Leg Hypertrophy Program

JReinhal

Member
Hello,
I've spent most of the year working the Starting Strength protocol. While I made decent gains in strength, my leg size did not change much. I have genetically skinny legs. I'm looking for a highly regarded leg hypertrophy program, while at least maintaining upper body development.
Thank you all in advance.
 
JReinhal said:
Hello,
I've spent most of the year working the Starting Strength protocol. While I made decent gains in strength, my leg size did not change much. I have genetically skinny legs. I'm looking for a highly regarded leg hypertrophy program, while at least maintaining upper body development.
Thank you all in advance.
Click to expand...

I made some decent gains with GVT last year, but have had great results this year (last few months, actually) with John Meadows' MountainDog routines. He switches it up weekly, uses banded tension, reverse banded, and a slew of different rep ranges, volume, etc.

Without fail, my legs are destroyed weekly, and my quads and hams both have made great progress.
 
JReinhal said:
Hello,
I've spent most of the year working the Starting Strength protocol. While I made decent gains in strength, my leg size did not change much. I have genetically skinny legs. I'm looking for a highly regarded leg hypertrophy program, while at least maintaining upper body development.
Thank you all in advance.
Click to expand...

How long have you been training? Do you have any experience prior to Starting Strength?

If hypertrophy is your main goal, one thing that can help is being concious of the muscles being worked during specific exercises. Putting more focus on actually working the target muscle(s), as opposed to just moving the weight can be beneficial for growth.

I wouldn't recommend jumping into Mtn. Dog or other advanced training programs, unless someone already has years of (proper) training experience, has mastered the basic movements, and has built a solid strength and muscle base. Adding bands, chains, and various intensity techniques will only complicate things when solid progress could be made with a more basic approach.
 
breezy11 said:
How long have you been training? Do you have any experience prior to Starting Strength?

If hypertrophy is your main goal, one thing that can help is being concious of the muscles being worked during specific exercises. Putting more focus on actually working the target muscle(s), as opposed to just moving the weight can be beneficial for growth.

I wouldn't recommend jumping into Mtn. Dog or other advanced training programs, unless someone already has years of (proper) training experience, has mastered the basic movements, and has built a solid strength and muscle base. Adding bands, chains, and various intensity techniques will only complicate things when solid progress could be made with a more basic approach.
Click to expand...

I'd do what he says.

Keep working on strength, but add some more volume (possibly through accessory work). Starting Strength is pretty low on volume.
 
go with a classic. something that is decades old, high rep squats. like 20 rep squats.
 
Thank you all for the wonderful replies! I've been doing a low rep heavy weight style training for years now. The few times I've attempted higher rep, I've burned out fairly quickly. Is there a well known high volume routine specifically for legs? Would I dedicate one day a week to legs, like a split training routine?
 
I had a lot of fun with GVT on leg days.

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Legs have more slow twitch fibers which react better to high reps, switch to doing reps of 12-20 on all leg exercises for about 2 months and tell me you don't see a difference.
 
JReinhal said:
Hello,
I've spent most of the year working the Starting Strength protocol. While I made decent gains in strength, my leg size did not change much. I have genetically skinny legs. I'm looking for a highly regarded leg hypertrophy program, while at least maintaining upper body development.
Thank you all in advance.
Click to expand...

What's your previous leg training look like? You don't have to get too crazy with stuff. Keep it simple. But simple doesn't mean easy...
This was my leg workout without variation for almost 3 years:

5 Sets squats
3 Sets lying leg curls
2 sets romanian deadlifts

The only thing that changed was the poundages used. Rep range 6-15 with heaviest set first. Do those, keep the tension on the muscle throughout every set, and make sure you are improving on your heaviest set each time. If you stop making progress, find a way to get it going again: increase rest, change diet, supplements, etc. That's all you need brother
 
genthoseffect said:
What's your previous leg training look like? You don't have to get too crazy with stuff. Keep it simple. But simple doesn't mean easy...
This was my leg workout without variation for almost 3 years:

5 Sets squats
3 Sets lying leg curls
2 sets romanian deadlifts

The only thing that changed was the poundages used. Rep range 6-15 with heaviest set first. Do those, keep the tension on the muscle throughout every set, and make sure you are improving on your heaviest set each time. If you stop making progress, find a way to get it going again: increase rest, change diet, supplements, etc. That's all you need brother
Click to expand...

I like this advice. More volume for the sake of more volume isn't always the answer, and as you've already stated, you burn out quickly with high reps.

Keep it simple, make small changes and dump what doesn't work. Keep what works, while it works.
 
Try training legs twice a week, 1 day heavy with not a lot of volume/low reps and 1 day with more volume/higher reps.
 
HIT4ME said:
I like this advice. More volume for the sake of more volume isn't always the answer, and as you've already stated, you burn out quickly with high reps.

Keep it simple, make small changes and dump what doesn't work. Keep what works, while it works.
Click to expand...

Good advise but if you want a litle bit extra try widowmaker sets ,awsme pump
 
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