Monday was quad day. This consisted of the HSS-100 setup, that included…
5x4-6 front squat, close stance
3x6-8/3x8-10 of BB hack squat supersetted with Leg extension
3x8-10 leg press
1x100 leg extension
a few calf raise exercises
next day? quads feel fine, not sore at all. hamstrings very sore, and still sore today. not quite sure why though since almost all those lifts besides the leg press seem to be mostly quad dominated. Any reason for this? Hamstrings tighter than quads perhaps?
Are you a taller guy or have tall-guy proportions? (ie, longer legs in relation to torso?) I am and have rarely had sore quads following even my toughest squat workouts. Still, even if that’s not your problem…
My advice would be to continue with the compound moves to start your leg day but follow up with a few sets of Bulgarian Split Squats, weighted if necessary, in the higher-rep range of 12-15 per leg.
If you’ve never done them before, your next T-Nation thread will be about how you can’t walk due to quad soreness.
Good luck
DF
I’m not sure about the tall guy deal, because I’m 6’4" and have very long legs and continuously can get sore quads. You’re just a ham dominate individual, that’s all. Focus on using your quads for the squats, which may take a while to train yourself to do. As for the leg extensions, I find that very peculiar that even an isolation exercise would make your hams sore.
Anyways, just watch your quad development over the next few months. You don’t neccessarily need to use soreness levels as a marker for workout success. If your quads are growing and not sore, who the hell cares!?
Front Squat, Hack Squat and Leg Press all involve hip extension so the hammys are working hard.
Maybe do a few more sets of front squats and ditch the leg press. Or try some deep 1 legged squats, see if that hits the quads hard.
Try lifting the heals and see if that doesn’t put more tension on the Quads. I did squats yesterday and my quads are sore as shit.
The other guy had a point. The teller you are the harder it is to squat. Lifting your heals should help move the point of tension to your quad.
It is also possible that your hamstrings are out of shape where your quads are in really good shape. Spend some quality time with your hams. Include good mornings and dumbbell strait leg dead lifts. Replace the leg extentions with the ham work. You get them puppies strong you should not get them sore from quad dominant work.
about my quads being more dominantly strong than hams, i’m not so sure about that statement as I can squat 225 for about 8-10 reps when fresh, yet can RDL 365 for about 8 times when fresh.
Try pushing through your heels instead of your forefoot when doing the squats or legpresses.
Using more weight and not descending as far will shift the emphasis to the quads, if you’re going past parallel maybe try going just to parallel or maybe even less. You can really feel the hams and glutes start to kick in as you approach parallel and even more as you go past it, at least in my experience.