Wheels!! Whats a bad ass routine for legs?

[doebaseball]

I was just wondering what you guys would recommend for a mass routine for legs, Im pretty happy with where my legs are right now but i would be even more happier if i could get some meat on them, my food and protine intake is striaght, for some reason i just cant get the mass i would like. Any suggestions?

 

[performance_issues]

try this routine

leg curls 5x12
squats 4x20
sissy squats 2x20

do the leg curls first

 

[BigGreen]

Another suggestion:

Try treating your hams and quads as different bodyparts if you do not already. I'm not lumping you into this category, but I'm shocked at the number of people who strictly dedicate separate workouts, strategies, days, etc to biceps and triceps, but treat "legs" as one singular muscle. Admittedly, the hams and quads, at least functionally in a gym setting, will tend to work much more in conjunction with one another than bis and tris (deep squats for example), but that does not necessarily preclude them being treated as separate body parts.

With the caveat that I am a zealot when it comes to dramatically altering my routine every two months (it was westside training a while back, then DFHT, now I'm on a more traditional bodybuilder split), here is what my current routine looks like for each. I'm not saying my legs are the best by a longshot, but they are probably my best bodypart. Currently, quads and hams are hit on different days

QUADS:
*True Pyramid Squats 15, 12, 8, 5, 8, 12, 15
*Leg Presses 3 sets of 8-12
*Barbell Hack Squats 3 sets of 8-12 OR Front Squats 3 sets of 8-12
*Walking Lunges 135 to "functional" failure

HAMS:
*"Manual" Hamstring Raises 4 sets of 4-6 (2 negatives on last set everyother week)
*Lying Leg Curls 4 sets of 13-15
*Stiff Leg Deads 4 sets of 8-12

I've responded pretty favorably to this routine thus far.

 

[The Bionic Man]

Can you explain some of these exercises? Particularly "true pyramid" squats and "manual" hamdtring raises?
Also, I understand you train hams and quads on different days...how many days between each?

 

[BigGreen]

Can you explain some of these exercises? Particularly "true pyramid" squats and "manual" hamdtring raises?
Also, I understand you train hams and quads on different days...how many days between each?

My apologies in the confusing term of "true pyramid". I didnt' mean to imply that true pyramid squats are any different than "normal" squats...it's just that so many people assume that pyramid these days means work your way up to the heaviest weight and then stop (which would be a ramp, not a pyramid) so I tend to put "true" before "pyramid" to stress the fact that you work your way back down as well. If done intensely, the way down will find you using significantly less weight than on the way down. For example, if you use 275 as your 15 rep set on the way up, if the other sets are done hard, you may be down all the way to 245 or 225 for your 15 rep set on the way down.

With regards to manual ham curls, they're much like glute/ham raises with a greater percentage of stress shifted off the glutes and onto the hams. The best description I've seen accompanined by pics can be found here: http://www.stumptuous.com/badham.html

Currently, I "prioritize" quads by hitting them early in the week (usually monday when everyone else in the gym is doing chest) and then go by "feel" as to when I'll hit hams (I squat pretty deep, so my hams are hit fairly hard when I squat), though it is normally been the case that three days separate the two.

 

[The Bionic Man]

Great explanation...I never really thought of the "true pyramid" explanation. I, I'm sure like many other people, considered pyramiding to be just going up in weight and down in reps.

And that manual hamstring curl...WHOA!!! That looks brutal!