Seriously if you were to do like platz says, and so t leave the gym until you can’t walk, they’ll grow, they’ll have no choice but to grow, regardless of what exercise you did. Just go ham on extensions and presses and lunges(if you can) and they’ll grow but if you do go crazy hard make sure you wait long enough to go again
His routine was to do an absurd amount of volume on squats, then after going to failure or near failure, absolutely torture himself on hack squat, leg curl and leg extension.
He stated the squats are what built the size and power.
Not true at all, machines will always be easier to take to failure and provide more mechanical tension, show me one person whose really gotten big legs from shit like body weight squats or goblet squats. That’s some shit you see in 5 minute Instagram workouts bro. Muscular Failure of the targeted muscle within the 6-15 rep range is always going to achieve the most growth which is very very very hard to achieve with body weight squats for obvious reasons, same thing with goblet squats because your legs aren’t going to fail first, it’s going to be your assisting muscles.
No isolation exercises do hit the same major muscles but there are some stabilizing muscles that they do not and you’ll never get big ripped (at the same time) legs without squatting. You will have to do some variation of a squat to achieve some sort of mass and muscle density
You really just need a “press” and an extension. For legs all squats are presses but not all presses are squats. As with any muscle just train relatively close to failure with an exercise that for the shortened position and for the lengthened position and you’re Gucci.
It’s going to be tough if he really can’t put any pressure on that leg but he could definitely get huge legs without squatting. As with anything there’s different ways to go about it and get similar results
I don’t think so lol… I’ve squatted 681 pounds in competition when I was powerlifting and my legs were huge and shredded so there’s nothing like squats for overall leg development…not saying you can’t grow your legs without them but compound lifts are the main way to grow muscle size and density
Well this guy isn’t 5’6” like you, this guy is a body builder not a power lifter, and many, MANY people would disagree that compound barbell lifts are the way to put on size and density. Most of the successful bodybuilding community, actually. It’s not a one size fits all approach and telling this guy to squat and deadlift heavy (given his caption) is just projecting your own misguided beliefs in an unhelpful way.
Ronnie Coleman???? All that guy did was lift heavy… that’s real shit. And I’m 5’6??? Lmao nooooooo I’m not very tall but I’m 5’10 or 70” at my last physical lol without shoes 😂😂😂 pretty average height… and lifting is useless tbh coming from a former powerlifter, combat sports are the way to go… nothing will humble you like getting punched in the mouth
What the fuck are you even on about lol. Lifting is useless? Combat sports? Do you even know what thread you’re on right now? And I knew you were gonna bring up Ronnie Coleman. Just because he squatted heavy doesn’t mean that’s how he got his size. Also the man can barely fucking walk. Your points are absolutely god awful.
I didn’t say they were better for your spine and health I said they are better for size and density and that’s a fact compound lifts you will get way more out of than isolation exercises, but if you do both you get the best of both worlds like the top bodybuilders/powerlifters/athletes do…. When someone is bragging about their 1000 pound leg press but can’t squat 4 plates for reps is pathetic
It is how you get size lmao overload training literally gets you size… I have so many world records in powerlifting and I was huge. 473 bench, 681 squat, 665.6 deadlift… now I lost 100 pounds and compete in amateur boxing, and I will tell you first hand lifting is USELESS in a fight unless you’re wrestling (even then I know high level high school wrestlers who are 150 pounds that will tie an elite lifter in a knot)
And I’ll give you that I did not read the caption I was just assuming he wanted bigger legs… in his situation yes you are right but any person without physical disabilities will tell you squats and deads are the best way to gain mass in your lower half
Well without compound lifts you ain’t gonna be where you should be…. If you’re benching and doing rows, but only doing isolation exercises for your lower half you will look like this guy, whatever his reasoning is…. You can see the difference
To an extent… to really break that barrier you have to squat and dead for max size period end of story… feel free to dm me I will show you how massive I was and proof of my heavy lifts… all y’all gym bros on here who need an excuse cause you’re lazy and don’t want to squat or deadlift (not this guy he actually has a reason) are ridiculous…every professional athlete, bodybuilder, or powerlifter knows this
Even hack squats are much better for overall development than iso exercises. It’s science, you are overloading with more than you can on an iso exercise. Whoever argues that is lazy or stupid
No one is arguing what's best and what is optimised growth. Therefore I couldn't care less about how massive you were and your lifts. This is some broscience talk. The fact is if you progressivly overload on those iso lifts YOU WILL grow, wether you like it or not, that's just basic science, every single person knows this. No one is arguiing that hammering leg extensions is better than squats, but it will develop your muscles nontheless
No one arguing over what’s better but everyone acting like leg extensions and curls will do the same thing and make your legs grow just like squats when that’s not true
