The Chicken-Leg Phenomenon

Training Bodybuilding
121

This thread has a lot of different things going on… but… to the OP,IMO the reasons for the girly legs so many “big” guys seem to be rockin nowadays are serveral. Many guys just wanna look jacked for the ladies. Ladies love chest shoulders n arms for whatever reason.

Secondly, squattin is a bitch, theres no way around that, most guys would rather lay down and bench than throws hundreds of lbs on their back. Lastly, even when summer comes around and these guys hit the beach they mostly wear boardshorts which takes care of that skinny thigh problem. If speedos were mandatory I think you’d see a lot more guys hittin that squat rack…But then again im not sure id want to see that lol

122

[quote]Growing_Boy wrote:
please note the heavy lather of sarcasm equivalent to the amount of mayo in a Big Mac [/quote]

Big macs don’t have mayo.

I saw a guy the other day who had chicken legs. He was asking me how many sets of squats I had to do in the cage because he wanted to do chins and curls. Not too much longer after I was repping out a 110 dumbell for weighted situps on the decline and I walk to the water fountin. I heard him say “yeah those are the worst…” I grinned :wink:

123

[quote]Carlitosway wrote:
BulletproofTiger wrote:
Ever tried a 2-3 second pause at the bottom (stretched position) for calf raises to fully engage the muscle and take the stretch reflex out of the equation?

If you think that is good enough, you haven’t tried doing calves dc style. You will probably wimper by rep 7 and wonder if what you’re doing is actually self inflicted torture to the fullest.[/quote]

Thanks for the clarification on DC style. I forgot what it was, but I’m positive that I read somewhere that the stretch reflex in GTO lasted for max 2-3 seconds, so unless I’m wrong about that, then I see no distinct advantage to the additional 4-5 seconds of pause. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong for some biomechanic reason, or can provide so other reason. Thanks.

124

having not read through this entire thread and only reading the first comment, all i can say is…

i love working my legs. i love squats. i love dead lifts. i love hack press. i love leg curls. i love it all. feels awesome.

i think it looks disgusting and pathetic to have a huge upper body and girly legs. when i see guys like this, i think to myself “they just don’t get it do they?”

one a side note, every girl that has mentioned legs to me has said they prefer big thick legs on a guy. girls love big legs and glutes.

125

[quote]BulletproofTiger wrote:
Carlitosway wrote:
BulletproofTiger wrote:
Ever tried a 2-3 second pause at the bottom (stretched position) for calf raises to fully engage the muscle and take the stretch reflex out of the equation?

If you think that is good enough, you haven’t tried doing calves dc style. You will probably wimper by rep 7 and wonder if what you’re doing is actually self inflicted torture to the fullest.

Thanks for the clarification on DC style. I forgot what it was, but I’m positive that I read somewhere that the stretch reflex in GTO lasted for max 2-3 seconds, so unless I’m wrong about that, then I see no distinct advantage to the additional 4-5 seconds of pause. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong for some biomechanic reason, or can provide so other reason. Thanks.[/quote]

Lets just put it this way, my calves used to be beyond small they were puny. I don’t have exact measurements it’s just a noticeable difference after doing them on and off before and doing them alot as of lately. I’ve done them the regular way, I just got a good pump that’s it zilch nada no growth whatsoever.

What do you mean you see no distinct advantage? You’re pretty much using your body weight + whatever weight you’re using to provide sort of an isometric stretch given you get that good stretch where your muscles are stretched and you still feel them contracting against said weights.

It’s also not an additional 4-5 seconds you add at the bottom it is an additional 15-20 seconds you add big difference. With emphasis on getting a good positive and pause at the top and lowering the negative controlled nice and slow.

126

I train now this way:
week 1: DB RDL , Seated Calve Raise,Leg Curl, Standing Calve raise

Week 2: DB RDL,Leg press,lunges

works pretty good for me!

I did last week what i call a Calve Destroyer workout! here’s what it looks like:

Seated Calve raises just go heavy 3 sets till failure and heave stretches at the bottom. Now with a standing Calve raise you can pin the weight and continie till your Calves are pumped up like baloons!

85 kg till 20 kg every step was 5 kg off… Failure,stretch holds,partials… it was gruwesome… they are still pretty fucked up after 7 days lol. Give it a try!

127

[quote]WhiteKnightD wrote:
having not read through this entire thread and only reading the first comment, all i can say is…

i love working my legs. i love squats. i love dead lifts. i love hack press. i love leg curls. i love it all. feels awesome.

i think it looks disgusting and pathetic to have a huge upper body and girly legs. when i see guys like this, i think to myself “they just don’t get it do they?”

one a side note, every girl that has mentioned legs to me has said they prefer big thick legs on a guy. girls love big legs and glutes.[/quote]

I admit I don’t understand the unwillingness of some to train their legs, but I don’t see why those of us that do should feel the need to rag on them. So what if someone only works out their upper half to attract women? What has that got to do with me, or any of you? Not everyone cares about the same things.

