I think it also works along the lines of “Whoa, I’m not going to mess with this guy, look at the size of his quads” VS. “Whoa, I better not mess with this guy, he has huge guns & pecs”
true jaybvee, but id rather have huge legs and a chicken upperbody rather than the other way round,
[quote]caveman101 wrote:
true jaybvee, but id rather have huge legs and a chicken upperbody rather than the other way round,[/quote]
Then you would be just as bad as the guys who don’t train legs.
This is bodybuilding. Anyone avoiding entire muscle groups is NOT bodybuilding. The guys the OP spoke of were NOT avoiding leg exercises. For some reason he simply focused on how big their legs were even though they were still training them.
Genetics is a factor in how developed any body part can become.
What I don’t get is how these guys were maxing out the calf press, and adding more weight to boot, while supposedly having such skinny legs.
Obviously they’ve got some strength, even if it doesn’t show in size, unless their form completely sucks.
[quote]forlife wrote:
What I don’t get is how these guys were maxing out the calf press, and adding more weight to boot, while supposedly having such skinny legs.
Obviously they’ve got some strength, even if it doesn’t show in size, unless their form completely sucks.[/quote]
That’s what I was getting at. My calves are strong. They still suck compared to everything else. I usually go to at least 4-45lbs plates for seated calf raises.
Calves are too genetically dependent to hold that against someone if they aren’t big and act like they must not be training them.
The example that started this thread is OFF.
People pay way too much attention (and then degrade them) when they should be more focused on their own training. I lifted this morning. I couldn’t tell you one thing about what anyone else was doing unless they came to speak to me about it.
Okay, I see the flaw in my argument. Fuck. Let me rephrase the whole fucking thing so everyone can hopefully see what I’m getting at. Typical males at the gym, okay still with me? Alright, they don’t bodybuild. Curls for gurls, there to impress, etc. Okay, still good? They hang out at the gym, hit on the female trainers, bullshit more than lifting, and in the process only concentrate developing their upper bodies and egos while exercising minimally the lower portion of the body. Not only the calves, but the entire group of muscles. They DO work the lower body but like I previously stated minimally and not with the same intensity as the upper body. Consequently it shows in their physiques.
I admit the guy on the standing rise his calves were not impressive but I didn’t scoff and think to myself, “Gee, I’m a fucking badass, look at that momo with his tiny calves I’m better than him. Ooh, I’m getting hard thinking about how great I am”. NO. He was using to much damn weight and was barely moving the stack. He was NOT trying to make them grow. He was NOT moving the motherfucking stack for fucks sake. He was just there bouncing up and down trying to impress the chicks on the leg press, fuck its the truth. Its not that he was pouring his blood and sweat into each set and hoping, oh so dearly, that day after day of these poundings the damn things will respond and grow.
I CAN TELL THE FUCKING DIFFERENCE. I live and breathe this shit. I know when its just a show and when some guy is digging deep to find the strength to keep the fucking weight moving. And the scene I just depicted was a fucking show. It was merely my observation of said performance. Unbiased at that. If they dont like a symmetrical physique thats fucking dandy, but folks when can all agree that 98% of the gym population fall into that physical category. Calves are heavily genetically bound. You either you have em or you dont. And if you don’t those that bodybuild and or give a flying rat’s ass train them their earnest in order to bring them up.
Wrap-up, I was not, yet again now, was not judging, minimizing, putting down, etc these trainers on the size of their calves. I was merely making the point of the overall size of the package being flawed in comparison to the upper counterpart. I was also inquiring on the thoughts of why this process is so from fellow members in the trenches. Simply why the neglect? If this gets any murkier ask the mods to destroy it.
[quote]Growing_Boy wrote:
Okay, I see the flaw in my argument. Fuck…really damn long post. [/quote]
Like I said, the issue wasn’t with you but in the people responding and how some new to this are prone to think if it isn’t spelled out for them.
[quote]caveman101 wrote:
true jaybvee, but id rather have huge legs and a chicken upperbody rather than the other way round,[/quote]
You sure about that? 
Then a post will sprout up “What’s up with guys that look like Tom Platz minus the upper body musculature”
I cannot recall in recent memory any guy at any gym I have trained at that goes over 4 plates OR did serious gut wrenching leg work. I know, I’m not going to the right gyms or maybe not @ the right time 
**To the OP - the NEGLECT exists because it simply does - their goals are not your goals, their training ethic neglecting their lower body training is THEIR loss - someday they may smarten up & do some lower body work but as it the case a lot of these guys just wear pants to cover up & call it a day. I’m sure if they were more serious about symmetry or shit, overall strength this would cause them some grief but as you stated if they were just putting on a show these are the specimen of lifter you should avoid like the plague. Do you feel any compelling need to help or correct them? If anything they will smile & ignore you or you might get the deer in the headlights look. Let it go; keep it moving. In further explaining your post, it seems like they are lifting for show, not grow.
