What Rep Range For Leg Size?

Training Bodybuilding
41

waylanderxx: exactly my problem with the calves. lol when i wear shorts ppl claim i have chicken legs, then when i show off my quad ppl go “dang dood your clothes hide it your quads are waaay bigger than i thought or your quads are hyyyoooge so do you never train calves or what” and i answer with a grunt yes i train my stinkin calves they just wont grow! lol but ya no matter what i do with calves they don’t grow and never feel like i kicked their ass. lol…genetics sometimes i swear. lol jk…

and as far as the lunges go I’ve notice that I add more sweep to my quads and my hamstrings grow a little, this only with barbell walking lunges and if i’m adding them to my workout after taking a few weeks/months off from them. Standing lunges with dumbbels seem to just add a little to a workout but i’ve never added just them to see if they made a huge improvements .vs. changing rep ranges on squats or something that i would most likely give the credit too.

dankid: my definition of reaching hypertrophy with legs is when you are walking out of the gym questioning your manhood and sanity…going DAMN I DONT KNOW WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED IN THERE BUT I’M NEVER DOING THAT AGAIN!

then find yourself reminded of that the next 3-4 days while your quads are recovering…lol…when you can’t pick up your laundary basket because your legs are sore…LOL thats what hypertrophy feels like i hope if it’s not it’s probably not good for me. LMAO

42

Yah man fuck calves lol, they don’t grow.

43

[quote]dankid wrote:
Unless you have an endless supply of steriods or perfect genetics, you should be training for both strength and size.[/quote]

I agree with this thinking completely; there really is no “best” rep range. In general and its sort of a wierd line of thinking; but you should probably doing the opposite of what ever program you are following. In other words, if you are on a mass routine of like 12 reps you should probably be on a strengh routine with less reps of 5. The reason i say this is that most people have been following the same routine for months; if not years, which is to long; mixing things up is best way to make gains; you may want to try alternating on a monthly basis between high and low reps…

44

[quote]ds77 wrote:
dankid wrote:
Unless you have an endless supply of steriods or perfect genetics, you should be training for both strength and size.

I agree with this thinking completely; there really is no “best” rep range. In general and its sort of a wierd line of thinking; but you should probably doing the opposite of what ever program you are following. In other words, if you are on a mass routine of like 12 reps you should probably be on a strengh routine with less reps of 5. The reason i say this is that most people have been following the same routine for months; if not years, which is to long; mixing things up is best way to make gains; you may want to try alternating on a monthly basis between high and low reps…
[/quote]

Yah good point. Like I said I’ve been doing low reps for core exercises and higher reps for assistance work for almost 4 years haha so I want to try 12 reps+ for all exercises for the next 2 months and then switch back to lower reps to hopefully stimulate some new growth.

I really need to get a workout log lol, this shit happens when you go by memory

45

hey, i fell into the same trap as you but sort of opposite, i was doing high reps for all the core and assistance stuff.

I was wondering why i wasnt seeing progression-- and my solution was not a solution as i kept saying to myself — well i need to add more sets and more work; but never thought of changing my rep scheme… then i started looking at this forum as well as others and realized - hey it might be time to change up the rep scheme or something.

One thing i did learn also is that when you change your rep scheme; you also need to change your ri’s — if you go high rep try and get to a 1 minute rest period; if you go low rep – just increase as neeeded

46

To the OP what are you current strength levels in your main lifts?

47

[quote]Dirty Gerdy wrote:
waylanderxx: exactly my problem with the calves. lol when i wear shorts ppl claim i have chicken legs, then when i show off my quad ppl go “dang dood your clothes hide it your quads are waaay bigger than i thought or your quads are hyyyoooge so do you never train calves or what” and i answer with a grunt yes i train my stinkin calves they just wont Grow! lol but ya no matter what i do with calves they don’t grow and never feel like i kicked their ass. lol…genetics sometimes i swear. lol jk…
[/quote]

Gerdy, what do you currently do for calves? Or more specifically, HOW do you do your calf exercises?