128

[quote]Carlitosway wrote:
BulletproofTiger wrote:
Carlitosway wrote:
BulletproofTiger wrote:
Ever tried a 2-3 second pause at the bottom (stretched position) for calf raises to fully engage the muscle and take the stretch reflex out of the equation?

If you think that is good enough, you haven’t tried doing calves dc style. You will probably wimper by rep 7 and wonder if what you’re doing is actually self inflicted torture to the fullest.

Thanks for the clarification on DC style. I forgot what it was, but I’m positive that I read somewhere that the stretch reflex in GTO lasted for max 2-3 seconds, so unless I’m wrong about that, then I see no distinct advantage to the additional 4-5 seconds of pause. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong for some biomechanic reason, or can provide so other reason. Thanks.

Lets just put it this way, my calves used to be beyond small they were puny. I don’t have exact measurements it’s just a noticeable difference after doing them on and off before and doing them alot as of lately. I’ve done them the regular way, I just got a good pump that’s it zilch nada no growth whatsoever.

What do you mean you see no distinct advantage? You’re pretty much using your body weight + whatever weight you’re using to provide sort of an isometric stretch given you get that good stretch where your muscles are stretched and you still feel them contracting against said weights.

It’s also not an additional 4-5 seconds you add at the bottom it is an additional 15-20 seconds you add big difference. With emphasis on getting a good positive and pause at the top and lowering the negative controlled nice and slow.[/quote]

Oh yeah, woops it isn’t just 4-5 more seconds. My bad. My problem, besides just having small calves, is that my calves have like no endurance, so I could probably only get through 3 or so DC style reps with around 100#. So in order to get a decent calf workout, I’d have to either lighten the load substantially, use shorter stretch/holds during the sets, or only do sets of 2 reps. I’m not trying to hijack the thread, so I’ll leave it at that.

129

[quote]BulletproofTiger wrote:
Carlitosway wrote:
BulletproofTiger wrote:
Carlitosway wrote:
BulletproofTiger wrote:
Ever tried a 2-3 second pause at the bottom (stretched position) for calf raises to fully engage the muscle and take the stretch reflex out of the equation?

If you think that is good enough, you haven’t tried doing calves dc style. You will probably wimper by rep 7 and wonder if what you’re doing is actually self inflicted torture to the fullest.

Thanks for the clarification on DC style. I forgot what it was, but I’m positive that I read somewhere that the stretch reflex in GTO lasted for max 2-3 seconds, so unless I’m wrong about that, then I see no distinct advantage to the additional 4-5 seconds of pause. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong for some biomechanic reason, or can provide so other reason. Thanks.

Lets just put it this way, my calves used to be beyond small they were puny. I don’t have exact measurements it’s just a noticeable difference after doing them on and off before and doing them alot as of lately. I’ve done them the regular way, I just got a good pump that’s it zilch nada no growth whatsoever.

What do you mean you see no distinct advantage? You’re pretty much using your body weight + whatever weight you’re using to provide sort of an isometric stretch given you get that good stretch where your muscles are stretched and you still feel them contracting against said weights.

It’s also not an additional 4-5 seconds you add at the bottom it is an additional 15-20 seconds you add big difference. With emphasis on getting a good positive and pause at the top and lowering the negative controlled nice and slow.

Oh yeah, woops it isn’t just 4-5 more seconds. My bad. My problem, besides just having small calves, is that my calves have like no endurance, so I could probably only get through 3 or so DC style reps with around 100#.

So in order to get a decent calf workout, I’d have to either lighten the load substantially, use shorter stretch/holds during the sets, or only do sets of 2 reps. I’m not trying to hijack the thread, so I’ll leave it at that.[/quote]

Just drop the weight, I had to drop the weight versus when I did them the other way. Wouldn’t hurt to try it:D. Maybe you’ll add an inch or two on your calves.

130

[quote]Carlitosway wrote:
BulletproofTiger wrote:
Carlitosway wrote:
BulletproofTiger wrote:
Carlitosway wrote:
BulletproofTiger wrote:
Ever tried a 2-3 second pause at the bottom (stretched position) for calf raises to fully engage the muscle and take the stretch reflex out of the equation?

If you think that is good enough, you haven’t tried doing calves dc style. You will probably wimper by rep 7 and wonder if what you’re doing is actually self inflicted torture to the fullest.

Thanks for the clarification on DC style. I forgot what it was, but I’m positive that I read somewhere that the stretch reflex in GTO lasted for max 2-3 seconds, so unless I’m wrong about that, then I see no distinct advantage to the additional 4-5 seconds of pause. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong for some biomechanic reason, or can provide so other reason. Thanks.

