got at the moment, looking for ideas.

[prime]

1x a week is not enough for a lagging body part. I do like the 12 rep sets though for legs. Plus, you need more than 3 sets on your hams.

[powerman]

10- 12 sets of Squats then 4 sets of box squats, 3 sets of leg presses 3 sets of hack squats, 5 sets of curls...you wont be able to or need to do this more than once a week ...they will grow ..more weight less reps

[shlders]

for a big muscle like legs you should get 12 to 15 reps a set.

also i think you need at least 4 sets for each exr.

thats what works for me.

when it hurts to get off the shitter you did a good job.

[dieseld]

Bump power. And on the box squats pause at the bottom then explode up. When the weight is heavy it doesn't look like ur exploding but it has an effect on growth.

[dieseld]

Not that I should be talking about legs, I have let mine drop way off but I'm blaming it on injuries. Actually my daughter even commented about them this week... I'm def gonna have to start working on em!

[badstone]

Originally Posted by boris20

Okay, so as alot of others, I have the leg disease, some call chicken legs. Its in my blood. Father, the whole family. Been working em out 1x a week for the last few years pretty hard. Over the last 8 months or so I went to an older school routine. Ive seen some good strength gains, and some size gain, but not enough to catch em up to my upper body. I would consider them now to be just okay legs, nothing where people look and thing "OMG toothpicks" but they arent on par with everything else, and I want to be as symetrical as possible if I am to ever get my stage time. Here is what I currently do.

I start the workout with heavier based str training squats

4 sets x 4-8 reps. (after warm up set)

then Move into the muscle portion

Bro you need way more leg workout than that.

Leg presses 3x10-12
some variation of a front squat or lunges 2-3x8-12 (some days ill leave these out and do leg extensions 3x12ish reps)
laying leg curls 3x10-20
Dead lifts (this is hit or miss depending on how my back feels, if its sore or got pain from sqauts I dont risk it)

I am needing to do something different, because I just am not growing compared to the rest of me. I am debating of forming some sort of 2x per week leg routine, say every 3-4 days. Its the only idea Ive got at the moment, looking for ideas.

Bro you need way more leg workout than that. Leg press I do at least 8 sets not include warm up.
Squat 6 set at min after presses....
Leg extensions 8-10 sets same with leg curls...
Straight Legs 6 sets at min.
Calves the same way 4-6 exercises with at least 6 sets each.
You should feel like you need to throw up after every set .

[boris20]

thanks for all the replies. I have learned and heard much of what has been said and agree. The legs can handle more reps, more sets as they are a large group (half your body almost). The problems I have, after working legs yesterday, I am sore as HELL today and I eat well pre workout and the day round to try and prevent soreness and assist muscle recovery, tons of water, carbs, protien. could barely walk out of the gym and I manage about half the numbers power said to do. Keep in mind this is for someone who is currently off cycle, and has been for a bit now.

Heres what I did yesterday,

6x10 squat, the last few sets I was comming shy of the 10. (spotterless, I dont have a reliable workout partner makes pushing yourself to the limit harder)

4x14 presses (used my heels as much as possible, last 2 sets I varied up my angle and leg spread a bit)

2 sets of machine front squat (Did the machine cause I was feeling weak in the legs and wasnt wanting to see and injury)

5ish sets of leg ext going all out usually gettin about 15 reps

6x15 laying leg curls ( did these until I couldnt hardly walk any longer at the end)

Had nothing in the tank for deads

I cant touch half them numbers as advised, perhaps it will just take more time and pushing myself, eating, eating, sleeping..

Why do the majority of you not suggest 2x per every 4-6days depending on reecovery?

[crazedhate]

I've said it before and I will say it again; try pre-exhausting quads with a ton of leg extensions and then move into your pressing movements and do squats LAST. why? them there extensions are warming up your joints and ligaments and pumping a ton of blood into quads. by the time you get to them pressing movements you wont be able to use as much weight but will use more quads to move the weight and you will feel it a ton more in quads.
before y'all bash it, shut the f*ck up and TRY IT! at least do it once or twice a month and really shock them quads. it works!!!

