Lower body help!

Gainaddict

Gainaddict

Member
With my job (highway construction/excavation) my lower body is always sore. I mean always. My calves are always really sore when flexed and my glutes, quads, and especially my hams are sore when flexed or sometimes even touched. My lower body is by far my most lacking area and it's become my main focus to get as much growth as possible. What type of workouts would be best to do here without over training any muscle groups?
Tips on calves too would be appreciated, I use to be 108lbs at 5 foot 8 so my calves, however strong they may be, are embarrassingly small.
 
I'm also in a similar boat as a mover and landscaper. My legs are often killed before I can even work them out. Luckily I have legs that add size easily and I had already done that before these jobs(I got bitch calves too though). But really its hard to add size too already strained muscles. The best bits of advice I can give you are this.

1. Eat some more to aid in recovery or get a recovery/sleep supplement.
2. Train the legs quickly and only about twice a week so your work doesn't suffer.
3. Stick to the essentials and when in doubt go heavy(squats,lunges) but keep it at about 30 minutes
4. Try to hit between 20-30 reps each workout depending on percent max you're using. Leaning toward 30 each time for hypertrophy reasons.
 
It's ok to train legs when they're sore, I do it quite often as I work construction myself. Just start with low volume and slowly add more in each week. In a little under two years I've gone from training lower body 45min once a week to two hours twice a week. Just takes patience.
 
I figured I needed to get some heavy reps in since they are use to the volume of every day work but should I stick to an all compound lift workout or should I hit some isolation too? Or does that really even matter that much? I appreciate the responses guys!
 
The tried and true basic compound moves are going to be your best friend for building mass and strength. You mention growth, so you'll want to work more in a hypertrophy rep range (8-12), but make certain that you are creating adequate stress on you muscles- meaning after your warm up, your working sets need to be a range that you really work to get to. Let's say 10. You don't want that to be a max, but not something you can breeze through. The reason for this is that I do not think it is beneficial to stress the muscle to a max effort without proper rest- which doesn't sound like you would be getting in your job. I would run a routine like this for 6-8 weeks and then look to add the strength aspect with the hypertrophy- ala PHAT. Read up on it for more info.

Squats
Sumo deads
RDL
Leg press

Calves-
4 x 15 standing
4 x 15 seated

I like to work calves first because I get a nice stretch after with my deads and squats.

Anyway- that is how I would approach it based on your goal. Also, make sure you are getting enough sodium as it sounds like you may be sweating it out and that can cause muscle cramps and pain.
 
That's good advice, that's about what I'm doing now but I haven't done deads in two weeks now. I like to put a board under my feet when doing deads which raises me up but not the bar. Essential the bar is farther down and your glutes get much more involved. Best way ever to build the glutes IMO. Just too sore right now for that lol
 
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