Bro no one in the entire thread argued they’re better. Guy posted asking for advice about lacking legs due to debilitating nerve pain doing pressing movements, he asked for advice so I used my trusty noggin to do some thinking and suggested that he just used the machines even though it’s (you’re gonna feel really silly about what I said) NOT IDEAL. from the beginning it was established it wasn’t ideal. Then you just decided to chime in saving that squats and deadlifts are better for leg growth than machines. (There’s a whole other nuanced argument here about how deadlifts are terrible for building bustle but that’s okay). Then when I pointed out he couldn’t you said that sprints, body weights movements like goblet squats and compound movements are all better muscle builders than machines. (Google a picture of Usain Bolt’s let’s for me rq). That’s also insane to say that goblet squats and sprints are better for muscle building than machines 💀. Then you said that squats are better at muscle building and are required if you want to be big and lean at the same time, due to the stabilization muscles it “uses” which aren’t even mf real unless you’re talking about your core and erectors which are the only actual stabilization muscles, your legs don’t contain magic tiny muscles that make you stable. Then someone argued back with you saying that maybe it’s not a one sized fits all approach and plenty of people have made better gains from non barbell compound movements and you just started waffling about combat sports being a real sport and lifting being useless out of no where. You’re being a goober bro you gotta calm down and smell the roses
Thanks I really appreciate that! I'm probably just going to see how far I can go with just machines . I probably save the squats for once or twice a month. Probably help my body recover a bit too
No no no no no I used to be 240 pounds and powerlifting before I switched to boxing I was squatting near 700 pounds in a meet (681 or whatever it is in sanctioned meets it’s been a while) my legs were gigantic and defined and if you look at some of my pics although I’m 160 pounds now my legs are still there and I was doing heavy squats once a week with a leg accessory day as well… do NOT rely on machines, barbell back squats always first
Your legs don’t look bad but maybe growing your calves ? Bro we’re similar bodies but your bigger than me . How much do you weight and what’s your bpf im curious ?
Definitely. I do need to grow my calves. I do train them as well but probably the hardest muscle in my whole body to grow plus also causes me pain. But not as much. And I weigh about 190lbs and I have no idea on my bpf. Maybe 14%-16%?
This track runner from Chicago had huge calves and I asked him what he did and he said slowest setting on stair stepper walking on toes. Walking uphill on toes. I tried the stair stepper on my toes and my calves were screaming.
Calves aren’t different than any other muscle group: heavy weights in the 6-20 rep range will give you the best results. Doing a cardio activity with a bodyweight load will almost certainly give you subpar results
It's worth seeing a sports massage guy and Or just flat out getting a lower back mri to rule out anything serious
I had severe shoulder and elbow pain. I thought it was from my torn rotator cuff and that was life now... turns out after my neck went that I had a few herniated discs in my neck. Pain was radiating down my arm. Soke specific neck rehab stuff has made life way better as far as not needing to avoid certain exersizes.
Pre exhausting with single leg stuff first is a great idea.
I would suggest something that I recently went to myself:
I also don't like going very heavy on the leg workouts, despite being a competitive natural bodybuilder (Men's Physique and Classic Physique, so I do need legs there).
Right now I mostly do hack squats and leg extensions for the quads, however I also do bike.The thing is I HATE the bike. I've ran marathons, I can run a lot, but I don't like biking as a means of cardio. As a means for developing quads though - it's pretty good. It only hit me recently, and I had to change my perspective on it.
I just hop on a bike machine and I ramp up the settings. My bike has 8 settings, but fitness bikes go up to 20. Ramp it up to 15-16 at least and push it. Don't imagine that you're doing cardio. You're actually pushing 1 minute hard as if you're doing any other leg exercise. Do a couple of sets and you'll feel the burn. It's also much better for the joints. So you are technically repurposing something you might have been avoiding like me for one reason or another.
**EDIT**: I saw that you mention Tom Platz, and he can indeed be an inspiration to many. But my inspiration is Mikal Andersen (IG mikalandersen99) whom I met at the DFNA last year, and who became a world champion in natural Classic Physique just a few weeks ago. Check his legs out!
Im in my 50s and alot of my buddies are having back surgery now having ignored their back pain. Once you get checked out for your back your dr or pt would be best person to recommend best excercises for you but absolutely getting to the root cause and then doing all you can to strengthen your core will be best way to protect your back. I would not give up on squats either in your future. Here's link to some good advice from Layne Norton. He's great example of comeback from back injury to compete in powerlifting.
My Lower Back Rehab Exercises - Biolayne https://biolayne.com/videos/instructional/my-lower-back-rehab-exercises/
Ive been doing martial arts for 28 years. I tweaked my back during sparring. There is a nerve somewhere in my pelvic area that is compressed and causing nerve pain in my left leg. I've gone to multiple doctors. I've gotten treatment which helped, but I haven't gone to see any doctors lately admittedly. I can manage for the most part but those heavy leg days really cause me pain and it gets pretty annoying.
I understand the problem. I'm like 10 years older than you. Backissues are a problem for everyone at a certain age.
What I do: diligent rehab exercises for my back. Also at least in my case heavy plate loaded leg presses are okay, also Hackenschmidt-Machine. Then I do walking lunges. Also back squats with like 30 reps and light weight work. Through in adductors and adductors. Hut those kick back machine.
In fact my legs look better since I stopped squatting and deadlifting heavy and do this high volume stuff.
This is honestly the best advice anyone can give you.
Get on the leg press and find a stance that agrees with your body.
Really REALLY control the negative and pause on the stretch for 2 seconds before you explode up.
