Since i joined a gym today wanted to ask.....

[JUICE]

just joined a gym today after 2 years of training here at home. I wanted to ask u all since this is what i used to do for legs and got good gains off of it. I would train quads/hams on different days. 15 sets of quads on tuesdays and 12 sets of hams on fridays. Got good gains too.

I wanted to know if i can change the routine and get good results. Before i would train legs when i used to go to the college gym but not 100% like now. I was thinking of this:


warm up: leg extensions.

squats 4 sets (heavy) 8,6,6,4

leg presses 4 sets (mid-heavy) 8,8,6,6

hack squats 3 sets (mid-heavy) 10,8,6

leg extensions (3 awesome intense sets)

lying curls 3 sets on good weight 8,8,6

I calculated 17 total sets there. Just wanted to know if this was too much for legs. Ive noticed that before i was doing 6 sets for hams and 6 for quads and nothing. And noticed that more sets to me equals more growth. What are u all thoughts on this one.

Im looking into adding some serious size on my legs right now. I was currenlty doing deadlifts this week but since i join wanted to try these exercises. OR should i go 4 sets per each. For claves I will train them on separate days. These fuckers need alot of work too.

[Stonecold54]

you know my answer. LOL drop some sets and up the intensity. Especially if the gym has better quality machines than you were using at home.

[Timma]

I asked bigwilly to help me out with my legs. When he gives me an answer, i'll post it up.

[beefcake]

Maybe drop a set from the squat and leg press. I do about the same amount of sets as you do except I pair the leg curls with stiff deads on a different day. It seems that legs respond better to volume. Possibly because they're constantly being used.

[Stonecold54]

Originally posted by beefcake
Maybe drop a set from the squat and leg press. I do about the same amount of sets as you do except I pair the leg curls with stiff deads on a different day. It seems that legs respond better to volume. Possibly because they're constantly being used.

my legs respond better to 1 set every 4-5 days (thats right 1 set). So it is an inaccurate generlization to say that legs respond to volume.

[beefcake]

Originally posted by stonecold54
my legs respond better to 1 set every 4-5 days (thats right 1 set). So it is an inaccurate generlization to say that legs respond to volume.

That is true. It's just what I see that helps me, not saying volume would help everyone. But one set? Dude are you serious?

[Stonecold54]

Originally posted by beefcake
That is true. It's just what I see that helps me, not saying volume would help everyone. But one set? Dude are you serious?

yep one (two if I throw in a set of lunges) set of leg presses for quads. 1 set of calf raises (which I don't do much anyway because if they get to big they look stupid, LOL) and everyother workout a set of leg curls or stifflegged deads. so three to four sets total for a leg workout (the 1 set was just for my quads).

[Timma]

Straight from Big Willy:

I'll tell you what I do first...ONCE PER WEEK.

BB squats (ass to the grass) - warm ups...3 sets x 6-8 reps

Leg Press - 1 warm up...3 sets x 8-10 reps

Seated Calf Raise - 1 warm up...3 sets x 12-15 reps

Standing Calf Raise - 3 sets x 12-15 reps

I hit Hams on a different day...

Stiff-legged deads - 1 warm up...3 sets x 8-10 reps

Leg Curls - 3 sets x 8-10 reps

My workouts are about intensity...each rep is like the last! Once in a while I do some leg extensions FIRST to pre-exhaust for a shock routine.

[beefcake]

Originally posted by stonecold54
yep one (two if I throw in a set of lunges) set of leg presses for quads. 1 set of calf raises (which I don't do much anyway because if they get to big they look stupid, LOL) and everyother workout a set of leg curls or stifflegged deads. so three to four sets total for a leg workout (the 1 set was just for my quads).

That's pretty interesting. And to think arnold and his boys were out having squat parties all day in the forest. I know the main goal here is anabolism, but how do you feel your strength is on this regimen. Good strength gains, good strength maintenance?