[Mr.Nick]

I agree with Crazed on the pre-exhausting quads. I always start off with extensions then move over to bb squats. Also, I started super setting extensions with heavy leg presses after squats. That shit right there is brutal. I did it today and had to catch myself coming off the leg press or I woulda ate shit from my legs giving out and had to focus to not hurl everywhere.

[boris20]

Originally Posted by crazedhate

I've said it before and I will say it again; try pre-exhausting quads with a ton of leg extensions and then move into your pressing movements and do squats LAST. why? them there extensions are warming up your joints and ligaments and pumping a ton of blood into quads. by the time you get to them pressing movements you wont be able to use as much weight but will use more quads to move the weight and you will feel it a ton more in quads.
before y'all bash it, shut the f*ck up and TRY IT! at least do it once or twice a month and really shock them quads. it works!!!

I lifted with a guy for a while that worked w us for a few months for quitting. MONSTER.. Never made Pros tho, and was getting into his 40s. anyways we did this same style when I lifted legs with him, sets of exts going 15 reps, bump up the weight 15 reps, up then 15 more, making one set of 45. x4 sets. then going squats and presses after. By the time I made it to the squats I was doing like 160lbs sets of 20ish.. Killed me, contray to all i had learned so i stopped after he left. He swore by it tho. Ya it got my tired as hell, sore for days, but not sure if I believed it was making me grow or not due to such lower amounts of weight, granted I didnt stick it out for long before going back something else. And yeah that is brutal shit. May be the ticket.

[crazedhate]

Originally Posted by boris20

I lifted with a guy for a while that worked w us for a few months for quitting. MONSTER.. Never made Pros tho, and was getting into his 40s. anyways we did this same style when I lifted legs with him, sets of exts going 15 reps, bump up the weight 15 reps, up then 15 more, making one set of 45. x4 sets. then going squats and presses after. By the time I made it to the squats I was doing like 160lbs sets of 20ish.. Killed me, contray to all i had learned so i stopped after he left. He swore by it tho. Ya it got my tired as hell, sore for days, but not sure if I believed it was making me grow or not due to such lower amounts of weight, granted I didnt stick it out for long before going back something else. And yeah that is brutal shit. May be the ticket.

its all about pumping blood in to that there muscle! break down the muscle fibers so they can grow and get stronger. its not always about the amount of weight you use!!!

[DBOY]

bump all, i would also do deads on different day bro, i can barely walk after squats or deads....both make me very close to puking when done well..always on the floor like a little girl when done.....

[Mr.Nick]

Originally Posted by DBOY

bump all, i would also do deads on different day bro, i can barely walk after squats or deads....both make me very close to puking when done well..always on the floor like a little girl when done.....

Bump that. There's no fuckin way I'm hitting deads and squats on the same day unless I'm half assing it. I just did deads today and came damn close to passing out, but I got the weight up cleanly and the pump was unreal. I usually try to space deads and squats as many days apart as possible to let my back get some rest.

[boris20]

Ya the deads are something thats hit or miss on my leg day. It hits my ass and hams really nice, but usually dont have the fuel for it and back needs a break. Deads to me are something I toss out if i am feeling any pain from my neck to my lower back as I feel its a risky lift if in doubt. but gotta say its one of my fav lifts, hard to beat deads, they are soo damn tough.

[boris20]

Ah hey guys, hadnt been around for a bit. Same ol shit. Wanted to check in and update. Things are comming along nice. Hadnt taken any "supplements" in a while but the progress is coming along really nice without. Really gotten my diet in check the last 3 years, amazing what it can do to get the right amout of fuel for your body. Hopefully get me a new camera soon so I can post some recent pics. Im a bit fluffier these days, up around 9-10% BF, but almost 200lbs, 6'1". Legs are finally showing results and catchin the rest of the body, I backed off arms and chest. I will say, back has came a loooonnng ways, actually looks ripped now.