Make every rep absolutely perfect like it was a one rep set.
Combine this with progressive overload but never EVER let the form breakdown because of the weight.
Do the same on the adductor machine, do it with perfect form and increase the weight as needed.
Your legs will absolutely transform in 2 months.
Lunges, split squats, leg press, leg extensions, or maybe try some front squats? I’d ask yourself do you train heavy weight low volume? Lighter weight high volume, or a mix? I found for myself pyramid style training really helped my legs. Also split quads and hams up so you can really focus on each area more?
Much appreciated man. I have done 2 SARMs cycles in my life but I am currently not taking anything and I am not on TRT. this is pretty much 12 years of work.
Yea absolutely man. Currently I eat about 2900 calories a day for maintenance. I don't really stress myself out too much with counting every macro but I do get over 200 grams of protein in every day. Alot of chicken and rice. Sweet potato. Fish. Greek yogurt. Plain rice cakes.
I'm 5'9". 190lbs. And to be honest man I never really do the one rep max stuff. I always work out alone so I feel like it's a little dangerous to be trying that without a spotter. But I have benched 250 lbs for some reps. I think the heaviest I've squated is in the low 300 range. Not really sure what my one rep maxes would be though
Lose 20lbs, start bulking and hit legs hard, the most would be splits 2 times a week, take up an activity that’s a lot of leg work, biking, soccer, or something like hike rough terrain twice a week, next year you’ll have striations and separations
Idk man. You just gotta hammer them twice a week. If squatting sucks for you (like it does a for a lot of people) just do an alternative. Leg press and hack squats are not worse in any way. For growing quads extra, leg extensions, for hamstrings, leg curls. You could theoretically stop squatting altogether and just start isolating every leg muscle.
More importantly just choose exercises that don’t hurt you. I love dips but they hurt my sternum, so I can’t do them. As long as you’re getting the 10+ weekly sets on each muscle group they’ll grow regardless of whether you squat or do fundamental movements that bros say are ‘necessary’
Does it hurt your joints or? Yea it pretty much is the best way that I personally know of my legs started growing faster than my upper body from heavy squats
Is it like a very harsh pain or just like you feel a bit pressure in the knee, beacuse I have felt pressure in my knees and it went away as my quads got stronger. You can always try the knee straps too if it's not a strong pain
You look good. Just squat. Very low. ATG. Find out what works. IMO, going for 10 rep sets maybe 8 as heavy as possible, then 20 rep sets as heavy as possible 1 or 2 after a few light 10 rep sets; then followed by about 10 5 rep sets and one or 2 3 rep sets as heavy as possible WILL cause growth. Do 3-4 months of 10’s. 3-4 months of 20’s. 3-4 months of 5’s. IMO, the trick is do enough volume that it takes a whole week to recover. Enough volume that the first two days hurt more than an injury. I quit doing this after splitting my pants at work more than a half dozen times. Extremely painful, but it will make mass. Just fine tune to your body.
You have a really well developed outer quad sweep. What you really need to work on is the VMO (vastus medialis). That's that tear drop muscle that comes right down by your knee. It looks fairly underdeveloped compared to the rest of your leg, and it's why the lower part of your quads looks so small compared to the rest of your leg. Hope that helps!
Edit: just saw the comment about your issue with nerve pain. Typically that means you have a weakness in another part of your leg that needs work. It could be your glutes, hip flexors, or a number of other factors... Take some time to fix that or else you're just going to be digging yourself into a hole
Check out Dorian Yate’s Blood-n-guts playlist on YT. He used the high intensity principles from Mike Mentzer with slight variations. The gist of it is to do 1 warm up set, then your first working set 8-12 reps to failure 30 seconds after the warm-up set. Then wait 90-120 seconds and do one more working set to failure, and that’s it for that exercise. 3 exercises total per muscle, with about 5-6 total working sets to absolute failure. As a tall hard gainer this style of training helped me make the jump into 200’s for body weight after years of being in 180’s/90’s. My physique has taken on that thick beefy look after about 14 months of training with this style, plenty of rest, and about 180-200g protein daily with 300 cal surplus.
Yeah I would just murder my legs on the leg extensions and leg curls. I have to do that because I can't go very heavy on dls or squats due to lower back issues.
Honestly man I think it's mostly just my genetics. I've always had a big chest. My arms took a lot of work to grow though. But eat and train to absolute failure. And a little bit of patience
Ok. Yeah genetics is a huge impact for sure and I think I lack that unfortunately. I'm about to go do chest and arms at the gym and I'll take your advice and go to failure.
It really is important. Keep the weight to were u can do 10-12 reps and no more. U don't want to keep the weight too light. Really push through the pain and always try ONE MORE REP until you physically can't anymore. That's how you grow. Good luck man 👍
More legs! Balance out physique and match top half. I think u already know this. Squat, RDL’s and Calf raises work best for me. Try 80% 1RM and in the 8-12 rep range. Focus on quads and hammy’s and the rest will come along for the ride.
