+ 7 Dangerdave88's Quad Development Thread
Had a few questions PMd to me after my last leg pic. http://www.eroids.com/pics/quads-at-4-weeks-out
Figured I would cover some of the foundations, go tos and things I use in my leg workouts.
- Always put my heaviest compound lifts at the front of my workout
- Focus on constant tension in my quads and hamstrings
- Squeeze the fuck out of that muscle at the top of every extension
- STRETCH between sets
- Mid workout exercises focus on supersets, trisets and "deathsets"
- Last exercises focus on generating a massive pump to stretch mucle fascia followed by tip number 4.
- Consistency, consistency, consistency
On to the good stuff..
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Always putting heavy sets in the start of the workout. This allows me to move massive wieght causing overall fatigue and muscle trauma. This makes sure you dig deep down into the muscle fibers for the most stimulation. Exercises include Front Squats, Low Bar Squats, Deadlifts (sumo is my prefered) and sometimes leg press. I focus in the 6-12 rep ranges and it changes every 3-4 weeks.
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Focus on constant tension in quads and hamstrings. I dont go A2G every workout because I have to avoid knee issues. I also never lockout my knees at the top of lifts because that transfers weight into my joints and stresses cartiladge.
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Squeeze the living shit out of the muscle at the concentric part of movements. Leg extensions will be my example. I stay in a 8-15 rep range and hold at the top for 2-3 seconds. Check your ego at the door and go with a proper weight. Dont try and go heavy as hell. You need a weight that you can do an easy 8-10 reps without fail but it gets hard around 10-12 reps. Those last 3-4 reps it should be hard to hold at the top for 3 seconds. Always go all the way down to stretch and elongate the muscle fibers so they recieve a full stretch and contraction.
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STRETCH between sets. Nothing crazy just a 10 second quad stretch. This will keep the muscle fascia stretching and allow more blood flow. That gives a bigger pump and we all know a bigger pump means more nutrients to that muscle resulting in ATP recovery and nutrients for repair. This will help in recover of the next few days and allow for more room for fibers to expand and grow.
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Mid workout is my spot for supersets, trisets and my favorite "deathsets". Wont go crazy on explaining this. Start your "death set" heavy and lighten it up to force blood flow and exhaustion. I like to mix in opposing muscle groups to fully pump my whole leg. Quad, ham, quad, both.
Example-
Leg Extensions 8 reps (heavier)
Leg Curls 12 reps (middle weight)
Leg Extension 12 reps (lighter weight)
Seated Machine press 20 reps (feet high on platform for ham activations)
4 rounds -
Pump Sets. Simple really something like hack squats, machine leg press, or even front squats or lunges are perfect. Pick a lighter weight you can do 20 times and go to failure 2 times.
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Consistency. Dont get leg workout A.D.D and skip around doing all sorts of stuff each leg workouts. Hit the same workout 4-5 times before you start changing things. Track your weight and work on improving and increasing weights in certain areas every workout. lots of people get in that comfort zone and stick to the same warmup weights and working set weights. Try throwing on another 10lbs on that last squat set and next time increase all the squat sets by 5 lbs. To put it in math terms relating to volume... if you are doing 4 sets of 10 thats 40 reps total. If you bump 5lbs for all reps in those 4 sets thats an extra 200lbs moved in a workout in that one exercise. the next week you go up by another 5lbs and so on at the end of a month you can move an additional 800lbs in just 1 area of your workout.
If I missed something or you got a question ask away. I LOVE leg days and my coach has actually scaled down my leg workouts because I will hit them so hard they end up growing faster than the rest of me lol. I live for leg day.
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sounds like what i call my leg rape day:) ive put all of my friends through my leg workout similar to what you have outlined above and it always makes them sore for at least 5 days lol. thats what you get when you skip legs hahahahhaha. friends dont let friends skip leg day and if they do you give them so much shit until they comply.
Hell yeah man. NOBODY makes it through my leg day except my current workout partner and even he struggles. For over a year I worked alone for this reason. Lots of people want to lift with me.. They start my split with me Sunday on legs.. Monday shoulders and chest then Tuesday legs again. Nobody makes it past Tuesday haha
i love leg day bro! id totally do your split no whining at all! have you ever done smolov squat routine i posted a thread on it awhile back. its squatting 4days a week lol not to many guys can handle it. i on the other hand love it and have done it three times now. twice alone. my lifting partners are babies when it comes to leg work hahahaha hes a link to my thread check it out please.
http://www.eroids.com/forum/training-nutrition-diet/workout-exercise/gro...
Good info bro +1
You got a fkn great set of wheels on ya
Thanks brother. Hard consistent SMART training pays off. Keep grinding on them legs.
Thanks for the info Dave! Im needing to do some improvement to my legs and found your post very helpful . If i could +1you I would. At 6'3 its hard for me to build mass on these long legs. One thing I didn't see you mention is taking squats to full depth. I always squat deep and when I leg press I come down till my knees touch my chest. Whats your opinion on squat depth in relation to building mass?
Anonnice!
3 and #5 hamstring curls - I flat out can't. I tore my IT band and seemingly a hammie on my right leg in one shot mid 2013 ( not even from fking lifitng! ) and recently had a hernia surgically fixed same side ( got it at work... ) that was only fixed after 10+ months of chilling with a piece of intestine bulging out on that side. Needless to say there's issues with that leg and groin area still.
