Does Anyone Split Legs?

Training Bodybuilding
41

[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
Dude wtf are you talking about? You believe that if you use progressively heavier weights you will not grow?[/quote]

You will not necessarily grow as a result of using progressively heavier weights, no. I did that for about half a year and I didn’t grow at all.

On any given day, I’ll use the heaviest weight that I feel I can manage for my desired rep range. Whether that weight increases or decreases from session to session is irrelevant. The only thing that counts is putting in 100% effort each time you train. I know that my muscle will grow if I train to failure and leave the gym fully pumped.

There is no such thing as “weight” in bodybuilding. There is only tension. You would do well to learn this, grasshopper.

'Twas said in jest

[quote]That One Guy wrote:
So weight progression is not important to hypertrophy. AMAZING REVELATION! So if someone who squats 225 for 6 reps now, then works their way up to 400 for 6 reps, their legs will not be ANY bigger then they were when they were squatting 225 for 6 reps. [/quote]

Typical red herring logical fallacy. Happens every time this topic gets brought up.

Listen carefully:

The debate is not over whether a particular training method results CAN result in hypertrophy.

ALL weight training methods invariably result in hypertrophy to some extent.

The debate is over which training method elicits the MOST hypertrophy in the shortest amount of time.

Weight progession is not that method. It is inferior.

Bad, bad analogy. You sound like the 130 lb. karate pussies who think that all everyone needs to do is bodyweight crap without external resistance. They are fond of saying things like, "If you can do 10 pullups, you will look good by default, so your training program shoulf center around being able to do ten of them.

When you set goals, you identify them clearly and train for them directly. Training for aesthetics and training to be good at pullups or squats are two entirely unrelated areas.

There is a specific way to train for each. You don’t mix and match the two.

42

[quote]Nominal Prospect wrote:
waylanderxx wrote:
Dude wtf are you talking about? You believe that if you use progressively heavier weights you will not grow?

You will not necessarily grow as a result of using progressively heavier weights, no. I did that for about half a year and I didn’t grow at all.[/quote]

You only did it for six months? How much size did you think you were going to gain during that time? Gaining size isn’t a quick fix. You have to be in it for the long haul.

Also, your statement by itself is meaningless. Did you eat enough to sustain growth? How much more weight were you lifting after six months? For all we know, you started with 135 on bench and you worked up to 155 after six months. That’s not exactly going to elicit any muscle growth.

[quote]waylanderxx wrote: You don’t try to increase the weight you do for the same amount of reps each session?

On any given day, I’ll use the heaviest weight that I feel I can manage for my desired rep range. Whether that weight increases or decreases from session to session is irrelevant. The only thing that counts is putting in 100% effort each time you train. I know that my muscle will grow if I train to failure and leave the gym fully pumped.

There is no such thing as “weight” in bodybuilding. There is only tension. You would do well to learn this, grasshopper.[/quote]

HUH? And how exactly do you measure ‘tension’? Are you saying this isn’t tied to the weight you are lifting?

43

  1. My working weight went up by a decent amount on the squat. No physique changes accompanied that increase.

  2. I ate just as much as I would on a bodybuilding routine, which DID create visible results within 6 months.

Therefore, it can be concluded that my nutrition wasn’t at fault, nor my effort - the routine just sucked ass for hypertrophy. I probably could have made some size gains if I waited another six months. Instead, I simply got a better routine, a bodybuilding isolation routine on machines. Instead of doing squats for bicep mass, I was actually isolation arm curls. And the craziest, most unexpected thing? It worked.

"HUH? And how exactly do you measure ‘tension’? Are you saying this isn’t tied to the weight you are lifting? "

You measure it subjectively, by developing the mind-muscle connection, which isolation training accomplishes in spades.
Fuck no, tension isn’t tied to the weight lifted, it’s completely independent of it. Listen to Frank Zane, who said:

“The trick isn’t to use the heaviest weights you can, but to make the light weights feel heavy”.

Many other bodybuilders have endorsed variations of the same theme. It’s one of the major tenets of bodybuilding.

Actually, there IS a relationship between weight used in training (as a % of max) and muscle tension - an inverse relationship. The heavier you go, you more stress you are taking off the muscles and putting directly onto the bone structure. There’s absolutely no way you can achieve a high degree of muscular tension and sustain that tension for the necessary duration on heavy compound lifts.

The degree of hypertrophy you achieve in training is a direct function of how hard the muscles are voluntarily contracted and how long this contraction lasts.

The exercises that best allow you to squeeze muscles are open chain, machine isolation (leg extension, lateral raise, lever pec fly, etc).

Tension & Time-under-tension, The golden pinciples of bodybuilding.

44

i don’t even know how to respond…
do both.

45

[quote]Nominal Prospect wrote:

  1. My working weight went up by a decent amount on the squat. No physique changes accompanied that increase.

[/quote]

Well how was this program that you said you did for 6 months structured? I’m willing to bet you went to an extreme where you only did singles, so that you could immediately call shenanigans on weight progression being important to hypertrophy.

46

[quote]That One Guy wrote:
Nominal Prospect wrote:

  1. My working weight went up by a decent amount on the squat. No physique changes accompanied that increase.

Well how was this program that you said you did for 6 months structured? I’m willing to bet you went to an extreme where you only did singles, so that you could immediately call shenanigans on weight progression being important to hypertrophy.[/quote]

Yeah, he only mentioned one lift (the squat). What about your other lifts? What’s a ‘decent’ amount? Did you only do squats and expect everything else to just grow along with it?

