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muscular vs. strong?

workinglegs

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I know a a girl at the gym with legs much more muscular than mine but I never see her lift any heavy weights? Is it possible to be more muscular than someone but not as strong? Her legs are much more muscular than mine but I doubt as strong and frankly I'd rather have bigger legs rather than stronger ones ...

I've posted in this in a few different forums ... looking for some further insight on building up my legs ...
 
Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy versus myofibrillar hypertrophy, run a quick search. Not everyone is built with the same fiber type distribution also, you can change it to some degree based on your training (this many fast twitch, this many slow twitch).
 
my goal is size ... not really strength

Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy versus myofibrillar hypertrophy, run a quick search. Not everyone is built with the same fiber type distribution also, you can change it to some degree based on your training (this many fast twitch, this many slow twitch).

so what do you think about building a strength base? Does that make sense as a start?
 
I bet she uses synthol
 
She's obviously been at it allot longer than you have. She's also much leaner. Just look at the vacularity in her abdomen.
She probably blasted them heavy years ago to get the size she wanted and now simply maintains.
You'd be surprised how much more muscular one looks with very thin skin.
She does have excellent quads though. Yum!
 
I know a a girl at the gym with legs much more muscular than mine but I never see her lift any heavy weights? Is it possible to be more muscular than someone but not as strong? Her legs are much more muscular than mine but I doubt as strong and frankly I'd rather have bigger legs rather than stronger ones ...

I've posted in this in a few different forums ... looking for some further insight on building up my legs ...

both pics look like womens legs are they?
 
So.. did you actually stop this woman and ask if you could take a picture of her legs??
That's just a little creepy.
 
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the legs on the left look more masculine
 
Why would a man compare his legs to a woman's?
If his legs are bigger/stronger, so what he's a man.
If they're smaller/weaker, then teasing/shit talking is sure to follow.
Gotta be a troll, been alot of them around here lately.
 
My legs looked bigger when I mountain biked and earlier when I ran track... they weren't bigger. They just looked like it proportionally. I'm fast twitch in the right places. I've known this for years. My hams,ass and calves are huge compared to, my quads. Visually people look at the quads. In my mind I decided that it was the burn in mountain biking that made my quads bloat. I changed what I do to start burning the quads just see if that was it. For me it is.
 
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A lot of folks dont work hams properly, get that unbalanced look.

A great pair of hams gives that nice solid thickness in the side profile
 
for a bunch of reasons ..

Why would a man compare his legs to a woman's?
If his legs are bigger/stronger, so what he's a man.
If they're smaller/weaker, then teasing/shit talking is sure to follow.
Gotta be a troll, been alot of them around here lately.

first off ... cuz that's the basis of my question ... I see a lot of WOMEN with great muscular legs who are NOT all that strong. Even proportionately. Which makes me think that lifting real heavy isn't necessarily the way to go if you want more muscular legs. In fact a lot of these girls have never done a squat in their lives and still have great legs.
And, frankly, I see a LOT more women with muscular legs period. Most guys don't have muscular legs. So that's the reason I compared with a woman's legs ... that and I tend to look at a lot more women's legs at the gym. They're NICE. And no I didn't take this picture ... I found it ... pretty close to some of the girls I see .... anyway ....
 
recommendations?

so .... I've been doing the stronglifts 5x5 and am wondering if big legs are automatic with strong legs. If I build up to 315 on the squat is that an automatic for much more muscular or do I build to 275 and then start doing more reps and sets?
 
..could be that a 5x5 routine is a strength-based program, not a muscular/mass- based program.

There are plenty of power lifters out there that can squat double what I do, yet I have the same or bigger legs than they do.

Strength does not always equate to mass.
 
Big muscular legs are the product of training for size, eating for size, then cutting for definition. Has very little to do with strength.
 
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Well first of all, her legs aren't really much bigger than yours. They do, however, have the illusion of being a lot bigger because she is leaner, shaved, and tanned. That aside, there are numerous contributing factors that determine one's strength.