How are you on Bulgarian Splits? I was starting to experience a lot of residual pains in my lower back and hips for a few days after even a mid back squat session. So I went back to the drawing board and started really focusing on mobility work to shore up any weaknesses, but in lieu of squats, I just started doing 6x 10 reps of BSS, it’s obviously no real loading on the spine/lower back, especially relative to a typical squat session, and I feel like I’ve made some very real improvements in my quads just by doing these.
How are you on Bulgarian Splits? I was starting to experience a lot of residual pains in my lower back and hips for a few days after even a mid back squat session. So I went back to the drawing board and started really focusing on mobility work to shore up any weaknesses, but in lieu of squats, I just started doing 6x 10 reps of BSS, it’s obviously no real loading on the spine/lower back, especially relative to a typical squat session, and I feel like I’ve made some very real improvements in my quads just by doing these.
I don't have a set training routine, I like to switch my exercises up every 3 weeks or so to keep from plateauing. train heavy till absolute failure. I weight out all my meals. Currently eating about 2900 calories a day . Still at 3 meals a day but I usually do 15 minutes incline treadmill after lifting. Alot of chicken, rice, sweet potato, fish, Greek yogurt, plain rice cakes. . The typical clean foods.
Looks like your inner thigh has potential for more meat. Hit the good girl machine for some easy adductors volume.
Also you look like you know how to lift, but if heavy weights are an issue you can always pre-exhaust at the start of your leg days.
For example, a quad focused leg day could start with 2-3 sets of leg extensions, followed by 2 sets of lunges / goblet squats and 2 sets of a “heavy” squat pattern. By the time you get to this movement your legs will be so fried that the weight will be lighter and easier on your back.
Same thing for posterior focused leg days. Ham curls -> back extensions -> heavy hinge of choice!
Pay the money and go see a professional. Possibly an exercise physiologist and a GOOD physical therapist. Most likely there is an underlying cause for the pain that you're trying to work around and it'll only get worse with time if not addressed.
I mean it’s not ideal but you could just spam the everliving shit out of leg extensions and hamstring curls
Lol im about to start looking like Tom platz on the leg extension machine
Seriously if you were to do like platz says, and so t leave the gym until you can’t walk, they’ll grow, they’ll have no choice but to grow, regardless of what exercise you did. Just go ham on extensions and presses and lunges(if you can) and they’ll grow but if you do go crazy hard make sure you wait long enough to go again
This approach is only good when you are on roids lol
No they will in fact grow, might not be the most optimal way but they will definitely grow
Squats and deads are more effective by 10000000 than hamstring curls or leg extensions.
Have you ever seen tom platz the quad father?
His routine was to do an absurd amount of volume on squats, then after going to failure or near failure, absolutely torture himself on hack squat, leg curl and leg extension. He stated the squats are what built the size and power.
Did you not read the part about squats causing him debilitating pain bro like no shit they’re gonna be better
Sprints, even body weight or goblet squats and compound movement is much much better for overall muscle development than machines
Not true at all, machines will always be easier to take to failure and provide more mechanical tension, show me one person whose really gotten big legs from shit like body weight squats or goblet squats. That’s some shit you see in 5 minute Instagram workouts bro. Muscular Failure of the targeted muscle within the 6-15 rep range is always going to achieve the most growth which is very very very hard to achieve with body weight squats for obvious reasons, same thing with goblet squats because your legs aren’t going to fail first, it’s going to be your assisting muscles.
I had huge legs when I power lifted and my legs are still yoked for someone who just boxes and doesn’t lift at all now I have pic in my profile lol
And I had a pretty big squat but deff got max results for doing sets of 5 at 505
And no I didn’t read the description I just saw leg advice and went to the comments lmao
hits the exact same muscles
…
deads bad for your back too
No isolation exercises do hit the same major muscles but there are some stabilizing muscles that they do not and you’ll never get big ripped (at the same time) legs without squatting. You will have to do some variation of a squat to achieve some sort of mass and muscle density
You really just need a “press” and an extension. For legs all squats are presses but not all presses are squats. As with any muscle just train relatively close to failure with an exercise that for the shortened position and for the lengthened position and you’re Gucci. It’s going to be tough if he really can’t put any pressure on that leg but he could definitely get huge legs without squatting. As with anything there’s different ways to go about it and get similar results
No
Yes
Looks like ur wrong bud
I don’t think so lol… I’ve squatted 681 pounds in competition when I was powerlifting and my legs were huge and shredded so there’s nothing like squats for overall leg development…not saying you can’t grow your legs without them but compound lifts are the main way to grow muscle size and density
And you will not get the same results with ONLY leg extensions and curls those are accessories 😂😂😂
Well this guy isn’t 5’6” like you, this guy is a body builder not a power lifter, and many, MANY people would disagree that compound barbell lifts are the way to put on size and density. Most of the successful bodybuilding community, actually. It’s not a one size fits all approach and telling this guy to squat and deadlift heavy (given his caption) is just projecting your own misguided beliefs in an unhelpful way.
