I’ve always been in the gym, but have always trained for athletic performance, and I definitely have genetics to help out with that. I started a few months ago trying to train from what I’ve read on T-Nation (dead lifts, full deep squats). In order to really track my diet and workout I created a website www.trainersjournal.com
I still eat a lot of carbs, do an upper/lower body split routine, and try to get in 2 sprint workouts in per week.
If you want to see my workouts/diet in daily detail you can go to trainersjournal.com and login with
username: keith password: gymrat
Some numbers: I’m 5’9", 184lbs, ~7% body fat I think.
What I really want to know is how to blow up my legs!
If you can’t help me with that answer, then at least check out trainersjournal.com. I made it for myself, but I had all of T-Nation in mind. Plus if you’re a personal trainer, there’s a great client-management tool built in.
That back shot is really impressive. Good job man.
As far as blowing up the legs, CT wrote a pretty cool article called “Hungarian Oak Leg Blast” wich seems kind of hardcore, but maybe it’s the boost you’re looking for.
Your website seems pretty legit as well.
I guess I’m looking at your training poundages when I look at a calendar than has all your workouts and stuff on it.
Everything looks perfect with diet and your Upper Body Lifting poundages and that’s obviously reflected in your physique.
But it doesn’t look like you’re pushing the poundages much on legs. You can bench 270 for 4 reps but on one of your Quad workouts it looks like you’re only doing sets w/ 225.
But your legs still look pretty good.
I think the answer for increasing your leg size is to give your legs the same amount of physical intensity in training as you would for your upper body. Legs also tend to respond better to slightly higher reps. So while a hard set of 8 might be sufficient for chest or back growth, a hard set of 12 or even 15 will be needed for significant leg growth.
You might also want to increase the frequency that you train your legs heavy and cut out some of your speed leg days. Doing 1 day heavy and 1 day for speed is great for athletic performance but isn’t ideal for bodybuilding.
wow thanks for the compliments - didn’t really expect that.
ty45 - the ironic part about my shoulders is that I don’t do anything for them lifting wise asides dumbell presses, but I do surf a lot. I think all the paddling gets them into a long state of hypertrophy.
I’m coming to the conclusion that I just need to add more volume to get my legs to grow. Any of you have any advice on what’s a good exercise to hit the vastus intermedius though? leg extensions?
Heavy front squats, ass to the grass. front squats puts more stress on the 4 heads of the quads. back squats r very good for overall leg and glute development.
overall, very good physique, and superior definition.
For the Vastus Intermedius you should try wide stance squats and sumo deadlifts.
Vastus lateralis can be attacked with deep front squats.
Vastus intermedius can be targeted with step-ups.
Sometimes doing Deep Squats is what people need for leg growth. Sometimes doing Heavy, Wide Stance, Powerlifting Style Box squats is what people need. Olympic Style Squats are the best for gaining Quad Size and Leg Size but Heavy Box Squats done with that stance that you can move the most weight with are best for developing lower-body strength.
[quote]kbessette wrote:
wow thanks for the compliments - didn’t really expect that.[/quote]
I don’t know why. You actually have a good physique, you posted the right shots, and you actually take criticism into account (rather than get defensive).
Bock on topic, you got a stellar physique. Where do you plan to go from here? You have a damn impressive look, but I get the feeling you have the determination to take it to another level.
Surfing is definately great for the upper body. I used to live near some good surfing beaches years back, well before I even though about eating right or trainnig properly, and I noticed my traps, neck, shoulders and triceps grow quite a bit just from the volume of work paddling forces them to do. You’re a perfect example of what you can acheive eating well, weight training and surfing - it’s a great mix.
I need to get back in the water and live by the sea again.
This is great, thanks for all the advice everyone.
Alright regarding my leg routine, what if I switch to something like this:
week 1
day 1 back squats, wide stance
day 2 romanian deadlifts
week 2
day 1 front squats, normal stance
day 2 sumo deadlifts
and keep sets/reps to 4x12
Since it’s getting warmer I’ll probably drop one of my sprint days and just turn it into surfing/mountain biking/tennis or whatever.
I don’t really have any set goals in mind other than trying to blow up my legs, and get the intermedius to develop more. Adding 5-10 pounds would be another feat, but I don’t know if I’ll still be able to dunk at 190; I can barely do it now.
What kind of body weight/ fat% do you have to be at to compete in a show?
