Widowmaker / Working out until failure for lower muscles?

[bla55]

Hey all,

Wanted to get some input, hopefully get some feedback based on actual experiences.

More and more I hear about how lower muscles do experience a good growth with a higher rep range / until failure approach, hence the Doggcrapp approach of going all out on the first one and then lowering the weight and then going for a Widowmaker at 20 reps or so. I also read some quite extensively on people having that kind of success with calves, and this is where it all originated, and wanted to get some feedback.

I've always had issues growing my lower body, despite training hard every week.

Last week I gave a go on my calves at a new routine; it did the 5 sec neg, 5 sec stretch, 10 rep exercise as per doggcrapp and then lowered the weight, did as many as I could (about 15), lowered it again, did as many as I could (about another 15), and then again, at this point almost no weight left and did as many as I could (got to 20), to a total of basically 60.

My calves were really, really sore the day after, and I work them out all the time; I know there is no direct correlation into sore muscles and muscle growth effectiveness, but it was a pretty interesting sign as I had always gone pretty hard on my legs / calves workout and so I wanted to get some other inputs on this subject.

Any thoughts?

 

[hvactech]

i always do high rep/fails on calves and abs..bi's i try and stay 12-15

 

[Geoforce]

Hey all,

Wanted to get some input, hopefully get some feedback based on actual experiences.

More and more I hear about how lower muscles do experience a good growth with a higher rep range / until failure approach, hence the Doggcrapp approach of going all out on the first one and then lowering the weight and then going for a Widowmaker at 20 reps or so. I also read some quite extensively on people having that kind of success with calves, and this is where it all originated, and wanted to get some feedback.

I've always had issues growing my lower body, despite training hard every week.

Last week I gave a go on my calves at a new routine; it did the 5 sec neg, 5 sec stretch, 10 rep exercise as per doggcrapp and then lowered the weight, did as many as I could (about 15), lowered it again, did as many as I could (about another 15), and then again, at this point almost no weight left and did as many as I could (got to 20), to a total of basically 60.

My calves were really, really sore the day after, and I work them out all the time; I know there is no direct correlation into sore muscles and muscle growth effectiveness, but it was a pretty interesting sign as I had always gone pretty hard on my legs / calves workout and so I wanted to get some other inputs on this subject.

Any thoughts?

In my opinion the best thing you can do in the gym is what you haven't been doing, especially if you've been doing a similar routine for a long time. I'd say if you've repeatedly gone low and heavy for a long time a short cycle of higher reps may be perfect for some new growth in your lower body muscles.

 

[tigerdb2]

Eccentric contractions do more damage in terms of microtrauma which would explain the unusual soreness.

 

[fadi]

That doesn't sound like DC training, but regarding the widowmaker, it is based on the Breathing Squats. You pick a weight you can do 10 to 12 reps with and force 20 reps out of it, this is for squats by the way. You don't do it with a weight you can do 20 reps with. That is why it is a widowmaker. Breathing Squats can put on size no doubt. But not many can stick with it because it is extremely demanding.

You can search this forum for 20 reps squats or widowmaker, there are few threads about it.

 

[liljohn]

Hey all,

Wanted to get some input, hopefully get some feedback based on actual experiences.

More and more I hear about how lower muscles do experience a good growth with a higher rep range / until failure approach, hence the Doggcrapp approach of going all out on the first one and then lowering the weight and then going for a Widowmaker at 20 reps or so. I also read some quite extensively on people having that kind of success with calves, and this is where it all originated, and wanted to get some feedback.

I've always had issues growing my lower body, despite training hard every week.

Last week I gave a go on my calves at a new routine; it did the 5 sec neg, 5 sec stretch, 10 rep exercise as per doggcrapp and then lowered the weight, did as many as I could (about 15), lowered it again, did as many as I could (about another 15), and then again, at this point almost no weight left and did as many as I could (got to 20), to a total of basically 60.

My calves were really, really sore the day after, and I work them out all the time; I know there is no direct correlation into sore muscles and muscle growth effectiveness, but it was a pretty interesting sign as I had always gone pretty hard on my legs / calves workout and so I wanted to get some other inputs on this subject.

Any thoughts?

The best way to get thick legs (including calves) is to sprint. Ive only ever run and sprint for my legs and they are huge. Start yourself a sprinting regime. Sprinting only takes a few minutes to get a work out and all it takes is will power.