If you haven’t already tried this, next time you go train calves try this:

Pick a calf exercise (could be for the soleus or gastroc, doesn’t matter) and do a progressive warm-up until you get to a weight where you think you could get somewhere around 10-12 reps.

Now, for your working set (and yes, if you do this right you’ll only be doing 1 set) do your reps in the following fashion:

  1. lift all the way up, as high as you can, actually trying to come up onto your toes

  2. now perform a slow 5 second negative (actually watch the second hand on a clock, or have a friend count out the seconds to make sure that you don’t cheat, because you will as the set goes on) going all the way down

  3. hold the bottom fully stretched position for 15 seconds (again use a clock or partner to make sure you don’t cheat) on every single rep

  4. repeat until you reach failure (and I mean that you cannot lift the weight again, not until you can’t handle the pain from holding the stretched position any longer)

If you do this, you will probably hate me. But I guarantee that your calves will also burn like nothing you have ever felt before and you will probably be limping around after finishing your set.

I got this technique from Dante Trudell (so not taking credit for inventing it or anything) and I have noticed significant improvement in my calves since doing so (along with some seriously strange looks from fellow gym patrons LOL).

As far as the original topic goes, I too like a mix of lower reps/heavier weight to really help build strength, and higher reps/“lighter” weight to really stimulate growth. Also do both in the same workout.

48

[quote]dankid wrote:
To the OP what are you current strength levels in your main lifts?[/quote]

Bench-410
Squat-450
Deadlift-I have no idea, I don’t have straps or gloves an I tried maxing the other day and it just ripped my calluses off as soon as I picked up the weight lol so Idk when I’l be attemoting that again
Military Press- 100 lb DB’s x4(yes with full ROM) Idk max though

49

Lol sentoguy don’t be spreading that evil thing in my thread!!

50

Ya those are some good strength numbers, so you should definately do some higher volume work. You may even want to give EDT a try.

51

[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
Lol sentoguy don’t be spreading that evil thing in my thread!![/quote]

Haha, hey man, just trying to be helpful. :wink:

52

whats this EDT thing?

53

[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
Dirty Gerdy wrote:
waylanderxx: exactly my problem with the calves. lol when i wear shorts ppl claim i have chicken legs, then when i show off my quad ppl go “dang dood your clothes hide it your quads are waaay bigger than i thought or your quads are hyyyoooge so do you never train calves or what” and i answer with a grunt yes i train my stinkin calves they just wont Grow! lol but ya no matter what i do with calves they don’t grow and never feel like i kicked their ass. lol…genetics sometimes i swear. lol jk…

Gerdy, what do you currently do for calves? Or more specifically, HOW do you do your calf exercises?

If you haven’t already tried this, next time you go train calves try this:

Pick a calf exercise (could be for the soleus or gastroc, doesn’t matter) and do a progressive warm-up until you get to a weight where you think you could get somewhere around 10-12 reps.

Now, for your working set (and yes, if you do this right you’ll only be doing 1 set) do your reps in the following fashion:

  1. lift all the way up, as high as you can, actually trying to come up onto your toes

  2. now perform a slow 5 second negative (actually watch the second hand on a clock, or have a friend count out the seconds to make sure that you don’t cheat, because you will as the set goes on) going all the way down

  3. hold the bottom fully stretched position for 15 seconds (again use a clock or partner to make sure you don’t cheat) on every single rep

  4. repeat until you reach failure (and I mean that you cannot lift the weight again, not until you can’t handle the pain from holding the stretched position any longer)

If you do this, you will probably hate me. But I guarantee that your calves will also burn like nothing you have ever felt before and you will probably be limping around after finishing your set.

I got this technique from Dante Trudell (so not taking credit for inventing it or anything) and I have noticed significant improvement in my calves since doing so (along with some seriously strange looks from fellow gym patrons LOL).