As if a hypertrophy or bodybuilding routine wouldn’t also have other major exercises in it and there wouldn’t also be a focus on trying to increase the weights on all exercises performed.

Regardless of the time under tension, there’s still an effort to increase the actual weight lifted.

47

Vader, don’t even bother. seriously. he’s just a waste of space on this site

48

[quote]forbes wrote:
zraw wrote:
waylanderxx wrote:

Just dedicate a day to legs alone. It will work much better.

Squat
Front Squat
Lunges
SLDL
Extensions
Leg Curls

Hits everything you need.

seriously wtf

NO SHIT BUDDY!

One of the corner stone exercises for my hams are SLD’s. Doing BOTH in one workout is brutal and I can’t maintain much intensity after either one. So, the smartest thing to do is divide them up.

Its funny how people will didvide their upper body up into so many different parts, yet most upper body exercises don’t even compare in the fatigue that they induce to lower body exercises!!

If your doing squats and then leg curls, then fine. BUT if your doing squats and deadlifts, then split them up!![/quote]

I have to agree. There is no way I can do an intense ham session doing RDL’s after an intense quad workout using squats. I’m basically fried after quads or vice versa after hams. Am I just a pussy lol? On occasion when I split them I’ll do an isolation movement after each main movement, but that’s about the most I can muster up the energy for.

49

[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
Vader, don’t even bother. seriously. he’s just a waste of space on this site[/quote]

Not really. But IMO that method will work much better once your already strong. If you’re preogressing fast on the squat up until your strong and you start doing more pump work you have a ginormous potential to grow because of the strength you have. The other end of the spectrum is the 6’ 130 pound guy thinking his quads are going to be huge using the leg extention and DB lunges.

There isn’t enough room to PR with those tiny ass weights and you’ll progress slower. After you have a good mind/muscle connection and you’re moving decent weights you can start seeing a lot better benefit to these machine isolations he talks about than if you never got under heavy iron (3-8 rep range) to begin with.

50

Nominal, if you know everything why are you skinny?

51

I split mine because I’m into powerlifting too. So I like to deadlift and squat on different days.

My usual routine:
Chest / Tri’s
Quads / Calves
Back / Bi’s
Shoulders / Grip(forearms)
Lower Back / Hams / Traps

52

May be wrong but even if one managed to split quads and hams to a squat and dead day,then the hips would still get wasted much the same on both days.

53

Yea, I make sure to get 3-5 days between them for that very reason.

54

[quote]AndyG wrote:
Nominal, if you know everything why are you skinny?[/quote]

Possibly because my metabolism simply won’t allow me to get “big” at this stage - ever think of that?

It is not about where you are, it is about how far you have come. I have come a long way, and have every reason to be proud of it.

Besides, I’m not skinny. I have developed muscle all over my body.

55

I’m currently doing a legs-only day as well a secondary lighter/accessory type legs day 4 days later.

56

[quote]Nominal Prospect wrote:
AndyG wrote:

Possibly because my metabolism simply won’t allow me to get “big” at this stage - ever think of that?[/quote]

You can’t seriously believe this, it just isn’t true.

57

[quote]Nominal Prospect wrote:
AndyG wrote:
Nominal, if you know everything why are you skinny?

Possibly because my metabolism simply won’t allow me to get “big” at this stage - ever think of that?

It is not about where you are, it is about how far you have come. I have come a long way, and have every reason to be proud of it.

Besides, I’m not skinny. I have developed muscle all over my body.[/quote]

Maybe because you eat like a girl, and workout like a girl.

It’s funny, everyone else gets good results lifting heavy. You get no results lifting your way, but you blame it on your metabolism instead of lifting and eating incorrectly.

Post a link to your pictures again. Better yet, whack 'em up on RMP.

58

this is, admittedly, slightly off topic… but something i’ve always wondered about many leg programs i’ve seen is how/why squats and deadlifts are considered such radically different exercises, by both recreational and experienced lifters like, that they are usually split into different days.

the way i see it, the only difference between these two movements is the position of your arms and lower body range of motion. in a nutshell, i don’t see why anyone would could call a deadlift a lower body pull when your lower body isn’t pulling anything (flexing)… it’s actually extending. think about it.

59

[quote]joe shumsky wrote:
this is, admittedly, slightly off topic… but something i’ve always wondered about many leg programs i’ve seen is how/why squats and deadlifts are considered such radically different exercises, by both recreational and experienced lifters like, that they are usually split into different days.

the way i see it, the only difference between these two movements is the position of your arms and lower body range of motion. in a nutshell, i don’t see why anyone would could call a deadlift a lower body pull when your lower body isn’t pulling anything (flexing)… it’s actually extending. think about it. [/quote]

two different days because you surely can’t go all out on both on the same day
yes you do use many of the same muscle groups because they both use so damn many, but you can go learn how to do them properly and you’ll see that they use quite different patterns, i suspect that you deadlift with your torso way too upright (its not a squat from the floor; much more hip extension)

also, its a pull because you’re pulling the weight up from the floor… you’re not pushing it up because you’re ahead of the load on it’s concentric path

60

Um, If anyone wants to get massive, they DO have to progress though each worokout, rather than doing the same thing every workout…Where is the progression of stimulus there?

Progression can be based on speed, tempo, weight, less rest…whatever, as long as there is progression. This should be the focus on all BIG movements, such as Bench, Dead, Squat etc…If your still squatting the same weight with the same form etc now, than you were last year this time…there is something wrong.

GJ