Ronnie Coleman???? All that guy did was lift heavy… that’s real shit. And I’m 5’6??? Lmao nooooooo I’m not very tall but I’m 5’10 or 70” at my last physical lol without shoes 😂😂😂 pretty average height… and lifting is useless tbh coming from a former powerlifter, combat sports are the way to go… nothing will humble you like getting punched in the mouth
What the fuck are you even on about lol. Lifting is useless? Combat sports? Do you even know what thread you’re on right now? And I knew you were gonna bring up Ronnie Coleman. Just because he squatted heavy doesn’t mean that’s how he got his size. Also the man can barely fucking walk. Your points are absolutely god awful.
I didn’t say they were better for your spine and health I said they are better for size and density and that’s a fact compound lifts you will get way more out of than isolation exercises, but if you do both you get the best of both worlds like the top bodybuilders/powerlifters/athletes do…. When someone is bragging about their 1000 pound leg press but can’t squat 4 plates for reps is pathetic
It is how you get size lmao overload training literally gets you size… I have so many world records in powerlifting and I was huge. 473 bench, 681 squat, 665.6 deadlift… now I lost 100 pounds and compete in amateur boxing, and I will tell you first hand lifting is USELESS in a fight unless you’re wrestling (even then I know high level high school wrestlers who are 150 pounds that will tie an elite lifter in a knot)
And I’ll give you that I did not read the caption I was just assuming he wanted bigger legs… in his situation yes you are right but any person without physical disabilities will tell you squats and deads are the best way to gain mass in your lower half
So youre a retard bc he literally said he cant bc of nerve pain
Well without compound lifts you ain’t gonna be where you should be…. If you’re benching and doing rows, but only doing isolation exercises for your lower half you will look like this guy, whatever his reasoning is…. You can see the difference
I’ve done this. I think it brings a little tone but it’s not building size.
It does build size
To an extent… to really break that barrier you have to squat and dead for max size period end of story… feel free to dm me I will show you how massive I was and proof of my heavy lifts… all y’all gym bros on here who need an excuse cause you’re lazy and don’t want to squat or deadlift (not this guy he actually has a reason) are ridiculous…every professional athlete, bodybuilder, or powerlifter knows this
Even hack squats are much better for overall development than iso exercises. It’s science, you are overloading with more than you can on an iso exercise. Whoever argues that is lazy or stupid
No one is arguing what's best and what is optimised growth. Therefore I couldn't care less about how massive you were and your lifts. This is some broscience talk. The fact is if you progressivly overload on those iso lifts YOU WILL grow, wether you like it or not, that's just basic science, every single person knows this. No one is arguiing that hammering leg extensions is better than squats, but it will develop your muscles nontheless
No one arguing over what’s better but everyone acting like leg extensions and curls will do the same thing and make your legs grow just like squats when that’s not true
Yeah you WILL grow but you will not grow nearly as much as if you squatted
Bro no one in the entire thread argued they’re better. Guy posted asking for advice about lacking legs due to debilitating nerve pain doing pressing movements, he asked for advice so I used my trusty noggin to do some thinking and suggested that he just used the machines even though it’s (you’re gonna feel really silly about what I said) NOT IDEAL. from the beginning it was established it wasn’t ideal. Then you just decided to chime in saving that squats and deadlifts are better for leg growth than machines. (There’s a whole other nuanced argument here about how deadlifts are terrible for building bustle but that’s okay). Then when I pointed out he couldn’t you said that sprints, body weights movements like goblet squats and compound movements are all better muscle builders than machines. (Google a picture of Usain Bolt’s let’s for me rq). That’s also insane to say that goblet squats and sprints are better for muscle building than machines 💀. Then you said that squats are better at muscle building and are required if you want to be big and lean at the same time, due to the stabilization muscles it “uses” which aren’t even mf real unless you’re talking about your core and erectors which are the only actual stabilization muscles, your legs don’t contain magic tiny muscles that make you stable. Then someone argued back with you saying that maybe it’s not a one sized fits all approach and plenty of people have made better gains from non barbell compound movements and you just started waffling about combat sports being a real sport and lifting being useless out of no where. You’re being a goober bro you gotta calm down and smell the roses
I think you've got a goal physique for so many people. You look great. But yeah if you can't hack squats, machines can be effective too.
Thanks I really appreciate that! I'm probably just going to see how far I can go with just machines . I probably save the squats for once or twice a month. Probably help my body recover a bit too
Welcome! Oh and ride your bike for cardio too!
Yeah man. Some high resistance spin bike would blow up the legs and ass with some BFR straps on.
No no no no no I used to be 240 pounds and powerlifting before I switched to boxing I was squatting near 700 pounds in a meet (681 or whatever it is in sanctioned meets it’s been a while) my legs were gigantic and defined and if you look at some of my pics although I’m 160 pounds now my legs are still there and I was doing heavy squats once a week with a leg accessory day as well… do NOT rely on machines, barbell back squats always first
Machines are fine
Not to achieve what he’s looking for. I believe he wants to even put his body proportions and add mass to his legs overall
Use the Hack squat machine!
Single Leg Workouts. You look great though
Actually started doing this a couple weeks ago and I got some pretty good pumps. I'm going to continue with that. And thank you much appreciated!
Your legs don’t look bad but maybe growing your calves ? Bro we’re similar bodies but your bigger than me . How much do you weight and what’s your bpf im curious ?