My legs get stronger constantly faster than any other bodypart in fact 2x over..... I should be able to 405 x 8 on the smith machine I'd think within the next 4-6 weeks. BUT my quads LOOK small as hell. I can make the leg extensions work I just have to do one leg at a time and the weight is so easy isn't even worth doing practically with my good leg does nothing for it yet destroys my right. Still work both anyways.
I'm getting stronger but the size and seperation have been gone since the good ol' days of real squats... you got any suggestions? It's really pissing me off I look like I have chicken legs and they used to be my #1 bodypart it's a genetic strongpoint. I will however focus all my leg presses on hammie activation now... it's been a real bitch to try and get these things going again. I spent 1+ hour a day rolling out stuck fascia with a foam roller on my legs to even stay functional at all I'm sure you do this or have a massage therapist it's fkin painful.
Things I flat out can't do:
- back squats ( Even smith machine tears me up it's hard but I can do it )
- front squats
- deadlifts of any type even with weight like 185 my IT band + hammie will cripple me after one high rep set
Oddly enough hack squats I'm good for same with leg press I'm just very careful, basically anything that isn't free weight. Lunges are painful as fk on the groin but without using weight end of workouts seems to be OK. I don't get it but it is what it is.
I love these types of questions man. You have a challenge BUT at the same time its very easy for you. 3 Things we need to focus on in a situation like yours that limit your exercises and keeping injuries in mind so we dont make them worse.
Pick 2 exercises you can hit heavy. Sounds like Hack and Press are your best bet here. Target a rep range that is in the 12-14 range. You want a weight that is hard at 10reps forcing you to grind out those last ones. Nice slow eccentric movement then explosive concentric. Do around 4-5 sets for each in this range. You should do the first one toes stright out for overall target of the quads. Now if you want more teardrop development toes out at 45degree angle. If you want sweep development spread your feet a bit and bring your toes JUST in past straight. 1 set toes stright then alternate the next 4 sets in/out starting with what you want to develope the most. after 4 weeks go the other way.
For growth you want to start heavy and hit 10 HARD working sets to get your legs rubbery and burning. after this we need to start pumping and getting deep in the muscle fibers with higher reps (nutrition plays a part in this area, more later). you need to get an exercise that will allow you to use semi heavy weight and get 20-25 reps. Simple Options- Leg press, Leg press with feet high (more hamstring activation), one leg Leg press alternating, Split quat with dumbbells, lunges, bulgarian split squats and leg extensions individual legs. Thingabout toes placement to hit different parts of the quads.
Nutrition. Utilize the massive blood flow you can produce in a leg workout. Food is the most anabolic compound because you can manipulate your insulin with it. We wont dive into that parts since its a whole new topic entirely. But the nutrition part.... Increase your preworkout carbs and protein slightly like 25g carbs more and another 15g of protein (solid food is best so it can digest during the workout), 1 hour is usually best so its in your gut and wont come up. During the workout I LOVE intra workout drinks. I go ghetto as fuck and use gatorade for carbs and mix 1 scoop of protein (23g) in another shaker. I sip carbs through the whole workout with about 1/2 gallon of water. RIGHT before I switch from heavy work to pump work I smash the protein, this gives you some BCAAs, glutamine and whey to get in your system. We will try to force this into the muscle during the pump sets. For the gatorade carbs I use about 40-50g and drink it slowly finishing it right before my last set.
It is hard for me to lay out a specific routine for you but I can help get you thinking on how to utilize equipment to target all the muscles and get the most of your leg workouts while dealing with the injury. Let me know what you are thinking with that advice and how you will lay it out and I can keep helping you. It may take a few workouts to dial in the best way to attack it but its very possible.
AnonIf you're willing to take a look at some pics of my legs so you can SEE what I'm going to try and explain I sent you a FR.
There's no way I can adequately explain in words you'd need to see I'm sure. I had a serious thigh injury as a kid at about 11 that has left about a 9 by 1 inch scar cutting what should be the "teardrop" in half for my bad leg about 3/4 of the way up the muscle it runs horizontal across it, since Dr. Dumbass never had me do physical therapy ( NONE!!! ) even though I was in a wheelchair for 2 weeks and on crutches for something like two months. I ended up with scoliosis later on in life as a result of the muscle imbalance and powerlifting in high school unknowingly making it worse.... won't bore with the details but I basically have two chronically pinched nerves, one being my sciatic. The other is no joke either but it effects my arm I've learned to deal with it one of my biceps is just really small lol. Luckily that ( the pinched sciatic ) affects my GOOD leg without the scar lmao, but it also wrecks my low back with massive inflammation on one side if I piss it off to the point of barely being able to walk around for several days. When I hit 365 x 8 on the smith machine last leg workout that did me in for three whole days didn't even go to the gym just stretch stretch stretch and deep tissue massage - home massage the best I can manage can't afford a therapist.... it's a bitch sometimes I kind of gave up on legs because of it but fuck that I'm more motivated than ever now.
HOWEVER hack squats don't do much to my sciatic, and leg press doesn't hurt it at all. There's hope! lol!
It's a complicated case, but I think I can work around it intelligently and still sport some decent enough legs it'll just take serious work.
Really appreciate the time bro. I also have a question about nutrition I'd really love to ask but it's not suitable for the open forum.
AnonReally appreciate the great reply but don't have the time to respond adequately right now I'll get back to this.
Whenever you get time bro. No rush I'm on usually every evening so I will get back
"Leg workout A.D.D" lol! Stellar thread bro solid advice!
Haha thats something my coach said months ago and it stuck. It explains soooo many people and thier rountines. Thanks man