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Building big legs

tytn9

tytn9

New member
I have been including lower body into my exercises within the last 3-4 months, iv taken a two week break and I'm about to get back on it an serious again, I have made very good gains in every department since I started (strength/hypertrophy/endurance/power) but I want to change things up a bit.

So I was wondering if all the people on here that have gained big leg achievements could give me the workout or particular exercise that worked for them personally? I do understand that different things work for different people, but my body seems to adapt very fast.
 
1) Barbell Back Squat (low-bar style for more hams and glutes/ high-bar for more quads development)
2) Leg Press
3) Hack Squat
4) Stiff legged deadlifts
5) Waling barbell lunges
 
When I started to split my training for legs between quads and hams I really started to get size, especially on calves because I was training them twice a week. Just a sample:

Quads and calves Super sets:

BB Squats / Smith Machine Calf Raises
Leg Extensions / Seated Calf Raises
Leg Press / Leg Press Calf Raises
Front Squats / Single Leg DB Calf Raises

Hams and calves Super sets:

RDL's / Seated Calf Raises
Leg Curls / Leg Press Calf Raises
SLDL's / Single Leg DB Calf Raises
DL's / Seated Calf Raises

Change it up how you see fit but made a huge impact on size, strength, and explosiveness. My vertical for volleyball went from 28" to 33", and I'm a 6'1" white guy.
 
mountainman33 said:
When I started to split my training for legs between quads and hams I really started to get size, especially on calves because I was training them twice a week. Just a sample:

Quads and calves Super sets:

BB Squats / Smith Machine Calf Raises
Leg Extensions / Seated Calf Raises
Leg Press / Leg Press Calf Raises
Front Squats / Single Leg DB Calf Raises

Hams and calves Super sets:

RDL's / Seated Calf Raises
Leg Curls / Leg Press Calf Raises
SLDL's / Single Leg DB Calf Raises
DL's / Seated Calf Raises

Change it up how you see fit but made a huge impact on size, strength, and explosiveness. My vertical for volleyball went from 28" to 33", and I'm a 6'1" white guy.
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Looks like a solid session right there. Even though sldl followed by rdl I would probably not do :)
 
Montego1 said:
Looks like a solid session right there. Even though sldl followed by rdl I would probably not do :)
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If I did DL's on ham day it was with lighter weight and higher reps. Sometimes I'll combine RDL's then DL's in the same set. That is a killer I was shown in college by the hockey team's strength coach.
 
If your trying to get bigger legs one thins you could do is have two leg days during the week. One day could be all quad exercises and the next day could be all hamstring exercises. I've found that it has made my legs grow and I normally have a hard time in that area.
 
Beast30 said:
If your trying to get bigger legs one thins you could do is have two leg days during the week. One day could be all quad exercises and the next day could be all hamstring exercises. I've found that it has made my legs grow and I normally have a hard time in that area.
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This is what I do lately. I found doing quads and hamstrings on the same day was just too taxing to hit both adequately enough.
 
tytn9 said:
I have been including lower body into my exercises within the last 3-4 months, iv taken a two week break and I'm about to get back on it an serious again, I have made very good gains in every department since I started (strength/hypertrophy/endurance/power) but I want to change things up a bit. So I was wondering if all the people on here that have gained big leg achievements could give me the workout or particular exercise that worked for them personally? I do understand that different things work for different people, but my body seems to adapt very fast.
Click to expand...



Lying leg curls - 2-3 warm up sets. For the first 3 sets do 12 full range of motion reps. On the last one we are going to do a drop set with partials. Do 12 reps, drop the weight and do 8 more, drop the weight and do 8 more, then do 25 partials out of the stretched position. 4 total work sets.

Leg press - Make sure you do plenty of warm ups. Just do a standard pyramid doing 10 reps until you get to a weight that you can barely do for 10 reps. On this last set of 10, when you know it's your last one, get out of the machine after the set and then proceed to do a walking lunge with just your bodyweight for 20 steps on each leg. You only need to do the set of lunges after the last set on the leg press.We'll call this 4 working sets. 4 total work sets.

Leg extensions- On these, kick the weight up as hard as you can. You don't have to pause or squeeze. Use a heavy weight on these. These will actually blow your quads up. So again, use heavy weight, kick hard, and do 4 sets of 10 reps. 4 total work sets.

