Only doing squats for legs

[walugi]

Hi guys, I rarely do anything else other then squats for legs. I feel so wasted after squats already. Although I don't work them out that much (ie squats only) they're in proportion to the rest of my body as I play a lot of indoor and outdoor soccer.

The doms are bearable if i just do squats, but if i do leg press as well then it takes me 3-4 days to recover. This is annoying as I have soccer peppered throughout the week. I don't mind playing sore, but it is quite taxing and ruins my workouts at night.

So is just doing squats okay? I do about 60kg for 3x8 then move on. Not bone crunching, but still a challenge with the last few reps

 

[UKStrength]

Just doing squats is fine if optimal leg development isn't your priority right now.

 

[walugi]

Well I do squats because i've read about the benefits of testosterone being released from working out your big muscle groups. Will I get any of those benefits from just doing squats?

Also, if its my exercise is should i do more reps? Or just go heavier and do less reps?

 

[UKStrength]

You could try changing the rep range to a strength-bias e.g. 3-5 reps, you'll get very little in the way of hypertrophy but still get all the systemic hormone benefits (GH, Test etc).

If you do try this though, change the number of sets you do to 5-6 and increase your rest time to at least 2 minutes.

 

[slacker86]

I highly suggest you do deadlifts as well. Training an agonist and not the antagonist will not make you much more efficient in any sport unless its doing squats. On top of that you could potentially set yourself up for injuries.

 

[walugi]

Yep I do deadlifts already, but on back days. Should I be doing deads as well after squats if I am not doing back?

 

[zwimox]

Not really, but it's up to you, if you feel you can "squeeze" those in :006:

 

[UKStrength]

If you do full, olympic-style squats, with good form, then you don't have to do deadlifts (it trains both the biceps femoris and quadriceps adequately).

I'll go with you though mate and suggest that he does it anyway for sheer lift awesomeness! (no better feeling than deadlifting a ridiculous amount from the floor ) Just go a bit lighter.

 

[darkshadow]

I mostly only do squats for legs, well except for calf raises, but I do half squats, a2g squats, I use wide leg and close leg squats, and I always put my lower back into it to get a killer back pump

 

[suncloud]

Well I do squats because i've read about the benefits of testosterone being released from working out your big muscle groups. Will I get any of those benefits from just doing squats?

Also, if its my exercise is should i do more reps? Or just go heavier and do less reps?

the muscles in question would be quads and glutes. make sure you get to at least parallel, though ATG squats will give you a better effect. if you're training for straight up test release (strength), keep your rep range around 4-6, with a three minute break in between sets. IMO.

Yep I do deadlifts already, but on back days. Should I be doing deads as well after squats if I am not doing back?

no. keep deads on back day. do stiff legged deadlifts (SLDL) to train the hamstrings

 

[fightbackhxc]

usually if you keep your leg workouts strong your doms will not last as long as 3-4 days once you get use to training them. This comes with proper sleep and recovery tho. Thats just my experience.

 

[brk_nemesis]

well at least you are doing squats,.. I have seen people only do leg extensions, or nothing at all for legs, lol.

 

[UKStrength]

well at least you are doing squats,.. I have seen people only do leg extensions, or nothing at all for legs, lol.

Wow, it's like my gym..

 

[walugi]

the muscles in question would be quads and glutes. make sure you get to at least parallel, though ATG squats will give you a better effect. if you're training for straight up test release (strength), keep your rep range around 4-6, with a three minute break in between sets. IMO.

yep atg every time. I feel strange not going down completely, its like curling halfway. I dont get why people even bother squatting 45 degrees. It looks ridiculous and unnatural.

usually if you keep your leg workouts strong your doms will not last as long as 3-4 days once you get use to training them. This comes with proper sleep and recovery tho. Thats just my experience.

I find that working legs gives me a particularly draining feeling in my legs. Not having power in my legs really makes me feel quite lethargic and slow. The first time I went hard on squats it took me 25 minutes to walk a distance that usually takes 10. I was in horrific pain trying to walk, yet I had hamstrings, arse and thighs absolutely dominated by DOMs.

well at least you are doing squats,.. I have seen people only do leg extensions, or nothing at all for legs, lol.

lol. Thankfully the leg extension machine is on the other side of the gym to the weights room. Phew

 

[fightbackhxc]

I was just saying that if you keep working your legs hard your body will get use to it and you wont have DOMS nears as bad. Once again assuming your eating and sleeping properly.

 

[brk_nemesis]

Wow, it's like my gym..

Yup its quite funny, we have so many guys walk in with a good amount of upper body mass, and NO LEGS. In fact theres a few who I can think of now that are pretty massive, prolly 20' guns at the least, and have quads maybe half that,.. muhahaha. I think its becoming the new trend in America,..... "Be cool, and only do upper body workouts!!!!!":laugh2:

 

[walugi]

if you cut one of those guys in half you'd think the bottom belonged to some skinny guy who reads all day and has never done anything more strenuous then run. Then their top is built like ****, and you can tell they've been working out for years.

 

[MoTiV]

If your playing soccer there is no need to do a lot of different leg exercises as this would lead to overtraining.

I almost always just do squats for my leg workouts but I follow Prilepin Principles which allow me to squat for about an hour so I get a good workout.

Regular squats bother my knee so I've finally made the switch to box squats only. I usually alternate between // back box squats (hams and glutes hit hard due to the ability to push your glutes back further than normal) and front box squats below parallel for a crazy quad workout. I should throw in a day of split squats soon.

If your hams aren't getting worked enough in your squats you could look into doing pullthroughs after your squats.

 

[GymRat7197]

Hi guys, I rarely do anything else other then squats for legs. I feel so wasted after squats already. Although I don't work them out that much (ie squats only) they're in proportion to the rest of my body as I play a lot of indoor and outdoor soccer.

The doms are bearable if i just do squats, but if i do leg press as well then it takes me 3-4 days to recover. This is annoying as I have soccer peppered throughout the week. I don't mind playing sore, but it is quite taxing and ruins my workouts at night.

So is just doing squats okay? I do about 60kg for 3x8 then move on. Not bone crunching, but still a challenge with the last few reps

Heavy, full range of motion, below parallel squats are all that's needed to develop leg muscles. If you're doing deadlifts on top of that you'll develop extremely big legs in no time.