[Stonecold54]

Originally posted by beefcake
That's pretty interesting. And to think arnold and his boys were out having squat parties all day in the forest. I know the main goal here is anabolism, but how do you feel your strength is on this regimen. Good strength gains, good strength maintenance?

yes strength goes up each workout if I stuck with a workout, but I am not working out for strength I am more interested in building muscle, which implies more a cyclical training (not close to periodization which is a bunch of crap). I do normal high-intensity workouts for the majority of the time then each body part ever few months goes through shock treatment which consists of workouts with lots of intesity variables thrown in, drop sets, giant sets, supersets, negatives, static holds, etc...

strength is more a practiced achievment and honestly does not have much to do with large size gains. the body finds a way to make itself stronger without adding muscle if it can because muscle is ineffecient to a human in evolutionary terms so that is why it is more important to shock the muscle into growth rather than use strength as a measure all the time.

[JUICE]

Originally posted by stonecold54
yep one (two if I throw in a set of lunges) set of leg presses for quads. 1 set of calf raises (which I don't do much anyway because if they get to big they look stupid, LOL) and everyother workout a set of leg curls or stifflegged deads. so three to four sets total for a leg workout (the 1 set was just for my quads).

i tried it for about a month doing 1 sets per exercise. The way I was doing them was going slow, not too slow but in a slow way that I felt my muscle burning. The weight wasnt that heavy nor light, a weight good enough for me to bust out some reps. But I noticed that my body requires more sets when it comes to legs.

[beefcake]

Originally posted by JUICE
i tried it for about a month doing 1 sets per exercise. The way I was doing them was going slow, not too slow but in a slow way that I felt my muscle burning. The weight wasnt that heavy nor light, a weight good enough for me to bust out some reps. But I noticed that my body requires more sets when it comes to legs.

How many reps should be involved in these sets?

[Stonecold54]

Originally posted by JUICE
i tried it for about a month doing 1 sets per exercise. The way I was doing them was going slow, not too slow but in a slow way that I felt my muscle burning. The weight wasnt that heavy nor light, a weight good enough for me to bust out some reps. But I noticed that my body requires more sets when it comes to legs.

what kind of time under tension, that would be a good way to tell what was wrong instead of jumping back on volume. Legs need more around 90 seconds to 120 seconds for a set.

[JUICE]

Originally posted by stonecold54
what kind of time under tension, that would be a good way to tell what was wrong instead of jumping back on volume. Legs need more around 90 seconds to 120 seconds for a set.

correct me if im wrong brother maybe i mis-read before when u gave me advice bro. When I did these workouts my sister was the one timing me with her stop watch. I was doing the workout for 1 minute and a half. I did as many reps as I could but in a slow pace. I would usually end up doing 12-14 reps at most. The exersices hurt like crazy and I felt the muscle burning. I selected a weight which prevented me from swinging, cheating the weight up and avoiding momentum. I used a weight that kept me in form and wasnt too light nor too heavy. I dont know if i did this wrong but i only used it for legs. What Ive noticed about my legs are that they need to be really killed with sets and heavy reps. Also low reps dont help that much to me, I need a mid-heavy weight with alot of reps. For instance on squats, if i choose a heavy weight, i might be able to do 6-8 reps. But once i know i cannot no more, i stop. For leg presses its different, as the same to leg extensions and lunges. I just push it. I say this cause if i dont do legs in a week or 2, size decreases big time, not to mention my calves.

[Stonecold54]

Originally posted by JUICE
correct me if im wrong brother maybe i mis-read before when u gave me advice bro. When I did these workouts my sister was the one timing me with her stop watch. I was doing the workout for 1 minute and a half. I did as many reps as I could but in a slow pace. I would usually end up doing 12-14 reps at most. The exersices hurt like crazy and I felt the muscle burning. I selected a weight which prevented me from swinging, cheating the weight up and avoiding momentum. I used a weight that kept me in form and wasnt too light nor too heavy. I dont know if i did this wrong but i only used it for legs. What Ive noticed about my legs are that they need to be really killed with sets and heavy reps. Also low reps dont help that much to me, I need a mid-heavy weight with alot of reps. For instance on squats, if i choose a heavy weight, i might be able to do 6-8 reps. But once i know i cannot no more, i stop. For leg presses its different, as the same to leg extensions and lunges. I just push it. I say this cause if i dont do legs in a week or 2, size decreases big time, not to mention my calves.

definite sign of overtraining. I don't know what else to tell you. If you are losing noticable size in just a week or two there is something wrong.