Not enough guys put in time under the bar squatting, bottom line.
While some guys are showing off, you’re getting stronger. Keep that in mind.
Black people got pogo stick type legs/calfs but like pogo sticks they’re explosive.
lol legs are always an after thought. Guys who start off lifting just because they saw brad pitt are not going to think legs. A little size on your upperbody won’t make your legs look out of proportion. It’s not until you’ve made solid gains that you walk by the mirror one day and say wholly shit i’m about to tip over. Then you try to run and do some calf raises real quick and a few squats. Meanwhile for 2 years 3 days a week you’ve been doing upperbody and now your going to even out by 3 months of lower body.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
forlife wrote:
People pay way too much attention (and then degrade them) when they should be more focused on their own training. I lifted this morning. I couldn’t tell you one thing about what anyone else was doing unless they came to speak to me about it.[/quote]
This is very true. Too many people focus on what they think is holding back other peoples development, rather than what is holding back their own development.
This thread is making me hungry and sad.
Leg days make me nervous. I remember how tough last week’s leg day was and know I need to do more weight or reps (or the same with less rest) this week. I’m not surprised most people either don’t do them or do them half-assed. People like doing what’s easy…
Well, to the guys wondering about skinny dudes moving big weight, some very skinny olympic lifters and powerlifters are quite strong. Max strength is more a neural function than muscular. This dude is 129 lbs, and is squatting 418x2 going low.
I’m not even strong, but I outlift two of my buddies/coworkers who outweigh me by a hunderd lbs or more. They do more bodybuilding type workouts. They just never try singles or doubles, so they’re not too good at max stuff. It’s all in what you practice.
[quote]Itchy wrote:
This thread is making me hungry and sad.[/quote]
Me too. When someone with a well-built torso struts around on a pair of chicken legs, it reminds me of those classic Warner Brother’s cartoons. You know, the ones where somebody’s head turns into a roast chicken.
Thanks to Double Duce for the leg press/squat comparison.
Any thoughts on sets and reps when it comes to squats? I realize everyone responds differently but I’ve heard of everything from 20 rep routines to 5 x 5. My goal is both increased strength and hypertrophy.
[quote]zenomaly wrote:
Leg days make me nervous. I remember how tough last week’s leg day was and know I need to do more weight or reps (or the same with less rest) this week. I’m not surprised most people either don’t do them or do them half-assed. People like doing what’s easy…[/quote]
If weight-lifting is ever “easy,” then you shouldn’t be in the fucking weight room. People who don’t hit legs probably are never going to be all that big. They may pack some size, but they’ll never be elite. Sorry, but until I see evidence otherwise, I will stick to that conviction.
[quote]roybot wrote:
Itchy wrote:
This thread is making me hungry and sad.
Me too. When someone with a well-built torso struts around on a pair of chicken legs, it reminds me of those classic Warner Brothers cartoons. You know, the ones where somebody’s head turns into a roast chicken.
[/quote]
laugh out loud
I honestly haven’t seen many of these people you guys are talking about, but then I usually train at home. I just don’t understand this leg-training aversion some people have. I haven’t squatted in a while because of an injury and it’s depressing the fuck out of me.
[quote]Voodoo 2 wrote:
Thanks to Double Duce for the leg press/squat comparison.
Any thoughts on sets and reps when it comes to squats? I realize everyone responds differently but I’ve heard of everything from 20 rep routines to 5 x 5. My goal is both increased strength and hypertrophy.[/quote]
I don’t like to do squats for high reps, because (for me, anyway) breathing becomes more of an issue than moving the weight. I like the 4-6 range for multiple sets. If I want to do higher reps, I’ll choose an exercise that requires less coordination.
[quote]Itchy wrote:
roybot wrote:
Itchy wrote:
This thread is making me hungry and sad.
Me too. When someone with a well-built torso struts around on a pair of chicken legs, it reminds me of those classic Warner Brothers cartoons. You know, the ones where somebody’s head turns into a roast chicken.
laugh out loud
I honestly haven’t seen many of these people you guys are talking about, but then I usually train at home. I just don’t understand this leg-training aversion some people have. I haven’t squatted in a while because of an injury and it’s depressing the fuck out of me.[/quote]
You don’t have to train in a commercial gym to get what I mean. Whenever someone in a Warner Bros. cartoon gets really hungry, they start hallucinating, because they are weak from lack of food. The next time they look at someone, that person’s head turns into a roast chicken.
I don’t really look at people in the gym and imagine their heads as roast chickens…It was meant to be a reference to ‘chicken legs’ and your comment about being hungry. Ah, never mind…
P.S. Hopefully there aren’t that many people who work out in public whose heads resemble thoroughly cooked domestic fowl. Chicken leg syndrome would be the least of their worries. Poor bastards.