I’m trying to get my legs bigger (particularly my inner thigh and hamstrings). I usually try to get 4-6 sets in using triples on each, or I try ramping with singles and an all out set of 6-12 reps as of recently trying something new. After about a week or two of this I switch back to triples.
Sometimes once a week I’ll have a back squat and conventional deadlift in the same workout and sporadically I will superset some of these (except the deadlift and squat).
Day 1
Deadlift
Leg Extension
Machine Adduction/Abduction
Calf Press
Day 2
Leg Press
Prone Leg Curl
Machine Adduction/Abduction
Seated Calf Raise
Day 3
Barbell Back Squat
Leg Ext
Leg Curl
SLDL
Single Leg Calf Work
My other 2 workouts a week are just some minimal upper body work. I’m taking in about 2.5k to 3kcal while carb cycling. I’m also trying to get my form down on the deadlift. I’m about 175 lbs now (up from 165-ish a few weeks ago). I’m just lookin for some feedback.
Unless you’re reaaally defined you should be looking to increase overall muscle mass before going into spec phases, maybe some weakness work, but you gotta be growing the whole body at that weight and height.
I do feel like my legs are a weakness of mine. I can bench more than I deadlift and squat all together.
With what you are saying can I assume that hitting every muscle 2x/week would be sufficient? I just presumed the extra recovery for my the rest of my body when hitting it hard would detract from my legs.
Also just for my understanding for beaing really lean you are meaning 5-8% bf?
I think hitting legs 3 times a week is going to be serious overkill if your intensity and effort is where it should be. Legs, in my experience, take longer to recover than smaller muscles like biceps or calves, so they can’t be trained as frequently unless intensity is seriously lowered, which I don’t see as a good idea.
Two hard leg days is plenty and if you lift hard and your diet is in check (which is sounds like it is if you are gaining weight), your legs will grow plenty.
Also, like MEYMX said, you probably shouldn’t spend too much too much time worrying about specific bodyparts at this stage of the game, but at the same time, if you are going to focus on a particular muscle, legs is probably your best bet, as it will also have a good effect on your overall growth.
The workouts you posted look ok to me (although I don’t don’t the volume, intensity, sets, reps, etc.) as far as your exercise selection. If your hamstrings and inner thighs are a priority, you might want to swtich conventional out for sumo deadlifts.
Likewise, when you do your leg press, put your feet high and wide on the platform. I would probably also drop the leg extensions, as you’ll get more bang for your buck with different lifts.
Unless you’re reaaally defined you should be looking to increase overall muscle mass before going into spec phases, maybe some weakness work, but you gotta be growing the whole body at that weight and height.[/quote]
x2
If you really have to specialise on lower body, the most I would do is a Upper/Lower split (similar to what a powerlifter would use). This means that instead of spending about a third of your training volume on legs, you’d be spending about half. Not many people have this problem though, and training on an Upper/Lower split tends to make the lower body outgrow the upper in some individuals.
The fact that you bench more than you squat (and you have that many exercises one after the other), tells me that neither is very well advanced (I may be wrong but that’s the feeling I get).
To bring the inner thighs up, a wide stance when squatting helps this. Also, lunges too. For hamstrings, go deep on squats and do stiff legged deadlifts.
Did you write those days down wrong or something; you do 3 days in a row of leg exercises??? Even if it’s not, you don’t need THAT much volume for legs…especially if you just need to bring up the size.
As regards rep range, although there is much hysteria about low rep/perfect rep etc, as a beginner, I’d stick to a higher rep range especially for legs (they tend to love higher reps, e.g. 10+…but you need to eat enough for this, no use just hovering around 2500 cals/day if your weight isn’t going up).
I think if you can bench more than your squat and deadlift combined, which is what it sounds like, unlesss you’re the newest member to the 1000 lb bencher club, you should probably just focus on hitting all the compound lifts and making them stronger. Bench press, military press, squat, deadlift, rows, etc.
[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
I think if you can bench more than your squat and deadlift combined, which is what it sounds like, unlesss you’re the newest member to the 1000 lb bencher club, you should probably just focus on hitting all the compound lifts and making them stronger. Bench press, military press, squat, deadlift, rows, etc. [/quote]
And by doing this he will soon realise that, because of the huge amount of muscle involved in the squat and deadlift, the progress of these lifts will soon surpass that of the bench and military…That is if the squat and deadlift are trained with enough effort and correct loading paramaters atc…
[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
I think if you can bench more than your squat and deadlift combined, which is what it sounds like, unlesss you’re the newest member to the 1000 lb bencher club, you should probably just focus on hitting all the compound lifts and making them stronger. Bench press, military press, squat, deadlift, rows, etc. [/quote]
x2
At this level of development you should probably just forget about leg extensions and abductor/adductor machines and focus on the very basic lifts. Instead of doing a “leg spec” I would rather hit the gym something like 3-4 times a week. Do one bench day with 1-2 additional execises, one deadlift day and one squat day. If I were you, I wouldn’t bother about inner thights or outer thight sweep before I hit 400/500 pounds on the squat/deadlift.
Agreed with everyone else, you are not big enough for a spec phase. Do deadlifts once a week, and squats once a week. Or something like that which works your legs 2x a week. And keeping hammering away at your upper body.