My Legs Suck (WEAK!)

[Lugar]

Need some asistance on a solid mass leg routine.......I enjoy (sorta) doing the 5x5 for squats to start then trying to add 5lbs each week.  I also like the dbell deads for hammys....our leg press is horrible, but we do have a decent hack squat machine.....would you keep the 5x5, go higher rep 8-10, sets, etc?

Thanks!

[Rimbaud]

What routines have you tried? The only way I really "feel" it when I train legs is through moderate to high reps (15-50 reps per set). That being said I do low reps with smith machine squats & that's usually about five reps & it's all the way down (before I get flamed for doing smith machine squats - I only do them because of a hip problem). I will also do lower reps with front squats as well.

All that being said I have a feeling Lugar you'll get a bunch of responses & will either tell people they're wrong or just ignore what they tell you (Note: you give the impression you want help but seem to ignore everyone who tries to help you). I also think that based on everything I've read that you've posted about your overtraining, diet, & steroids I think it's going to be extremly hard for you to gain solid muscle mass right now.

BTW - aren't you pretty tall? If you are squats might not be the answer for your legs.

[alexxx]

Hey lugar. You are in luck because my wheels are my standout bodypart. I won't tell you how I built them though cause I know you won't follow my advice anyways. Good luck getting to 15 inches.

[Lugar]

TRY ME PLEASE

[jaejonna]

TRY ME PLEASE

Warm up with leg extensions superset with lying leg curls 3 sets
Squats 6 sets
Lunges 4 sets
Leg Press 4 sets
Leg Extensions 3 sets
Stiff Legged Deads 3 sets
Lying Leg Curls 3 sets
Calf raises 5 sets (combo of 3 +2 on diffrent machines)

[alexxx]

Very well. First thing you have to do is eat more.

Then you follow a basic workout program which goes like this (once a week):

Leg extensions to warm up your quads: 5(sets) x 20(reps)
squats: 5 sets of high reps. You must push yourself here. at least 12-30 reps. Don't worry about weight adjust it to keep the higher reps going.
leg presses or front squats: 5 sets of 12-30 reps

Then you can do 10 sets of leg curls.

Calves also go well with higher reps. Do up to 20 sets with nice stretch and pose at the bottom and top.

Good luck.

[Lugar]

HERE'S MY TODAY'S ROUTINE THEN:


Leg extensions to warm up your quads: 5(sets) x 20(reps)

squats: 5 sets of high reps. 15,12,12,12,10

HACK CLOSE FEET SQUAT: 5 sets of 12-30 reps

5 sets of leg curls.
3 SETS DBELL DEADS


THEN CALVES
 

[alexxx]

That looks much better. Don't stop once you reach the number of reps you wanted to do. Keep going.

[Option D]

Warm up with leg extensions superset with lying leg curls 3 sets
Squats 6 sets
Lunges 4 sets
Leg Press 4 sets
Leg Extensions 3 sets
Stiff Legged Deads 3 sets
Lying Leg Curls 3 sets
Calf raises 5 sets (combo of 3 +2 on diffrent machines)

This is the exact work out i do for my legs but i actually split them into 2 days. To keep focus high i split quads and hams.


But i use the exact movements but with the stiff leg deads i use dumbbells instead of the barbbell. I use the bar on back day.

So its like
Squats
Front squats
Leg Extension
Lunges
Calves

And then 4 days later its
Standing one leg curl
Lying leg curls (one leg)
Lying leg curls (both legs)
Stiff leg Deads w/ Dumbbell
and maybe some lunges


I also have to break it up because when i trained the whole leg in one day i couldnt walk for 4 days.

[natural al]

Warm up with leg extensions superset with lying leg curls 3 sets
Squats 6 sets
Lunges 4 sets
Leg Press 4 sets
Leg Extensions 3 sets
Stiff Legged Deads 3 sets
Lying Leg Curls 3 sets
Calf raises 5 sets (combo of 3 +2 on diffrent machines)

no offense but that's too much volume.  I'm assuming lugar is natty, if not then you're routine listed by JJ is fine if not...well I wouldn't do that much work.

If you want to stick with a traditional routine, go with something like max-ot is laid out.  Do a couple of warm up sets for your first movement, like squats and then do 2 "heavy as possible" sets for 6-8 reps, if you can get more than 8 reps it's too light, under 6 it's too heavy.  You should be able to progress up in weight at a nice pace using this method.  Second movement should be hack squats since you have access to one, jump right into your heavy sets and do 2-3 sets in the same fashion.  

If you have to do hams on the same day pick 2 movements and do the same thing as listed above, you're hams might be warmed up from the quad work, if so jump right in if not warm up on the first movement.

calfs are a different story all together, I'll post a calf routine when I have more time.

[Lugar]

HERE'S MY TODAY'S ROUTINE THEN:


Leg extensions to warm up your quads: 5(sets) x 20(reps)

squats: 5 sets of high reps. 15,12,8,8,6
HACK CLOSE FEET SQUAT: 5 sets of 12-30 reps

5 sets of leg curls.
3 SETS DBELL DEADS


THEN CALVES
 

SO DO i NEED TO CHANGE THE REP SCHEME LIKE THIS??

[alexxx]

SO DO i NEED TO CHANGE THE REP SCHEME LIKE THIS??

Don't listen to natural al. He has never posted a pic and brags about being built like bast. AND bast is the guy in my avatar... Make your own conclusions.

[Lugar]

fOR TODAY - THIS IS PLENTY...WE'LL SEE HOW IT GOES.



Leg extensions to warm up your quads: 3(sets) x 20(reps)

Squats: 5 sets of high reps. 12,10,8,8,6

HACK CLOSE FEET SQUAT: 5 sets of 12-30 reps

5 sets of leg curls.

