Absolutly i hear you, i simply don’t give a shit about lower body strenght, i already deadlift 2.5 X bodyweight and squat 2X bodyweight (not impressive obviously.) Im focused on getting a strong upper body. I am however interested in having lean and aestetic legs.
I do trap bar carries to load the hinge movement pattern and i do goblet squats in my warm up.
You mention less stimuli for glutes, will sprinting and KB Swings take care of that. I’m looking for exercises and methods that maximize cardio, aestetics and minimizes size.
Also, will doing Sprinting twice a week along with Bike HIIT training twice a week interfere with upper body recovery?
This is funny because I don’t see why anyone would limit lower body, it baffles me. I want to be strong, explosive and powerful. I like the “burn” I like “results”. It’s a win win for me. Besides, I refuse to sit on a public toilet so my legs gotta be there for me
This is getting way overcomplicated. Your goal is upper body size. You want to have “lean and aesthetic” legs so you’ll need maintain some lower body muscle.
It sounds like the biking and lunges are just your best guesses at what will give your legs the look you want. Maybe, but there’s a better way.
Train upper body 80% of the time and lower body 20%. 1 lower body day for every 4 upper days. Ideally, that would come out to once a week. You can always adjust the volume of that session to get your legs to the size you want AND you’ll be able to maintain the lower body strength you’ve built.
As Mark Bell says, “Strength is never a weakness. Weakness is never a strength.”
Try this split (i’m doing something similar)
upper/“lower” 4-6x a week (depending on recovery/lifestyle)
Upper alternates chest/back. First upper is a bench press & weighted pull up focus. Next is incline tilt & t-bar row. Last is push press and pendlay rows or chins. Sets of 3-5 ramping, with a back off 3x5 or cluster is very powerful (layers basically)
Lower days in quotes because they are…drumrolll… only snach grip high pulls! I do some deadlift for speed & front squat (off box). But maybe you would just do snatch grip high pulls from blocks (mid thighs) and then finish off with some heavy cycling (waterbury routine).
Bet you will get a very very awesome physique.
Btw to CT’s point above…it is pretty interesting he noted that his best upper body gains came when he wasn’t focusing on legs. There is something to this.
Cool. Thanks fellas.
Quick question though: I do Trap Bar Carries once a week and Zercher Carries once a week. 5 sets X30 sec. Does this stimulate the legs a bit? Thinking of doing some form of the routine mentioned above and adding the loaded carries on the “Lower days”.
Not enough to stimulate growth. The range of motion in which the leg muscles are contracting is not long enough… it can help maintain some size if you do some additional/minimal lower body work though.