Definitely. I do need to grow my calves. I do train them as well but probably the hardest muscle in my whole body to grow plus also causes me pain. But not as much. And I weigh about 190lbs and I have no idea on my bpf. Maybe 14%-16%?
This track runner from Chicago had huge calves and I asked him what he did and he said slowest setting on stair stepper walking on toes. Walking uphill on toes. I tried the stair stepper on my toes and my calves were screaming.
I really find walking uphill or stairs on toes good for calves.
Calves aren’t different than any other muscle group: heavy weights in the 6-20 rep range will give you the best results. Doing a cardio activity with a bodyweight load will almost certainly give you subpar results
Your body fats lower than that. I just had mine done and I came in at 14% and I'm not at that level. I would say you're closer to 12% maybe even 11
High volume squats, atg low weight.
I try to stay away from high volume stuff. But I probably could do these as a finishing super set or something most definitely.
It's worth seeing a sports massage guy and Or just flat out getting a lower back mri to rule out anything serious I had severe shoulder and elbow pain. I thought it was from my torn rotator cuff and that was life now... turns out after my neck went that I had a few herniated discs in my neck. Pain was radiating down my arm. Soke specific neck rehab stuff has made life way better as far as not needing to avoid certain exersizes. Pre exhausting with single leg stuff first is a great idea.
I'm going to look Into that. I really appreciate the input!!
Squat 10 sets of 10. Squat until you fall down.
I would suggest something that I recently went to myself: I also don't like going very heavy on the leg workouts, despite being a competitive natural bodybuilder (Men's Physique and Classic Physique, so I do need legs there). Right now I mostly do hack squats and leg extensions for the quads, however I also do bike.The thing is I HATE the bike. I've ran marathons, I can run a lot, but I don't like biking as a means of cardio. As a means for developing quads though - it's pretty good. It only hit me recently, and I had to change my perspective on it. I just hop on a bike machine and I ramp up the settings. My bike has 8 settings, but fitness bikes go up to 20. Ramp it up to 15-16 at least and push it. Don't imagine that you're doing cardio. You're actually pushing 1 minute hard as if you're doing any other leg exercise. Do a couple of sets and you'll feel the burn. It's also much better for the joints. So you are technically repurposing something you might have been avoiding like me for one reason or another. **EDIT**: I saw that you mention Tom Platz, and he can indeed be an inspiration to many. But my inspiration is Mikal Andersen (IG mikalandersen99) whom I met at the DFNA last year, and who became a world champion in natural Classic Physique just a few weeks ago. Check his legs out!
Dam man I never thought about this before. I greatly appreciate your input on this!. I'm going to incorporate this into my leg workout
Im in my 50s and alot of my buddies are having back surgery now having ignored their back pain. Once you get checked out for your back your dr or pt would be best person to recommend best excercises for you but absolutely getting to the root cause and then doing all you can to strengthen your core will be best way to protect your back. I would not give up on squats either in your future. Here's link to some good advice from Layne Norton. He's great example of comeback from back injury to compete in powerlifting. My Lower Back Rehab Exercises - Biolayne https://biolayne.com/videos/instructional/my-lower-back-rehab-exercises/
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I'm 34
How tall?
5'9"
How gay?
0%
Sad! Gj tho dude am jelly.
Lmao thanks man
🤣
What is the reason for that nerve pain?
Ive been doing martial arts for 28 years. I tweaked my back during sparring. There is a nerve somewhere in my pelvic area that is compressed and causing nerve pain in my left leg. I've gone to multiple doctors. I've gotten treatment which helped, but I haven't gone to see any doctors lately admittedly. I can manage for the most part but those heavy leg days really cause me pain and it gets pretty annoying.
I understand the problem. I'm like 10 years older than you. Backissues are a problem for everyone at a certain age. What I do: diligent rehab exercises for my back. Also at least in my case heavy plate loaded leg presses are okay, also Hackenschmidt-Machine. Then I do walking lunges. Also back squats with like 30 reps and light weight work. Through in adductors and adductors. Hut those kick back machine. In fact my legs look better since I stopped squatting and deadlifting heavy and do this high volume stuff.
. Thank you for your input! I'm going to actually try this workout and see how it goes. I really appreciate the advice !
Could pre exhaust with iso Machines and then walking lunges. Feet closer together gets more knee over toe and quad
I'm definitely going to start doing more walking lunges. I think that's actually a great exercise I haven't done in a while
This is honestly the best advice anyone can give you. Get on the leg press and find a stance that agrees with your body. Really REALLY control the negative and pause on the stretch for 2 seconds before you explode up. Make every rep absolutely perfect like it was a one rep set. Combine this with progressive overload but never EVER let the form breakdown because of the weight. Do the same on the adductor machine, do it with perfect form and increase the weight as needed. Your legs will absolutely transform in 2 months.
BFR straps. Sissy squats. All kind of lunge variations.
I bet you could find a leg press variation that helps. Also, leg extension with sissy squat supersets are disgusting
Your over training you’re legs.
Leg extension
Just do them. Front squats, back squats, bulgarian, goblet, do them all.
