Leg Workouts

[JOE_COOL]

I'm having a tough time with My leg workouts as it is so easy to over train them. I had a Moderate injury last Year. and this Year that injury is totally healed up and now I'm having Knee problems. Does anybody have a good leg routine that will not cause Me to become injurerd.
I am sure that My problem is over training with to much weight. and My joints just can't take it.
I had been doing
9 sets of leg ext.
9 sets of leg presses
9 sets of leg curls
and 9 sets of calf raises.
Maybe I should lower the weights for these excersises? or maybe change frequency?
I am curently working around anything with direct knee work.
My current leg routine is
machine inside 12 sets
machine outside 12 sets
leg curls 12 sets
glute isolator 12 sets
and calf raises 12 sets
any help would be appreciated.

 

[mrsoul]

9 sets of the same excercise? sounds like way too much to me. i can only tell you my expereince and 36 sets of the same body part in the same workout would be entirely too much. i did legs today and i am already sore. here is what i did.
ball squats 2 sets 15 to warm up.
hack squats 4 sets pyramid up
one legged squats on smith, 3 sets
dumbell straight legs, 3 sets
leg extensions super set with walking lunges, 8 extensions toes out, 8 with toes in, 8 with toes straight, no rest in between, stand up straight to the hallway for walking lunges, about 20 per leg. after dry heaving for a minute, 5 min. on the treadmill to loosen up. not much compared to most, but my weights increase and i am sore as hell every friday. i switch up some of these but the hack squats and walking lunges are constants.

 

[Big Danny]

I copy from "growth principles for begginers" the same leg routine that I followed :
Wed - Quads, Hams, Calves
* Squats - warm-ups, 1 work set
* Leg press - work set
* Leg extension - work set
* Leg curl - warm-up, work set
* Stiff leg deadlift - work set
* Standing calf raise - work set

 

[JOE_COOL]

What about weight?

I'm just trying to figure out if it is My routine or if I'm just screwing Myself up.
could doing all of these excersises at My maximum potential ie. pyramiding up to 290lb leg ext. pyramiding up to 600lbs leg press. Could it be just to much weight for My tendons? I'm thinking it was just to much weight for Me to handle.
I'm going to try this after I take a total month of of any knee related excersise.
dumbell lunges 4 sets
squats 4 sets
leg ext 4 sets
glute iso 4 sets
leg curl 12 sets
calf raises 12 sets
and I am going to do this at a more moderate weight.

 

[JOE_COOL]

Any other Ideas?

I'm just trying to figure out if it is My routine or if I'm just screwing Myself up.
could doing all of these excersises at My maximum potential ie. pyramiding up to 290lb leg ext. pyramiding up to 600lbs leg press. Could it be just to much weight for My tendons? I'm thinking it was just to much weight for Me to handle.
I'm going to try this after I take a total month of of any knee related excersise.
dumbell lunges 4 sets
squats 4 sets
leg ext 4 sets
glute iso 4 sets
leg curl 12 sets
calf raises 12 sets
and I am going to do this at a more moderate weight.

Deos anybody else have any other bright ideas?

 

[mrsoul]

is that a typo, or are you saying 12 sets?

 

[Enanthanator]

If you are having knee problems I would say drop the extensions, they are brutal on knees. Not sure what type of injury you had last year but I would ease into things right now. Sounds like you don't know your body too well and neither will any of us.

That being said I would do a non impact warmup on an elliptical machine or precor first 15 mins minimum to get your joints warmed up and blood flowing. Then I would see how squats felt. Start light, put your ego to the side for now. I warmup with probably 4 sets of light squats. Start with the bar and work your way up. I tend to do 10 reps for the first and then 8-6-6. If it feels ok then I will do 4 working sets. As far as weight, I couldnt say for you but rep range would be 6-10 (for me) and make sure you have good form. If you have pain in your knees, sometimes putting a 2.5lb plate under your heels will transfer some of the pressure off of your knees. Make sure you are going deep enough, some prefer box squats or using a flat bench that you sit on and get back up. Try some of the other excercises that the others have posted but squats are the bread and butter of leg workouts...You may want to drop the calves as well because training quads and hammy's together is normally a tough enough workout for most. Hope that helps a bit.

 

[JOE_COOL]

12 sets

is that a typo, or are you saying 12 sets?

12 sets. Why, do You think I'm just bound for another injury? Also I have to keep up with My upper body. If I just do, ie. 4 leg sets per muscle group within 1 year My legs are going to be lagging far behind. So what I'm trying to figure out is how much weight and how many rep sets is to much.
Do You think I should tune it down?

 

[JOE_COOL]

Good idea

If you are having knee problems I would say drop the extensions, they are brutal on knees...

Sounds like a good idea. I think I will drop the leg extentions for at least 2 months until I'm sure the squating is going okay.
I've smith machine squated 405lbs. and I've olympic squated 315lbs.
I'm thinking of starting back at 155lb squats and 35lbs dumbell lunges. for 5 sets of 5 reps each.
This would/should give My knees plenty of time to recover.