As Mudge said, inherent fiber type plays a role. You must also consider the neural component, which encompasses both intramuscular and intermuscular coordination; the former includes things like improved rate coding, greater fiber activation, improvement in sarcoplasmic reticulum function, and others, while the latter is a fancy way of saying very efficient form and recruitment patterns throughout the body. There are also improvements in energy system efficiency: the storage and usage of appropriate substrate. There are also biomechanical factors that play quite a substantial role. Not to mention, in almost all of the lower body lifts, there are many more important muscles than just the quads.

You must also consider how long you've seen her in action. Do you know for a fact that she isn't just in a phase of her training where she isn't dealing with heavy weights? Maybe you only see her on days when she's modulating the intensity?

Food for thought. Cheers.
 
follow-up

Well first of all, her legs aren't really much bigger than yours. They do, however, have the illusion of being a lot bigger because she is leaner, shaved, and tanned. That aside, there are numerous contributing factors that determine one's strength.

As Mudge said, inherent fiber type plays a role. You must also consider the neural component, which encompasses both intramuscular and intermuscular coordination; the former includes things like improved rate coding, greater fiber activation, improvement in sarcoplasmic reticulum function, and others, while the latter is a fancy way of saying very efficient form and recruitment patterns throughout the body. There are also improvements in energy system efficiency: the storage and usage of appropriate substrate. There are also biomechanical factors that play quite a substantial role. Not to mention, in almost all of the lower body lifts, there are many more important muscles than just the quads.

You must also consider how long you've seen her in action. Do you know for a fact that she isn't just in a phase of her training where she isn't dealing with heavy weights? Maybe you only see her on days when she's modulating the intensity?

Food for thought. Cheers.

Bunch of thoughts ... you think the key is rep range ... like higher reps? I've heard that since college. 8-12 reps to failure. As I think I've mentioned I've been doing the stronglifts 5x5 program just since November ... thought I'd try it to get my squat up a lot. In the past I've done squats and deads and lunges and presses and hacks in some form or fashion but never enough to really get the weight up at least not with decent form.

The reason I reference the girls in the gym is that they seem to have the "best" legs. I rarely see any guys legs that I'd trade with. There are a lot of guys that are stronger and can lift a ton but they rarely have legs that "look" as muscular or as good as a lot of women I see? Which is kind of what got me thinking about this topic.

Back to reps I've hear the 12 ... but also 20 or more?

Is it medium weight with lots of sets and reps? Some guys have told me the range is totally custom to your body type .... Type 1 vs. Type 2 fibers, etc, etc.

How would you suggest experimenting to find the range and how long should you work a program until you think you should have gained some measurable leg size?

Appreciate the help and advice ...
 
Just lift weights and eat a lot of food. Don't overcomplicate things. If you're squatting 5x5 and not gaining mass, you're not eating enough.
 
Bunch of thoughts ... you think the key is rep range ... like higher reps? I've heard that since college. 8-12 reps to failure. As I think I've mentioned I've been doing the stronglifts 5x5 program just since November ... thought I'd try it to get my squat up a lot. In the past I've done squats and deads and lunges and presses and hacks in some form or fashion but never enough to really get the weight up at least not with decent form.

The reason I reference the girls in the gym is that they seem to have the "best" legs. I rarely see any guys legs that I'd trade with. There are a lot of guys that are stronger and can lift a ton but they rarely have legs that "look" as muscular or as good as a lot of women I see? Which is kind of what got me thinking about this topic.

Back to reps I've hear the 12 ... but also 20 or more?

Is it medium weight with lots of sets and reps? Some guys have told me the range is totally custom to your body type .... Type 1 vs. Type 2 fibers, etc, etc.

How would you suggest experimenting to find the range and how long should you work a program until you think you should have gained some measurable leg size?

Appreciate the help and advice ...

Okay, I think we have a misunderstanding. I thought that photo was literally of some girl at the gym who you were comparing yourself too.

Also, when I mentioned rep range, again I thought you were referring to one person in particular. So I was suggesting that if you saw them working with really light weights, then maybe that was a planned part of their program, and you might be surprised if you saw them in a more intense/heavy phase. However, again, there seems to be a misunderstanding.
 
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