3 SETS DBELL DEADS


THEN CALVES
 

[natural al]

Don't listen to natural al. He has never posted a pic and brags about being built like bast. AND bast is the guy in my avatar... Make your own conclusions.

alexxx you're a idiot.  I never bragged about being built like bast, I said we're about the same height.  That's about it as far as similarities go.  Man, I was actually feeling sorry for you for taking so much abuse about your sister...what the hell was I thinking.

[Rimbaud]

Don't listen to natural al. He has never posted a pic and brags about being built like bast. AND bast is the guy in my avatar... Make your own conclusions.

Actrually alexxx Basts' quads are fine...just his calves suck.

[davie]

Im just having to change my quad work due to lack of weight on couple machines, but until a couple of weeks ago it was:

After warm ups etc....

1).leg extensions going for 15 rep target b4 i up weight he next time,10 second rest then go again for as many as i can, fail 10 second rest (rest/pause) then go until failure again. i beat my target like every week & upped the weight pretty much every week.

2). BAck Squat (target 12 reps), go to failure, rest/pause, go to failure again. Drop weight 35%, then go to failure, rest/pause then go to failure again.

3). On leg leg press (15 rep target)...same as above.

I have finished that in 30 minutes before, and was completely nackered. Very intense.

Run out of weight on leg extension machine (only goes to 100kg's),and almost run out of weight on on leg leg press (machine only goes to 150kg's).

davie

[Herc]

Ive got good results with fairly high rep squats.  I do one warm up set then one set of 8-10 reps and one of 20-30 reps.  Most people dont really go till failure on squats espessially the high rep ones.  I pick a wieght most people my strenth would stop at about ten reps and do 20 or 30.  Sometimes I have a hard time walking afterwards.  I pause between each rep and keep forcing another rep. This works good but a lot of people dont have the mental ability to push that hard.  My workout partner is stronger on legs then me but stops after about 10 reps with the same wieght ill do for 30 or more.  in the last few weeks my legs have grown about an inch doing this.  If you were to go that intense make sure you breath right and a lot because youl need a lot of oxegen.  This is just what has worked for me, im sure there are a lot of things that work so just try different things.

[Jeff Miller]

Alexxx, why are you giving advice on legs?  Unless your pics are a gimmick, your legs suck.


Lugar, so you want size or strength?  That's your first decision.

[alexxx]

Alexxx, why are you giving advice on legs?  Unless your pics are a gimmick, your legs suck.


Lugar, so you want size or strength?  That's your first decision.

Care to a posedown? No? That's what I thought. Jeff Miller you sound like the only six pack you have is in the fridge!

[pumpster]

Alexxx, why are you giving advice on legs?  Unless your pics are a gimmick, your legs suck.


Lugar, so you want size or strength?  That's your first decision.

U took the words outta my mouth. This Alexxx acts like he's a wise old sage with tons of experience, has everything figured out. 

Then you look at the pics...

[Swole0565]

The first thing I offer to someone wanting bigger legs is to ask them, Do you REALLY want bigger legs, or would it just be nice if you had them? 

Legs are a muscle group of high tolerance.  It takes a balance of both intensity and volume to get them to grow for most, and while many choose to view themselves as hardgainers, it most usually is the fact that they aren't willing to embrace the discomfort that comes from training their legs to grow, IMO.

Here is a favorite quad routine that worked for me...

Warmup by supersetting extensions and curls, ATERNATING each leg per rep.

*Barbell lunges-
Start w/ a light weight...even just a bar for 10 reps
Increase the weight each set, until the 10 reps aren't met, no matter how many sets it takes.

*Front Squats-
Choose a weight heavier than the last lunge set...aim for 6-8 reps.
Again, Increase the weight per set until the weight at 6 reps is a struggle.

*Regular Squats-
Choose a weight heavier than the last set of front squats... aim for 3-5 reps

This routine may seem to be too much, but consider the following...
Each excercise offers pre-exhaustion for the next ='ing great intensity.
The natural progreesion of weight from excercise to excercise = no wasted sets, as each set serves as it's own working set PLUS the warmup for the next!
By the workload always increasing, once blood is forced into the muscle, it is captured there, due to the synergistic effect of the progression.  That's what translates to volume.

Keep in mind, this routine is not based upon a dogmatic rep range.  It can be done for high reps or low reps!  Whatever your preference.  And as far as sets, in my own workouts, I've found that usually 4 sets of lunges, 2-3 sets of Front Squats and 2-3 sets of Regular Squats are sufficient, as long as the selected increased weight stays w/i the rep range.

If anyone's interested in knowing more, let me know.  Hope this helps!

[slaveboy1980]

squat...go insane in the squat rack..high volume. split quads and hamstrings up

[Cap]

Need some asistance on a solid mass leg routine.......I enjoy (sorta) doing the 5x5 for squats to start then trying to add 5lbs each week.  I also like the dbell deads for hammys....our leg press is horrible, but we do have a decent hack squat machine.....would you keep the 5x5, go higher rep 8-10, sets, etc?

Thanks!

I have this problem too and since I have dropped the weight, gone ass to the grass on every leg exercise, the legs have responded.  I also agree with Alexxx, go higher reps but keep increasing the weight.  Bluto gave good imput how higher reps increase volume in the legs.  Keep in up.

[Jeff Miller]

Care to a posedown? No? That's what I thought. Jeff Miller you sound like the only six pack you have is in the fridge!

You're an idiot.  My pics are around -- do a search.

[GoneAway]

Stiff Leg Deads, Leg Curls, Squats and Leg Press.

Vary reps high to low depending on how you feel. Stick mostly to 6 - 12 rep range. Just my 0.2.