I did this for a long time and wasted years by doing so. I strongly recommend following a premade program that makes their living by coaching… they know more than we do.
I think this became a thing with You tube influencers. It seems to be the default lift to prove how strong they are on camera Ive noticed allot of them seem to be one trick ponies. Ridiculous pulling but everything else is mediocre.
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Made me smile.
That is quite a few tons of weight, 99,630,000 lbs worth.
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I’ll admit I like watching Anatoly gym pranks.
On average I’ve probably trained leg days twice a week. I have periods of time where they don’t get trained at all, and periods where they get 3x a week. (I have some [medically validated] knee issues that bring squatting in and out.)
I have small and weak legs, so my opinion is probably relevant in this case.
For basically all compound lifts, I think a beginner should train them 3 times a week. If it works with their schedule, every other day. You’ll have DOMS for the first week or so, and then you’ll be fine.
My barbell training history started with 20-rep squats 3x a week, where I had to Steinborn the bar since I didn’t have a rack yet. I recovered fine and worked up to 1.5x bodyweight for 20 reps. Most other beginning programming is easier.
I’ve been training an 18" deadlift recently. An axle (no flex) rack pull from that height. The bar’s at the top of my shinbone.
There was a small bit of lat development in the beginning, but most of the growth has been glutes and hamstrings. More than I’ve seen from any other barbell lift. I’m not using it for growth though.
I know that quarter squat range was (is?) used for sprinters and some other athletes.
Did you find a particular range worked best for leg growth? Just to parallel? Below parallel?
Consider that an injury to both my patella tendons made all leg movements where my knees went over my toes would soon be a problem (very light weight only). So, I stopped all of those.
I have another belief that I probably don’t share with many experts. I want to squat with a style (that isn’t sumo) that allows me to move the most weight. I also believe it needs to be at least parallel, that is, 3 white lights in a powerlifting meet.
If you do squats twice a week (and your patella tendons can take it), on the “light” leg day I would do full range of motion front squats.
All leg work needs to be at least 10 reps if you are targeting hypertrophy. It is okay to train for a period of 5 reps to build strength, but you are only doing that to increase the weight that you will be using for 10 reps. I always stopped at 10 reps, but I believe that was a missed opportunity for additional hypertrophy. Maybe sets of 10 reps one week and up to 2 sets of 20 reps the next week. (If just barely complete the first set, you might want to stop at one set.)
You can alter foot position on the leg press for more direct targeting of specific thigh muscles. Still 10 rep sets.
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One thing I found interesting reading some of the early barbell programs (turn of the 20th century) were that lower body work was almost always programmed 10-20, or in some cases 20-40. This went for squat variations, step ups, leg presses as well as deadlift variations.
That said, the deadlift becomes another beast when performed in a heavy high rep, cluster or powerbuilding manner. It can be a great tool for any aspect of development - depending on the application.
Most of these strength demonstrators at the gym, are actually lazy as fuck. In the time they do 2 sets of 1RM, I have finished my series of 20-30 heavy reps. In my opinion, these people have no idea what so ever with their training. It’s like a just going with the motion routine. But - the barbell may be loaded with 4 plates, which makes an impressive setup.
What I actually wanted to say to the op, is: Stick to the big three lifts in a powerbuilding fashion (use the search function here on Tnation) no more than 3 times a week. Learn to perform these lifts into perfection over time! Use fairly heavy loads and keep the volume low to medium, considering your day job. Wendler’s 5/3/1 is a proven strategy (or search the 1-6 method to make it more fun).
Don’t eat too clean. Fix the big 3 meals and then add 2-3 healthy snacks if able.
Keep it simple!