As far as the original topic goes, I too like a mix of lower reps/heavier weight to really help build strength, and higher reps/“lighter” weight to really stimulate growth. Also do both in the same workout.[/quote]

wow, definitely very different from any calf exercise i’ve done. Right now I throw them in the beginning and end on leg days. I do 4x25 (idk what to call them calf raises on a leg press) i do them 2x25 toes out, then 2x25 toes in. After this I follow with standing calf raises toes straight for 2x25 or seated calf raises 2x25.

Occaisionally I throw a plate under and on top of my toes and lift the toes to train the tibialis anterior. Another one I’ve occasionally done was lie revers on a leg curl machine and pull the toes in, it also hits the tibialis.

I will definitely try your routine tho…sounds fun in a sick and painful way :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: lol my only question is that, by failure, do you mean to a point where you can’t come up high on your toes, or you literally cannot lift the weight and it’s just stretching in the rest position?

-Gerdy

54

I should add that I do the higher reps because i’ve heard the calves grow better with higher reps. I’ve done heavy reps before but find that I don’t perform them with good form so i’ve stuck with lighter weight/high reps for calves.

55

[quote]Dirty Gerdy wrote:
I will definitely try your routine tho…sounds fun in a sick and painful way :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: lol my only question is that, by failure, do you mean to a point where you can’t come up high on your toes, or you literally cannot lift the weight and it’s just stretching in the rest position?

-Gerdy

[/quote]

Failure will depend on the machine you’re using.

If you’re doing leg press calf, hack squat calf, or standing calf on a smith you can go to the point where you can’t press back up onto your toes, no matter how hard you try, and then slowly lower back to the bottom stretch position and re-rack the weight.

On seated calf raises though if you do this you won’t really be able to get the weight racked again. So I usually just go to the point where I’m giving it everything I’ve got to just reach the racked position.

56

[quote]Dirty Gerdy wrote:
I should add that I do the higher reps because i’ve heard the calves grow better with higher reps. I’ve done heavy reps before but find that I don’t perform them with good form so i’ve stuck with lighter weight/high reps for calves.

[/quote]

Calves respond better to high TUT’s, that could be one reason why some people recommend higher reps. Higher reps also generally mean better form, as you noted.

The method I described will give you plenty of TUT, and you should use weight that you know that you’ll get at least 12 reps with to start. If you’re really worried about form be conservative and choose an even lighter weight. It really doesn’t matter so much the first time around. You’re gonna keep going until you reach failure anyways, where exactly you reach it will tell you whether you went too light, too heavy, or right on.

57

Thanks Sentoguy! I do not have legs planned until next tuesday or so due to some inconveniences but next time I train legs I will definitely give this a try and probably curse you while doing them, then thank you again later. lol

Gerdy

58

Just finished my leg workout. Man these high reps are killing me. I used to be able to throw in biceps or triceps at the end of a leg workout so I wouldn’ waste a day on them but NOPE not anymore lol. After I finished today I seriously had to sit down for about 10 mins, recollect myself, and then I was able to walk out. So fucking intense. Heres what my workout looked like:

ATG squat 1 min rest b/w sets
1X15 135
4X12 235
1X10 135

SLDL: 1 min rests
4X12 145

Leg press: 1 1/2 min rests
3x20 6 plates

Leg extensions: 30 second rests
4x20 150

I couldnt even manage to do calves today, my legs kept buckling, so I’l have to do those tomorrow. I have started to completely dread leg days which means what I’m doing is obviously working lol. Thx again for the great advice guys, I can tell it’s gonna pay off. Btw I think Im gonna turn this into a workout log for my legs so I can keep track of what Im doing, and so if anyone cares, they can see as well. I’l measure my thigh next time I go home so I can see what kinda size progression I’m making.

59

As a side note.
Maybe try single leg, leg presses.

  1. Saves loading up a bunch of plates
  2. Gives you more focus on the individual leg
  3. If you need to bail out you can easily pop up the other leg and crank it back up
  4. With the other leg on the floor better chances of keeping your back from rounding
60

I’ve tried it single legged but it feels so wierd. It feels really uncomfortable when the leg I’m working is at my chest and the other is just chillin on the ground. Idk its like a wierd stretching sensation that I dont particulary like.