+ 1 "Why do I have crap legs?"
I often get quizzed on legs. My quads are one of my strongest body parts.
I was talking to a guy in the gym this morning who I see three or four times per week. The lad trains pretty hard to be fair. When I got there this morning, he was in the squat rack. I'd guess he's 5-10, 190lbs ish. He's got 1 plate each side on the bar. I'm training chest, probably 30ft away. After about ten minutes he cones over and says hello etc and starts saying how much he hates training legs. I'm guessing he's done two or three sets of squats, still with one plate per side as I look across at the bar.
He tells me his legs are crap, (they are), and he asks about routines etc. I reply with "tell me what you'll do today" his response as follows:
Warm up
3x10 squats, (10 reps of 60kgs, what?)
3x10 leg press
3x10 leg extensions
3x10 calf raise
3x10 stiff legged deadlifts
Let me skip to the end if this guys workout. He walks out of the gym fine and gets on his motorbike to go home.
What's the problem here? Why are his legs crap?
I'll tell you a secret. Your quads, in particular, are a huge muscle. They carry your weight around all day. They take a lot of punishment day in day out. In order to inspire growth, you need to beat the living day lights out of them. Watching a guy complete sets of squats and barely being out of breath is a joke. I often get nose bleeds squatting from pure exertion, at very least at the end of most sets I'm thinking "I'm done, no more". A 190lb guy squatting 60kgs for sets of 10 is NOT pushing themselves, he's not even close. In fact he's pretty much wasting his time in my eyes. No weight, no volume.
Let me be crystal clear about keg development. It hurts. It takes more out of you than any other training. It also doesn't respond to half-arsed training that done may be able to get away with on certain body parts. If you want to know who can take pain, look at their quads.
To end the story, I asked this lad if he wanted to train legs with me, he said yes please. I've warned him it's going to hurt. I'll let you know how long he takes before he throws in the towel. This is the type of session he'll be facing:
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Im like you, quads have always been my strongest body part, if my upper body could catch up to the lower i would be a much more impressive body builder lol. there are so many variables to leg training, playing with rep ranges really makes a big difference too.
i use rep ranges as low as 6 on heavy squats or hacks and as high as 80-100 sometimes for a burnout drop set on leg extensions. generally i prefer somewhere between 10-20 reps for most leg movements though.
like you mentioned legs can take a beating. super sets, tri sets, drop sets, rest pauses, paused reps, explosive concentric movements with controlled slow eccentric. these should all be part of your program for legs. its not uncommon for me to finish a set by falling down or having to roll out of the machine and lay on the ground for a few minutes after a set because i cant stand another moment.
Just the way you describe your training is exactly why your legs are a strong body part.
I love when I do legs til failure attempt to walk away and almost collapse.
bigurielFWIW I've made the best gains on my legs training higher frequency. At one point I was squatting 5x5 3x a week. I was constantly tired and sore but my quads sure grew.
Powerlifters and olympic lifters training squats several times a week are on to something there.
Keg devolepment, I like that!!!! Got kegs???
Lol - missed that typo! Probably more appropriate for New Year's Eve.
I had to split leg workouts into 2 days. 1 day focused on quads and the other focused on the hams. Ran out of steam trying to do both in 1 day and whatever was worked at the end was just getting a half-assed workout. I can work in more overall volume and keep the workouts more intense this way. Leg day also does not become so intimidating then either.
I've done that too Mak. I train calves other days too to avoid the problem of not training them properly at the end of a tough leg day.
After a hard leg workout your legs feel like noodles barely holding up your own weight. That poor kid by the time you're done with him he's going to be having trouble riding that motorbike home.
Nobody should be able to ride a bike after training legs. I rode bikes until I was in my late twenties. I had a serious accident and the wife said "it's me or the bike". After a close call, she eventually forgave me for saying "can I think about it". It was the one day of the week I'd always take the car.
TronI feel sick and have even thrown up after a hard leg session. I hate the session and love it at the same time....just like my wife.
That's a very good analogy T.
Bet he misses the gym a full week after the session if he makes it through it haha
Well, he asked for it. Hope he wears his big boy pants.....