katt

I'm looking to put size on my legs, in general.. quads mostly..

Currently I'm doing 8-12 reps,,, squats, extensions, ham curls, sldl & regular deads.. What is your opinion on building size? Massive reps? Less reps, more weight? Taking the muscles to failure? Or do you think in general just changing it up every so often, like every 3 months or so will do it?

Comments? Suggestions?

KelJu

I do not go to failure with legs. I don't even go max effort until last set. Personally, I have made fantastic gains by moving up weight each set, but keeping close to the same reps. I wouldn't do leg extensions, because the movement has a sheering effect on the knee joint.

I would try Bulgarian squats or lunges instead.

katt

I do incorporate walking lunges, but the weight is minimal, imo.. maybe I should raise the weight on those??

KelJu

Yeah, raise the weight to a level that it presents a challenge while maintaining good form.

fufu

Bulgarian squats!

I don't like failure, because it can screw with the whole workout. Especially on lower, if you take all the muscles to failure you won't have much more to go. So if you do, leave it till later.

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Bakerboy

Also, I would say work on your flexibilty so you can increase your range of motion on movements like squats. I agree with fufu- bulgarians are evil but great! I think switching up your rep range is a good idea too in 2 week cycles something like 12 x 3, 8 x 3, 5 x 5, 3 x 3.

No strength within, no respect without - Kasmiri Proverb

Duncans Donuts

3 sets of ass to the ground squats to failure with a 2 second pause on the bottom.

"in the howling bleeding nights, the dogs plunge into the Volga and swim desperately to gain the other bank. The nights of Stalingrad are a terror for them. Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure."

AKIRA

To failure? Really? On all 3 sets?

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Duncans Donuts

I do 2 sets, but I started with 3.

I perform this once every 7-8 days. I vary the rep schemes, rest intervals, etc.

"in the howling bleeding nights, the dogs plunge into the Volga and swim desperately to gain the other bank. The nights of Stalingrad are a terror for them. Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure."

BoneCrusher

Add to duncans routine sets of standing kicks. After squats I do front, side, and back kicks. I do these while standng on one leg through all three directions ... front*side*back ... without ever letting the action leg touch the ground until after I complete the back kick and have returned to stance. I do my first set at a slow speed 10X's then switch legs. I hit that 3X's then repeat at a faster speed. I normally do 3 sets with the third set at a good clip.

I wear ankle weights like these on the second and third set. It's important not to swing your hands around to provide counter balance as you kick. Keep your hands in close to your chest and force your body to develop that balance through proper form. Start out keeping the kicks down to waste level, but as you stretch and develop the exorcise a good goal would be to eventually aim at head level. After you get the technique down work on speeding it up after the first set. Follow this with stretching ... ya gotta stretch after.

This is a hella leg workout. This does work the entire upper leg, but it will put serious emphasis on the quads. You get the added benefit that if you ever need to kick someone for self defense reasons the kick will come naturally with severe force. You won't even have to think about it, that kick will just sorta *boink ... fly out there.

KelJu

I find that going to failure on more than one set of the same exercise always ends up with over training, and gains stop. Maybe you just have better genetics than me.

Duncans Donuts

Squatting to failure is something very few people can do; usually there is a safety concern as well as failure in the erector spinae and general fatigue (especially from compressive force of the bar on the spine, etc)

So when I say failure on squats, take that for what it's worth. And I usually supplement the less frequent workouts with a bit more volume, so I get to recover over a long period of time. Higher volume also tends to give my muscles a fuller look (probably through sarcoplasm storage of glycogen and such).

"in the howling bleeding nights, the dogs plunge into the Volga and swim desperately to gain the other bank. The nights of Stalingrad are a terror for them. Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure."

katt

ok - well I guess i'm goin to hurt for a while then...

2 second pause at the bottom? Ouch!

Phred

I do this 3-4 sets, pause at the bottom. However, I rarely go over 10 reps. Usually target 8 reps execpt on power week it is more like 5. And failure is not total exhuastion for me, but more of a form issue. If I cannot keep good form I stop. I squat in a rack so I can push it, but I do not want to risk an injury either.

If you always have a great day, you will always have a great life.

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RockSolid

i did this for like one month, it was hard as hell to make myself do it but all around i got way stronger.

mon - upper push
tue - squat, walking lunges, sldl, calves
wed - off
thurs - upper pull
fri - deadlift, front squat, leg ext and calves

it was the bes thing i ever did, i didnt exactly do the push pull for mon and thurs but do whatever u wanna do. Im gonna prob do ths when i get back from school.

katt

I don't know if I can get away with doing legs twice a week,, I don't think I would have enough recoop time, with my age.. you're still young - but then again, who knows?

fufu

Might you find the added weekly volume could help with size, just back off a bit than what you normally do in one day.

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Your diet will set you free.

CowPimp

Pausing at the bottom is brutal. I've done those before. Extremely painful and difficult. I've done the same with Bulgarian squats, and that is just incredibly painful.

In response to the original post, have you tried anything more intense than 8-12 reps? How about 3-6 repetitions? Try to recruit those highest threshold motor units.

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fufu

Good to have you back posting in the training section.

fufu's 1337 Journal

Your diet will set you free.

Bakerboy

here, here!

No strength within, no respect without - Kasmiri Proverb

Seanp156

Personally, heavy weight(relatively) and low reps works best for me regarding back squats.

For instance, I'd opt to do 6 sets of 3 reps with 315-335lbs rather than 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps with 255-275lbs... Then again, I am a powerlifter, not a bodybuilder, and hate squatting for reps over 6.

For rep work I'll use the leg press, bulgarian squats, lunges, etc.

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katt

You know, I have never tried doing lower reps.. granted on my last sets, I may get 5 or so, but maybe that would kick it up for me if I concentrated on heavier and less reps.

I need to get past the weight on my shoulders though,, I don't know why, but on my last couple sets, as soon as I feel the weight on my shoulders I kinda freak out a bit.. maybe I need to turn up my mp3 player so it's louder

It's good to see you posting again!