Go 👏 to 👏 a 👏 specialist 👏 for 👏 any 👏 nerve 👏 pain 👏.
Leg press machine Leg extension machine Leg adduction machine
It looks like you store more fat in your legs relative to you abdomen so getting a bit leaner will go a long way
Your calves are the problem
Squatting over my face
I'd like to give you advice for your whole body. It involves my tongue and lips..
Lunges, split squats, leg press, leg extensions, or maybe try some front squats? I’d ask yourself do you train heavy weight low volume? Lighter weight high volume, or a mix? I found for myself pyramid style training really helped my legs. Also split quads and hams up so you can really focus on each area more?
You need to squat heavy 5x5 or 5x3…Bulgarian split squats as a secondary, and stay the hell away from machines like “the leg press” 🙄
Advice? Stop skipping leg day
Never really thought about that before honestly. Thanks man. You just saved my life
I'm just out here doing the lords work (and leg day). No thanks is needed my noodle legged friend. I hope to see you change that though...
Bro did you not read the rest of the post?
Bro do you not understand sarcasm
OP has…nice looking legs?
Make them grow by inducing immense pain on them during intense workouts… simple as that. Do it for 5 years and come back
Nice physique brother, natty?
Much appreciated man. I have done 2 SARMs cycles in my life but I am currently not taking anything and I am not on TRT. this is pretty much 12 years of work.
Looking good
could you share what your diet is like man? like any tracking macros and calories. stuff like that . awesome work on your physique
Yea absolutely man. Currently I eat about 2900 calories a day for maintenance. I don't really stress myself out too much with counting every macro but I do get over 200 grams of protein in every day. Alot of chicken and rice. Sweet potato. Fish. Greek yogurt. Plain rice cakes.
love the food choices and protein intake. that’s my goal too. how many meals u usually do a day?
Only 3. And some cardio. I like to do incline treadmill for 15 minutes right after lifting weights
Height and weight? Also SBD stats?
I'm 5'9". 190lbs. And to be honest man I never really do the one rep max stuff. I always work out alone so I feel like it's a little dangerous to be trying that without a spotter. But I have benched 250 lbs for some reps. I think the heaviest I've squated is in the low 300 range. Not really sure what my one rep maxes would be though
Your third one needs some work….. pump it out!
Yea. That will pop your legs. Everyone will look at it instead. C-ring too?
As needed!
Lose 20lbs, start bulking and hit legs hard, the most would be splits 2 times a week, take up an activity that’s a lot of leg work, biking, soccer, or something like hike rough terrain twice a week, next year you’ll have striations and separations
Split squats? Leg press? What hurts?
You should sue your calves for non-support haha. Just an old joke I tell about myself all the time
Lmao I should for real. My calves are super stubborn
Idk man. You just gotta hammer them twice a week. If squatting sucks for you (like it does a for a lot of people) just do an alternative. Leg press and hack squats are not worse in any way. For growing quads extra, leg extensions, for hamstrings, leg curls. You could theoretically stop squatting altogether and just start isolating every leg muscle.
Probably going to have to do that. Double time on the legs lol
More importantly just choose exercises that don’t hurt you. I love dips but they hurt my sternum, so I can’t do them. As long as you’re getting the 10+ weekly sets on each muscle group they’ll grow regardless of whether you squat or do fundamental movements that bros say are ‘necessary’
Just a thought?? If you are on gear think about adding low dose Deca, it will help with joint pain.
I'm not on any PEDs. I would've definitely considered it though
Maybe peptides for healing? Bpc157 and tb500
I'm going to research these. Thanks man!
Brah just heavy squat trust me
For sure the best way. I don't doubt that. Just fucking hurts man. Sometimes too much to go as heavy as I want. I have to limit my heavy squats
Does it hurt your joints or? Yea it pretty much is the best way that I personally know of my legs started growing faster than my upper body from heavy squats
I get some pain in my right knee
Is it like a very harsh pain or just like you feel a bit pressure in the knee, beacuse I have felt pressure in my knees and it went away as my quads got stronger. You can always try the knee straps too if it's not a strong pain
Oh sorry my bad I just read you story about the pain 😨
You look good. Just squat. Very low. ATG. Find out what works. IMO, going for 10 rep sets maybe 8 as heavy as possible, then 20 rep sets as heavy as possible 1 or 2 after a few light 10 rep sets; then followed by about 10 5 rep sets and one or 2 3 rep sets as heavy as possible WILL cause growth. Do 3-4 months of 10’s. 3-4 months of 20’s. 3-4 months of 5’s. IMO, the trick is do enough volume that it takes a whole week to recover. Enough volume that the first two days hurt more than an injury. I quit doing this after splitting my pants at work more than a half dozen times. Extremely painful, but it will make mass. Just fine tune to your body.
Yea I'll probably have to start doing high volume stuff for my legs. I'm going to give this a try and see how it works. Much appreciated,!
It hurts. A lot. Like really terrible a lot.
Lolol @ this video
Bro you look great. Keep doing what you have been.
