Help: Lagging Body Part

[x~factor]

Right now I train each bodypart once a week. I would like to bring up my legs a lot more than where it is right now. I would sometimes squeeze in a leg workout in between my normal workout schedule, ending up doing legs twice a week. Is this a smart thing to do or am I overtraining? Should I just stick to my normal schedule and just up the number of sets or reps or exercises?

My legs are not really 'lagging' per se, I just want them to be HUGE compared to the rest of my body to the point I want to stop doing upper body exercises and just do legs evertime I go to the gym... okay that's an exaggeration... but you guys know what I mean.

How do you guys deal with a lagging body part?

 

[Built]

Maybe stop training each "part" only once a week.

 

[x~factor]

Maybe stop training each "part" only once a week.

You mean, do them twice a week? I don't think my body can handle that much. As it is, I feel doing legs twice a week is pushing it.

Right now I'm doing:

Day 1. Legs, Calves
Day 2. Chest, Triceps
Day 3. Back, Biceps
Day 4. Shoulder, Abs

 

[Built]

Split up your leg work. One day, do heavy hamstring work with high-rep quad work. The other day, do heavy quad-dominant work with high-rep hamstring movements such as leg curls and SHELC.

 

[zoco]

Or you can decrease the volume (do just the compound movements like squats,presses and deadlifts) and do them twice a week OR do them twice one week and only once the other week.

you can do squats on Monday and Leg presses on Friday for example.

 

[x~factor]

Or you can decrease the volume (do just the compound movements like squats,presses and deadlifts) and do them twice a week OR do them twice one week and only once the other week.

you can do squats on Monday and Leg presses on Friday for example.

The volume is pretty low as it is, I think. A typical leg workout looks like this:

Squat (currently doing 5/3/1)
Deadlift 3-4 sets, 4-8 reps
Leg Press 3-4 sets, 8-12 reps OR Leg Raises 3-4 sets, 8-16 reps (which exercise depends on how beat up my legs are at this point)

That is it for legs, then I do one movement for calves. My legs always feel beat up at the end of the workout, so I feel I am doing enough but I am willing to up the sets if that's what it will take.

I've been doing twice a week lately, I don't feel or see any progress though... I will try high rep/low rep as Built suggested.

 

[jmpsuperman]

Thanks for posting!!!

 

[jmpsuperman]

Good post!!!!

 

[x~factor]

Bumping this up.

In general, what's your method of getting your lagging bodypart up to par?

 

[Rahl]

What I like to do is the twice every other week set up. So if you train 4 days a week come up with a 5 day split where the 5th day spills into the first day of week 2. Set it up so that one week you have one leg day and the next week you have 2 and keep them split up as much as possible.

 

[Calves of Steel]

Split up your leg work. One day, do heavy hamstring work with high-rep quad work. The other day, do heavy quad-dominant work with high-rep hamstring movements such as leg curls and SHELC.

Wow that's a really good idea. I've been wondering the same thing. I'm gonna give this a try.

 

[dogsoldier]

Since you are 15 and have a long way to go, why not build a solid foundation? Do a nice 5x5 program that really hits the whole body? Yes, I am a fan of 5x5 programs. something like this for 12 weeks.

Monday and Friday

Squat
flat bench press
barbell row
military press
chins
straight leg dead lift

Wednesday

flat bench press
barbell row
military press
wide grip pull downs
dead lift

This my current program. OK, I squat all three days, I just can't help myself. Just start low, add 5 pounds to every workout. Don't scoff at starting very low weight, this routine will bust you right up.

 

[x~factor]

Since you are 15 and have a long way to go, why not build a solid foundation? Do a nice 5x5 program that really hits the whole body? Yes, I am a fan of 5x5 programs. something like this for 12 weeks.

Monday and Friday

Squat
flat bench press
barbell row
military press
chins
straight leg dead lift

Wednesday

flat bench press
barbell row
military press
wide grip pull downs
dead lift

This my current program. OK, I squat all three days, I just can't help myself. Just start low, add 5 pounds to every workout. Don't scoff at starting very low weight, this routine will bust you right up.

If you squat all 3 days and if you really look at your program, you do the same workout Monday/Friday and Wednesday.

 

[dogsoldier]

If you squat all 3 days and if you really look at your program, you do the same workout Monday/Friday and Wednesday.

OH shit, I messed that up. Hang on.....

Monday and Friday

Squat
flat bench press
barbell row
military press
chins
straight leg dead lift

Wednesday

Squat
incline bench press
wide grip pull downs
Barbell shrugs
dead lift

 

[OneWheyOrAnother]

Bro.... if you can squat 3 times a week, you aren't squatting heavy enough.

I squat ONCE per week, ass to the ground. Anymore and I won't make gains on my squats.

I like to do something like this on my legs day.

135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 5
255 x 3
285 x 1
315 x 6-8

Depending on my rep range week. I like to switch it up, I do 2 weeks of low reps, higher weight 4-8 reps, then 2 weeks of lower weight, 8-12 reps.

Take this from me, my legs are huge. Actually out of proportion to the rest of my body.

My true "WORK SET" of squats, almost has me fainting from the intensity and hanging onto the squat rack trying to catch my breath. It leaves my whole body SHAKING from just blasting my CNS.

Make sure you are doing squats ass to the ground. Don't do bitch squats.
After my legs day, my legs are so smashed, that I can only do rack deadlifts, because my legs can not handle any more until the next week.

I, like you, used to do squats 3 times per week. And the only time I can make consistent gains doing them that often was when I was taking steroids. As soon as I dropped it down to twice a week, I started gaining. Then I hit another plateau, dropped it down to once per week, and I'm gaining consistently every week now.

No other body part of mine can do that.

 

[dogsoldier]

Bro.... if you can squat 3 times a week, you aren't squatting heavy enough.

I squat ONCE per week, ass to the ground. Anymore and I won't make gains on my squats.


My true "WORK SET" of squats, almost has me fainting from the intensity and hanging onto the squat rack trying to catch my breath. It leaves my whole body SHAKING from just blasting my CNS.

I, like you, used to do squats 3 times per week. And the only time I can make consistent gains doing them that often was when I was taking steroids. As soon as I dropped it down to twice a week, I started gaining. Then I hit another plateau, dropped it down to once per week, and I'm gaining consistently every week now.

No other body part of mine can do that.

I have always been able to pound the crap out of my legs. I am not body building, my program is simple strength. This is what I do, day 1 heavy, day 2 medium, day 3 light. So this Monday I will be squating with 250, Weds will be 180 and Friday will be 100. Every week 5 pounds is added until I stall.

After 12 weeks, I take a week off and then go to a more conventional one body part per day program.