What’s up…gotta a question about leg day. I’ve been trying to bring up my legs the past couple weeks. So i’ve been working them 2x a week, going hard on squats, leg presses, and leg extensions…so hard that I am barely able to finish my last set of extensions. I never neglect my hams but recently I just have not been able to fit them in w/ my quads cuz i’m just dead.
So, am I just being a pussy or would it be okay to do hams on a seperate day, like maybe after a shoulder day workout, hit my hams hard. Should I do more for my quads then just the 3 i’m doing cuz i’m literally dead afterwards, sometimes I feel as if I could throw up…and I drive a stick shift car so i usually sit in the parking lot for a good 20 minutes drinking my PWO cuz i don’t think i can drive.
FYI, I deadlift on backday.
Appreciate your input and suggestions, thanks fellas.
I do quads and hams on different days. Its the only way to go in my book if you want superior hamstrings, every wants excellent quads… and hams will be neglected if your doing them together.
If you want some extra work for your hams, just throw in some good mornings, pull-throughs, glute ham raises, leg curls, weighted hyperextensions, or other exercises that hit the hamstrings after you do dls. Try to do what you can to fit it into your workout.
I always liked to do hams first and go heavy on good mornings or stiff leg deads…they seem to respond to heavier lower reps. Then go lighter and use more machines like leg press and hack squat for the quads and keep reps in the 15 - 20 range…then finish with a squat/lunge combo…I get more results that way than splitting them up…Once a month i do a pyramid with the squat first and go up in weight for a change up…
As long as your schedule allows, breaking up bodyparts (within reason, you don’t need a day just for forearm extensors -lol) is a great way to ‘divide and conquer’. It’s how I finally got my calves to grow after 10 years of nothing.
Splitting quads and hams is great if you want to do back squats and deadlifts without wearing out your lower back. I’ve started doing my hams and arms on the same day as it allows me to alternate through sets of hams/bis/tris and get a huge workout done without spending a couple hours in the gym.
[quote]paul496 wrote:
I do quads and hams on different days. Its the only way to go in my book if you want superior hamstrings, every wants excellent quads… and hams will be neglected if your doing them together.
Spilt them up.[/quote]
I am interested in this concept. What does your ham day and quad day entail?
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
As long as your schedule allows, breaking up bodyparts (within reason, you don’t need a day just for forearm extensors -lol) is a great way to ‘divide and conquer’. It’s how I finally got my calves to grow after 10 years of nothing.
S
[/quote]
Yo Stu, care to share your secret on how you finally got your calves to grow vs. what you were doing with no results? Thanks man.
[quote]jlutz3 wrote:
Yo Stu, care to share your secret on how you finally got your calves to grow vs. what you were doing with no results? Thanks man.[/quote]
I was guilty of doing what I imagine most of us did… after working upper legs, I’d do 3 sets of standing calves, and 3 sets of seated calves. What did it yield me? Nothing. I tried high reps. I tried low reps. I tried doing ‘calves’ twice a week. What eventually worked was when I started treating my calves as two separate muscles (which they basically are).
This allowed me to incorporate a little more volume each time out. What I do (and have done so for the last 5 years), is work my soleus (seated calf raises) after my upper leg workout, and my gastronemius after my chest workout (straight leg presses, or standing calf raises).
I hit the Gastroc with heavy weights, low reps, and when I use the machine that lets you sit down and keep your knees straight (less stress on my back than standing calf raises), I make sure I position the seat one notch lower than I need. This allows me no ‘comfortable’ position. Basically, when I lower the weight during each rep, my calves get stretched as fully as possible. I also don’t worry about the number of sets I do. I basically set myself up and say 'okay, 15 minutes, as many sets as I can. If I cramp, and have to take a second or two to stretch, fine, then I’ll get back under the weight."
I do Seated Calves (soleus) in a similar fashion. I set a time frame, understand my rep range (higher reps for this muscle), and make sure I get a deep stretch, and held contraction with each rep (I see so many idiots bouncing a few plates on the machine and then complaining that their calves won’t grow. I don’t think I’ve ever needed to go heavier than 2 plates with a nickel in between them).
If I never thought to hit the two muscle separately, I’d still be whining about how calves are soooo hard to train.
[quote]duhast234 wrote:
paul496 wrote:
I do quads and hams on different days. Its the only way to go in my book if you want superior hamstrings, every wants excellent quads… and hams will be neglected if your doing them together.
Spilt them up.
I am interested in this concept. What does your ham day and quad day entail?[/quote]
Quads. Squat, Leg Press, Leg Extension
Hams. Stiff leg dead, ham curls. (i also deadlift on ham day)
Quad day has me nearly getting sick week in week out. To target my hams equally as much as my quads i feel its neccessary to spilt them up. For me the intensity alone is the factor that has me doing quad and ham on different days. If your not doing it, maybe give it a try. Your hams will be grateful