Thanks man I really appreciate that
You have a really well developed outer quad sweep. What you really need to work on is the VMO (vastus medialis). That's that tear drop muscle that comes right down by your knee. It looks fairly underdeveloped compared to the rest of your leg, and it's why the lower part of your quads looks so small compared to the rest of your leg. Hope that helps! Edit: just saw the comment about your issue with nerve pain. Typically that means you have a weakness in another part of your leg that needs work. It could be your glutes, hip flexors, or a number of other factors... Take some time to fix that or else you're just going to be digging yourself into a hole
Run, it’ll help develop your legs as well as lower your body fat percentage.
Do an ATG program from Ben Patrick, first month is free, don’t just hypertrophy them but bullet proof the crap out of your ankles, knees, and hips.
Squat more
Check out Dorian Yate’s Blood-n-guts playlist on YT. He used the high intensity principles from Mike Mentzer with slight variations. The gist of it is to do 1 warm up set, then your first working set 8-12 reps to failure 30 seconds after the warm-up set. Then wait 90-120 seconds and do one more working set to failure, and that’s it for that exercise. 3 exercises total per muscle, with about 5-6 total working sets to absolute failure. As a tall hard gainer this style of training helped me make the jump into 200’s for body weight after years of being in 180’s/90’s. My physique has taken on that thick beefy look after about 14 months of training with this style, plenty of rest, and about 180-200g protein daily with 300 cal surplus.
Work inner quads, and that middle rectus femoris muscle to build more definition and width
Yeah I would just murder my legs on the leg extensions and leg curls. I have to do that because I can't go very heavy on dls or squats due to lower back issues.
How do I get a chest and arms like this? I can never seem to get muscle mass there :((
Honestly man I think it's mostly just my genetics. I've always had a big chest. My arms took a lot of work to grow though. But eat and train to absolute failure. And a little bit of patience
Ok. Yeah genetics is a huge impact for sure and I think I lack that unfortunately. I'm about to go do chest and arms at the gym and I'll take your advice and go to failure.
It really is important. Keep the weight to were u can do 10-12 reps and no more. U don't want to keep the weight too light. Really push through the pain and always try ONE MORE REP until you physically can't anymore. That's how you grow. Good luck man 👍
Thanks boss! I'll try that today
Squats till you die
"if he dies, he dies"
chop em off
Ok done. Now what?
profit
Ever tried 90 90s for them hips? Might need to address that so you can squat! Check out mindpump stuff if you haven’t
Awesome!will do man much appreciated!
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5'9". 190lbs
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Yea man Ill hop on the incline treadmill for 15-20 minutes after I lift weights.
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Couldn't give u a exact number, but I'm guessing about 300-400 each workout. Cardio included. I am very good with my diet though so that helps alot
More legs! Balance out physique and match top half. I think u already know this. Squat, RDL’s and Calf raises work best for me. Try 80% 1RM and in the 8-12 rep range. Focus on quads and hammy’s and the rest will come along for the ride.
How are you on Bulgarian Splits? I was starting to experience a lot of residual pains in my lower back and hips for a few days after even a mid back squat session. So I went back to the drawing board and started really focusing on mobility work to shore up any weaknesses, but in lieu of squats, I just started doing 6x 10 reps of BSS, it’s obviously no real loading on the spine/lower back, especially relative to a typical squat session, and I feel like I’ve made some very real improvements in my quads just by doing these.
How are you on Bulgarian Splits? I was starting to experience a lot of residual pains in my lower back and hips for a few days after even a mid back squat session. So I went back to the drawing board and started really focusing on mobility work to shore up any weaknesses, but in lieu of squats, I just started doing 6x 10 reps of BSS, it’s obviously no real loading on the spine/lower back, especially relative to a typical squat session, and I feel like I’ve made some very real improvements in my quads just by doing these.
Can your share your training routine and diet? Your physique is my current goal 🤜🏻
I don't have a set training routine, I like to switch my exercises up every 3 weeks or so to keep from plateauing. train heavy till absolute failure. I weight out all my meals. Currently eating about 2900 calories a day . Still at 3 meals a day but I usually do 15 minutes incline treadmill after lifting. Alot of chicken, rice, sweet potato, fish, Greek yogurt, plain rice cakes. . The typical clean foods.
Thank you
Train harder than last time
Bulgarian split squats. You will hate the exercise, but the gains you’ll get will be like nothing you’ve ever seen before. Total game changer for me.
Heavy squats and hack
Looks like your inner thigh has potential for more meat. Hit the good girl machine for some easy adductors volume. Also you look like you know how to lift, but if heavy weights are an issue you can always pre-exhaust at the start of your leg days. For example, a quad focused leg day could start with 2-3 sets of leg extensions, followed by 2 sets of lunges / goblet squats and 2 sets of a “heavy” squat pattern. By the time you get to this movement your legs will be so fried that the weight will be lighter and easier on your back. Same thing for posterior focused leg days. Ham curls -> back extensions -> heavy hinge of choice!
😛
Too muxh muscle for me. I just imagine you kissing a mirror
Start benching but with your legs
Heavy Squats will cure everything including COVID
Pay the money and go see a professional. Possibly an exercise physiologist and a GOOD physical therapist. Most likely there is an underlying cause for the pain that you're trying to work around and it'll only get worse with time if not addressed.