Lets just put it this way, my calves used to be beyond small they were puny. I don’t have exact measurements it’s just a noticeable difference after doing them on and off before and doing them alot as of lately. I’ve done them the regular way, I just got a good pump that’s it zilch nada no growth whatsoever.

What do you mean you see no distinct advantage? You’re pretty much using your body weight + whatever weight you’re using to provide sort of an isometric stretch given you get that good stretch where your muscles are stretched and you still feel them contracting against said weights.

It’s also not an additional 4-5 seconds you add at the bottom it is an additional 15-20 seconds you add big difference. With emphasis on getting a good positive and pause at the top and lowering the negative controlled nice and slow.

Oh yeah, woops it isn’t just 4-5 more seconds. My bad. My problem, besides just having small calves, is that my calves have like no endurance, so I could probably only get through 3 or so DC style reps with around 100#.

So in order to get a decent calf workout, I’d have to either lighten the load substantially, use shorter stretch/holds during the sets, or only do sets of 2 reps. I’m not trying to hijack the thread, so I’ll leave it at that.

Just drop the weight, I had to drop the weight versus when I did them the other way. Wouldn’t hurt to try it:D. Maybe you’ll add an inch or two on your calves.
[/quote]

Cool man. Thanks. I’ll give it a try. I’ve read DC stuff before, but I forget the specifics. What’s the weekly volume DC recomends for calves, and what approach does he take towards lagging body parts?

131

Does anyone remember the article (I think it was Poliquin) that mentioned calves and traps as the 2 muscle groups most dependent on genetics? This thread got me thinking, out of 8 boys in my family, at least 5 of us have big traps, as does my dad, and we’re thick from the ribcage up.

on the other hand- every single one of us has chicken legs, and not from lack of lifting. There’s a former pro football player, strongman competitor, and 3 college ball players, all the same lower legs. Anyone else notice this pattern in their families?

132

[quote]WhiteKnightD wrote:

one a side note, every girl that has mentioned legs to me has said they prefer big thick legs on a guy. girls love big legs and glutes.[/quote]

i agree. any chick whos grabbed my ass said told me how nice it was after.

i say let everyone else not train legs and just do curls and bench, makes me look 100x better.

133

[quote]martyh wrote:
Does anyone remember the article (I think it was Poliquin) that mentioned calves and traps as the 2 muscle groups most dependent on genetics? This thread got me thinking, out of 8 boys in my family, at least 5 of us have big traps, as does my dad, and we’re thick from the ribcage up.

on the other hand- every single one of us has chicken legs, and not from lack of lifting. There’s a former pro football player, strongman competitor, and 3 college ball players, all the same lower legs. Anyone else notice this pattern in their families?[/quote]

my traps, shoulders and forearms blew up in a couple months from lifting. there was actually a point where my forearms and biceps/triceps were the same size my upper arms were probaly like 16 inches then.

people ask me what i do for my shoulders and i say “nothing”. i train my shoudlers bout once a month if i feel like it. but that doesnt mean theyre shoulders are going to get big that way.

i mean im happy with the genetics i got though as far as what bodyparts are easy to bring up.

i mean, having shoulders and forearms means everyone who sees you in a short sleeve shirt or hoody knows you lift. my legs arent great but they arent small either but no one ever notices if you have big legs or not anyways. so yea, i dont have the greatest genes but things could be a whole lot worse too.

134

[quote]martyh wrote:
Does anyone remember the article (I think it was Poliquin) that mentioned calves and traps as the 2 muscle groups most dependent on genetics? This thread got me thinking, out of 8 boys in my family, at least 5 of us have big traps, as does my dad, and we’re thick from the ribcage up.

on the other hand- every single one of us has chicken legs, and not from lack of lifting. There’s a former pro football player, strongman competitor, and 3 college ball players, all the same lower legs. Anyone else notice this pattern in their families?[/quote]

My brother and I are pretty close to the same build, but he has significantly bigger calves than me, but is also significantly fatter than me.

Damn you fat man calves! But I think this does add some credence to the old mantra that the best way to bring up your calves is to put on 50 lbs of muscle and make your calves carry that weight around day in day out.

135

[quote]TBT4ver wrote:
Damn you fat man calves! [quote]

Huh, thats what I sport. Lol. Now a fat bastard wide back thats what I want. With my waist size mind you. I was eating my occasional post-workout 4-5 sushi roll meal when I laid my eyes on a back that would give cutler a run for his money (they probably share the same waist size).

A phenom fat bastard back. I stared in awe at not only that he initially rivalved my sushi consumption but surpassed me by two rolls but by at his majestic width.