I want big legs

[petercharlton]

Hi all. my legs are such hard work, ive tried all kinds of training and still theyre arent in proportion to the rest of my body. Anyone have any suggestions or anyone experienced the same dilema and have solved it. would love some advice.

 

[barrysanders]

What is your routine right now for your legs?

 

[petercharlton]

twice a week. Different exercises each workout but same rep range which has been, 6-10 but for next 4 weeks will be 12- 15. I do squats deadlifts lunges, split squats, curls extensions, calf raises, seated and standin, leg presses, hack squats

 

[barrysanders]

How many set are you doing??

 

[petercharlton]

normaly 4 of each so 20 each workout

 

[petercharlton]

barry i take it you train your legs hard and arent just a lucky chap with huge quads!

 

[barrysanders]

You have to think about it this way. You legs are a bigger muscle group which means that in order for them to grow you need to go heavy (in order to get hypertrophy and good contractions and pumps) and you need to do 2x's more the sets you would do for other muscle groups. Others will disagree-but how big are their legs....lol

Conclusion: You need to go as heavy as you can espcially on sitting leg extensions and squats. And you need to do as many set as you can to achieve hypertrophy and good contraction. Example-I do about 6-8 sets just for leg extensions repping about 12-15 per set (remember, you need to double what you do for your legs compared to arms or shoulders etc). You MUST add weight each week, at least 5lbs. If you can't do 5lbs more the following week keep the weight for the next week until your able to conquer that feat.

During my leg workouts I can barely stand it burns so bad. When you get to that point KEEP GOING-thats where extra sets come in.

Now if your looking for just definition of the legs thats a whole nother story. Meaning, you dont have to go so heavy. But to get those wheels to grow you MUST go heavy and get your set & reps up.

 

[petercharlton]

so hopw many exercises would you do, say 4 so a total of approx 240reps? and how many times a week do you train. my problem has been ive tried to go heavy yet been doing fewer reps, so my weights will have to drop and reps go up.

 

[Blondie_Bombshell]

Mine started to grow more when I split them up into hams- monday, quads-thursday.

Barry is right you have to train legs hard, it hurts. Usually after I train legs I have a hard time sleeping bc of leg cramps and muscle spasms.

How long have you been lifting? What is your diet like?

 

[petercharlton]

diet is poor and was thinking of doing a plan for myself this week. I'm an ectomorph and have always been lean and defined obviously and so really never thought too much about diet but now i want to get bigger i know i need to. I've been training for just over 2 years

 

[petercharlton]

i use to get tha tfeeling when i trained legs like coming out from the gym and almost falling up the stairs, ive gone heavier but dont get that feeling anymore. So more repe eg 12-15 and how many sets 6? would that be on all leg exercises?

 

[petercharlton]

would you be so kind as to tell me how you split your days up? which exercises you do for hams and which for quads?

 

[barrysanders]

Blondie is right. I forgot to mention splitting up your leg workouts can give you more isolation in building up certain areas. It is something new that I just incorporated about 4 months ago and it has done wonders.

Example for me: I work out quads & hamstrings on MOndays. Then calves on Thursdays.

I have a log that I started about 4 months ago you should check out (its in the Online Journal section of Ology towards the bottom). It will give you my workouts for my legs. Its called "Wanna see big gains" I dont list everything I do but it might give you a basic understanding and good start.

PS. If your diet is poor your not going to grow. 2 most important things are routine and diet.

 

[petercharlton]

so you split your legs hams and quads one day the calfs only on another? how many differnt exercises you do for calfs i only do seated and standing, never really play around with the foot position. I do all in one day and do twice per week, i thought about splitting hams and quads but never thought do day just on calfs and mine are so small. where can i see your log?

 

[barrysanders]

Peter: Let me break down my most basic (meaning I wouldnt go any less reps/set as this) leg routine.

Quads/Hams day.
Squats:
set1 135lbs 10x's
set2 225lbs 10x's
set3 315lbs 10x's
set4 405lbs 10x's
set5 475lbs 10x's
set6 500lbs 6-10 x's
set7 585lbs 3-6 x's

Seated leg Extensions (i do 1 leg at a time)
set1 100lbs 15x's
set2 130lbs 15x's
set3 140lbs 15's
set4 150lbs 15's
set5 160lbs 15's
set6 170lbs 15's
set7 180lbs 15's
Then I do about another 3-4 set with both legs simaltaneously:
set1 235lbs 20x's
set2 270lbs 20x's
set3 305lbs 20x's

Seated Leg Press
set1 270lbs 10-15x's
set2 360lbs 10-15x's
set3 450lbs 10-15x's
set4 540lbs 10x's
set5 630lbs 10x's
set6 720lbs 6-10 x's
set7 810lbs 4-8 x's
(keep in mind that these are full presses. Knees to chest and push (that is a must).

Hacksquat
4 sets medium weight (starting to cool down).

Hamstring extensions
6-10 sets 15 reps

Lunges with 70lbs Dumbells.
40 lunges='s 4 sets.

And that would be a quad/hamstring day for me.

 

[barrysanders]

Calf day (I also do triceps on calf day as well).

Seated Calf extensions
7 sets, reps 12-15. Weight 45lbs-180lbs (adding 25lbs per set)

Smith Machine calf raises.
set1 135lbs 10-15x's
set2 225lbs 10-15x's
set3 315lbs 10-15x's
set4 405lbs 10-15x's
set5 495lbs 10-15x's
set6 585lbs 10x's

Then I jump to what I call the "girly" machines for calves.

seated calf presses- 7 sets
another calf extension where you can do I foot at a time-7 sets.

 

[petercharlton]

thanks so much looks so much differnt to mine, do you do anything else on calf day or just those, i dont know any other calf machines, maybe so on leg press one at a time . plus the leg press knees coming to chest is so different for me thats great. might try split the quads and hams what do you think?

 

[barrysanders]

I love doing the split. It gives more attention to the muscles your training. Thats about all I do for calfs. There are tons of different exercises though. When I'm getting bored I just u-tube videos and find new ones to perform.

Keep a journal of some kind as well. That has always helped me that way I'm always adding at least 5lbs per week & keeping track of progress.

 

[Blondie_Bombshell]

You could have the best workout routine, but with out the proper diet you wont grow.

 

[petercharlton]

thanks so much for your advice, i will sort out diet and try this split, maybe could do calfs and arms on same day as just calfs on one day seem extreme, as i said might try split the hams and quads but think i"ll try your workout. Will have to keep you posted on the results, great meeting you both as such. I am new on here and seems real helpful site.