Haven't done legs in a while, but I should! Please help with my problem

[Harry Seaward]

Hello -

I've been training semi-seriuosly for about 16 years, currently 30 years old. In the past, I have rocked legs and they were always one of my biggest strengths.

HOWEVER - Not being able to fit into jeans, and since it's just plain easier not to do legs and just run or bike, I haven't done them in about 4 years.

I've recently made a decision to get serious (as opposed to just semi-serious) about exercising and bodybuilding, likely due to the fact that I just turned 30 and don't want to admit defeat i.e. the fact that I've already peaked. I know that doing squats etc. will increase the overall muscle mass in my body and benefit my entire body, not just legs, and increase my overall metabolism and reduce fat.

My question is: What's the best way to incorporate legs back into my regiment WITHOUT getting them too big? Also, without taking too much attention away from upper body and core.

I am 5'10", 195 lbs, relatively low body fat - last time measured was 8% but that was 10 years ago, although I'd say I'm the same if not less now.

I do:
Day I: Chest / Bi's / Forearms / Cardio

Day II: Abs / Back / Cardio (I find that if I do abs first I'm able to really whale on them)

Day III: Shoulders / Tri's / Cardio

Considering:

Day IV: Legs???

In case anyone cares or might find this workout helpful, this will be my workout:

Back:
Pull Downs - 8,8,8,8 (I'll pick a weight can do 4 times, drop it to the next weight I can do 4 times making each set 8 with the last one doing a negative)
Dumbell Rows - 4 sets (usually something like 10-8-6-6)
Pullups - 3 sets to failure
Reverse Cable Pulldowns - 3 sets about 8-10 reps

Abs:

Weighted Ball Crunches: 4 sets
Roman Chair Leg Raises: 4 sets
Ball Crunches: 4 sets

Chest:

DB (slight) Incline Bench: 12,10,8,6
Cables / Incline Pushup Supersets: 4 sets
High Rep Bar Bench Press: 4 sets

Bi's:

Christian Curls - 4 sets (Hold right arm perpendicular while slowly doing 4 DB curls w left arm, vice-versa, then 10 curls w both all with low weight)
Hammer Christian Curls - 4 sets
Reverse Bar Curls - 3 sets
Bar Curls - 3 sets

Shoulders:

Bar Press - 10,8,6,6
Lateral Raises - 15,12,10,8
Reverse Cable Flys - 4 sets
Front Rope Raises - 3 sets

Tri's:

Seated Overhead Rope - 15,12,10,8
Close Grip - 15,12,10,8
Cable Pressdowns - 10,10,10,10

Cardio: Usually whatever it takes to burn 350 - 400 calories; this way I'll know that every 10 workouts that burns one lb of fat (3500 calories)

Any help would be much appreciated

 

[Sonny1011]

This is what you want to do
leg extentsion : warmup, 2 working sets, then 1 to utter failer. Higher rep for these
leg press: a set of 10 to 12, perfect form and not to failure, add some heavy weight and do 6 to 8 to failure
hack squat: keep your feet close together and go all the way down: 2 sets, second to failure
then hamstrings and calves
shouldnt take long but if you do it right and go to absolute failure it can be brutal

 

[Harry Seaward]

Cool thanks brother, I'll definitely incorporate at least some of that sounds pretty good

 

[Resolve]

If you want to minimize hypertrophy, focus on strength and power. Low reps, explosive reps, and high weights. Focus on squats, squat cleans, deadlifts, good mornings and variations of those for 1-5 reps.

 

[mattsams89]

If you want to minimize hypertrophy, focus on strength and power. Low reps, explosive reps, and high weights. Focus on squats, squat cleans, deadlifts, good mornings and variations of those for 1-5 reps.

This.

Strength necessitates some hypertrophy, but strength endurance work (i.e, somewhere between 8-12 for most people) is where you will see the most myofibrillar hypertrophy. High rep sets, burnouts, etc. produce more sarcoplasmic. Don't worry about the terms, but keep most of your work in the 3 and 5 range, and if you still balloon up, let's trade genetics. Hit some 10s as they are beneficial for work capacity, but 5x5 will be similar in volume to 3x10.

Also, you could include (marginally) more cardio post workout. Ride the bike or something for maybe 15-30 minutes after your training sessions a few times a week. I don't have empirical evidence, but I can guess it will at least blunt hypertrophy (we won't get into the science for now).

Regardless, don't worry about iso movements and stuff like leg press for now. Squat, deadlift, front squats, RDL, etc will he your best friends.