Squats-After 1-2 lighter sets, start doing working sets of 8 with deep reps. You don't have to bury these, but do try and get just a tad below parallel. Do 3 sets of 8 pyramid style. For example on these I did 315, 375, and 415 for 8. It was real tough after all the other stuff, but they felt awesome with the overload of blood in my legs.

Dumbell stiff legged deads - Do 4 sets of 10. Work the stretch, your legs will be tight and full of blood. 4 total work sets.
 
Your legs are mostly comprised of type 1(slow twitch) muscle fibers, so higher rep work is most likely going to generate the most growth. Ive swapped to splitting my leg day into quad dominant day and hamstring dominant day; it has done wonders for me. I love it. For moat of the exercises try and lift in a slow and controlled manner; dont just fly through the lift like your racing. Try and keep tension on your muscle; and really feel it working. Right now reps wise i do slight warmup then 1st set is 14-16 reps: 2nd set is around 12 reps and 3rd set is 10. Sometimes i go to 8 but most of the time i try and go back up to a little higher rep range like 14-18.
 
jake3137 said:
Lying leg curls - 2-3 warm up sets. For the first 3 sets do 12 full range of motion reps. On the last one we are going to do a drop set with partials. Do 12 reps, drop the weight and do 8 more, drop the weight and do 8 more, then do 25 partials out of the stretched position. 4 total work sets. Leg press - Make sure you do plenty of warm ups. Just do a standard pyramid doing 10 reps until you get to a weight that you can barely do for 10 reps. On this last set of 10, when you know it's your last one, get out of the machine after the set and then proceed to do a walking lunge with just your bodyweight for 20 steps on each leg. You only need to do the set of lunges after the last set on the leg press.We'll call this 4 working sets. 4 total work sets. Leg extensions- On these, kick the weight up as hard as you can. You don't have to pause or squeeze. Use a heavy weight on these. These will actually blow your quads up. So again, use heavy weight, kick hard, and do 4 sets of 10 reps. 4 total work sets. Squats-After 1-2 lighter sets, start doing working sets of 8 with deep reps. You don't have to bury these, but do try and get just a tad below parallel. Do 3 sets of 8 pyramid style. For example on these I did 315, 375, and 415 for 8. It was real tough after all the other stuff, but they felt awesome with the overload of blood in my legs. Dumbell stiff legged deads - Do 4 sets of 10. Work the stretch, your legs will be tight and full of blood. 4 total work sets.
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Seriously? You post this without giving any credit to the guy who designed it or even mentioning that you just stole it?
 
I do hamstring things first. Squatting is usually only about twice a month, and I do a lot of high rep stuff / short short breaks for every other exercise
 
GeekPoop said:
I do hamstring things first. Squatting is usually only about twice a month, and I do a lot of high rep stuff / short short breaks for every other exercise
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If you want big legs I would highly suggest squatting more frequently. Squats are hands down the #1 mass builder for your wheels. Heavy squats will yield results I promise
 
johntpatterso said:
If you want big legs I would highly suggest squatting more frequently. Squats are hands down the #1 mass builder for your wheels. Heavy squats will yield results I promise
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thats how u built ur wheels dawg?! Haha, I haven't done a squat in over 5 years. My quads just got huge magically. Natty for life is giving good advice there
 
NattyForLife said:
Your legs are mostly comprised of type 1(slow twitch) muscle fibers, so higher rep work is most likely going to generate the most growth. Ive swapped to splitting my leg day into quad dominant day and hamstring dominant day; it has done wonders for me. I love it. For moat of the exercises try and lift in a slow and controlled manner; dont just fly through the lift like your racing. Try and keep tension on your muscle; and really feel it working. Right now reps wise i do slight warmup then 1st set is 14-16 reps: 2nd set is around 12 reps and 3rd set is 10. Sometimes i go to 8 but most of the time i try and go back up to a little higher rep range like 14-18.
Click to expand...

This works. I would even venture to 20 reps on some days to really create growth spurts.
 
NattyForLife said:
IMO a 20 rep set is WAY harder than just 3 reps near maximal weight.
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High reps are needed for leg growth though. Look at speed skaters. At points in their training they'll do 2 minutes straight of leg presses. The Olympic ski team will have to squat their body weight 30 times at the end of workouts before their coaches will let them call it a day. And in both cases they have serious leg development.
 
mountainman33 said:
High reps are needed for leg growth though. Look at speed skaters. At points in their training they'll do 2 minutes straight of leg presses. The Olympic ski team will have to squat their body weight 30 times at the end of workouts before their coaches will let them call it a day. And in both cases they have serious leg development.
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Yeah, usually when I hear a guy saying to lift heavy for bigger growth, I also observe:

1) He hasnt lifted weights very long and is just experiencing growth from merely showing up and DOING a leg routine

2) He was naturally well-built in the legs and/or was already over weight and had lots of size already

3) Both 1 & 2

Any other body part except back & legs I could see that lower rep ranges and super heavy weight could cause grow, especially chest and arms.
 
How do you guys feel about lower vs. higher reps for hams? I'm pretty sure hams are very type 2 dominant so I'm just curious if you guys prefer higher reps even for hams?
 
Rarchib said:
How do you guys feel about lower vs. higher reps for hams? I'm pretty sure hams are very type 2 dominant so I'm just curious if you guys prefer higher reps even for hams?
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For hamstings its a muscle you really need to contract as hard as you can when doing any kind of leg curl variation. As for reps i usually just stick with 8-16 range. Slow and contolled manner. If hypertrophy is you main goal "time under tension" is your friend!
 
NattyForLife said:
For hamstings its a muscle you really need to contract as hard as you can when doing any kind of leg curl variation. As for reps i usually just stick with 8-16 range. Slow and contolled manner. If hypertrophy is you main goal "time under tension" is your friend!
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Thanks brother. Fighting off a hamstring tear from about 2 years ago that just keeps coming back to haunt me. Need all the help I can get for hammys
 
NattyForLife said:
For hamstings its a muscle you really need to contract as hard as you can when doing any kind of leg curl variation. As for reps i usually just stick with 8-16 range. Slow and contolled manner. If hypertrophy is you main goal "time under tension" is your friend!
Click to expand...

Another good post. 2 for 2!
 
mountainman33 said:
When I started to split my training for legs between quads and hams I really started to get size, especially on calves because I was training them twice a week. Just a sample:

Quads and calves Super sets:

BB Squats / Smith Machine Calf Raises
Leg Extensions / Seated Calf Raises
Leg Press / Leg Press Calf Raises
Front Squats / Single Leg DB Calf Raises

Hams and calves Super sets:

RDL's / Seated Calf Raises
Leg Curls / Leg Press Calf Raises
SLDL's / Single Leg DB Calf Raises
DL's / Seated Calf Raises

Change it up how you see fit but made a huge impact on size, strength, and explosiveness. My vertical for volleyball went from 28" to 33", and I'm a 6'1" white guy.
Click to expand...

That workout looks great, especially the calf work... What are RDL's though? I do deads between my grip on the bar (those are regular I think) on back day, I don't do sumo, and the straight leg deads on leg day. I am thinking of splitting legs up so I was wondering
 
elias050 said:
That workout looks great, especially the calf work... What are RDL's though? I do deads between my grip on the bar (those are regular I think) on back day, I don't do sumo, and the straight leg deads on leg day. I am thinking of splitting legs up so I was wondering
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Romanian deadlifts. Variation of a straight leg dead lift. Same form as SLDL but you end your knees slightly.
 
NattyForLife said:
Romanian deadlifts. Variation of a straight leg dead lift. Same form as SLDL but you end your knees slightly.
Click to expand...

Well dang. I've been doing Romanians all along... I always thought straight was bad, I dunno why... So those two exercises don't do the same thing?
 
elias050 said:
Well dang. I've been doing Romanians all along... I always thought straight was bad, I dunno why... So those two exercises don't do the same thing?
Click to expand...

RDLs good for heavy weight and strength, SLDLs good for size/hypertrophy. Shouldn't go as heavy on SLDL though because it places a lot of stress on your knees.
 
mountainman33 said:
RDLs good for heavy weight and strength, SLDLs good for size/hypertrophy. Shouldn't go as heavy on SLDL though because it places a lot of stress on your knees.
Click to expand...

I did a hybrid last leg day. Romanian on the way up, stiffleg on the way down. Kickos muchos assos
 
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