HOW DO "YOU" Bring lagging body parts up to snuff

[CYNDER_BLOCK]

I'm 6'3" @ 213lbs dry in the morning. My bf is low (I have abs). My legs have always been my weak point in regards to them growing at the same rate as my upper body. That said, I can build great legs, I just notice that my upper body seems to grow way easier than my lower.


So my logic started to come into play when it came to thinking how to overcome the slight imbalance I have between my upper/lower body. My logic tells me to look at you average female who has a strict gym routine. These are the types of females who don't compete, they just train for the beach and the club. These are the types who really have normal, tone looking upper bodies, but their legs/ass are crazy.

So is it just me, or is what I'm noticing about these females is that they train their lower bodies hard and heavy and basically do lightweight stuff to keep their upper bodies tone without too much musculature?


I feel like I should just go hard on my legs for the next year and approach my training the same way as these females I speak of do being that my upper body has a nice aesthetic, but I want stupid big wheels till I get to the point where my legs dwarf my upper body. I feel like if I can make it to that point, than I'll bring up my upper body to match my lower which shouldn't be an issue.



Curious to hear everyone's thoughts.

 

[Elvia1023]

I have literally abused my calves over the years with every training technique you could think of. They are super strong and I would use perfect form and various techniques but they would never grow. I once trained them everyday for over 6 months and gained about 1/2 inch. I have gone from 1 day per week to 7 and everything in between. I followed various tips from the likes of Charles Glass and Ben Pakulski and they helped but resulted in very little extra growth. I have performed specialized stretching techniques, used different rep speeds (1-20 sec reps), modified exercises, light and heavy weight, walked on my tip toes and another 101 things.

They only started changing (and fast) when I stated a syntherol cycle for my calves. I wasn't consistent though but still had great results. They couldn't be more weak genetically so to see the changes in them over a matter of weeks was great for me. These pics are from my first log and are very old but you can see the difference. I am not sure of the exact time between pics but I think it is about 1 month.

Starting photo...

After...

They were 18-18.4 inches depending where I measured.

 

[CYNDER_BLOCK]

^^^I look up to Tony Freeman as he brings the slabs of mass for us tall guys. his legs are great for being that tall.

He's my motivation; however, he's also on some good gear, too. Would have like to see him as a teenager before the hard training and gear took effect.

 

[PitbullTank]

For you to say you " feel like you should go hard on legs this year...." Kinda tells that u haven't gone hard on them previous year..

 

[TheOtherOne55]

I think everyone will have a different plan of attack.

IMO, FREQUENCY, FREQUENCY, FREQUENCY.

 

[CYNDER_BLOCK]

For you to say you " feel like you should go hard on legs this year...." Kinda tells that u haven't gone hard on them previous year..

To clarify, I mean I should say FUCK EVERYTHING ELSE and just blast legs in an unproportional manner as to create an aesthetic imbalance. The same way a guy who only trains upper body would by doing nothing but upper body.


Are we on the same page now?

 

[CYNDER_BLOCK]

I think everyone will have a different plan of attack.

IMO, FREQUENCY, FREQUENCY, FREQUENCY.

I'm all about it, but not when I'm off the sauce for recovery reasons alone. If "on," then yes to a degree.

 

[PitbullTank]

To clarify, I mean I should say FUCK EVERYTHING ELSE and just blast legs in an unproportional manner as to create an aesthetic imbalance. The same way a guy who only trains upper body would by doing nothing but upper body.


Are we on the same page now?

Oh ok got it...

Can u please list out what a normal leg day looks like for you w some of the weights you use...

Also, where are you lacking the most in your leg... Ham, sweep, upper/lower?

 

[Elvia1023]

It's impossible to know what others are doing. One guy may say he trains legs great but he is doing 1/4 reps with heavy weight. Guys will look at my old calf pics and think I never trained them so that's why I always mention how I abused them. I have trained other people and put them through leg workouts and watched them transform over a few months as their prior form was not good enough. Most people tend to ego lift especially when it comes to legs. That could be loading up the leg press or squatting heavy for low reps and sub par form.

But if you truly feel that way then sure it may make sense to really focus on legs for the next 6 months and just maintain upper body.

As TOO55 stated when it comes to legs I think high frequency works best for most people. Train your quads and hams 2-3 times weekly and calves even more. But different things work for different people and we could talk all day about this. Some guys have amazing legs training them once weekly. I think high frequency training for a few months then rotating with a lower volume approach for a short time in between would be a good system to follow.

 

[CYNDER_BLOCK]

I'll post a few pics here shortly of what my legs look like. I tend to go for more volume with lighter weight vs going stupid heavy and only being able to pump out 3 reps.


Typical day is:

Squats: 6 sets of 15 with 225lbs

Deads: 6 sets of 15 with 225lbs

walking lunges: 6 sets of 20 yards with 40lbs bells in each hand


I'll finish my workout list when I post the pics.

 

[willdethronephil]

I don't know if anyone can answer this question but you honestly... i used to think i had week arms. turns out i was training wrong for my arms and more volume and cables works better for me... i used to think i had weak lats, turns out my lats are strong just wasn't targeting them right... thought i had week legs, turned out to be one of my strongest body parts... at the moment i think i have weak delts, but i'm slowly realizing...... i wasn't training them right.


i'm starting to not believe in weak body parts...

 

[Elvia1023]

I don't know if anyone can answer this question but you honestly... i used to think i had week arms. turns out i was training wrong for my arms and more volume and cables works better for me... i used to think i had weak lats, turns out my lats are strong just wasn't targeting them right... thought i had week legs, turned out to be one of my strongest body parts... at the moment i think i have weak delts, but i'm slowly realizing...... i wasn't training them right.


i'm starting to not believe in weak body parts...

Very very true. I have realized many things you read over the years as gospel are simply not true. It's been written countless times how cables and machines are inferior to free weights but that is simply not true in every situation. In some yes of course it is true but not for me and certain bodyparts. Different bodyparts require different stimulus even on the same person. Although I can assure you my calves are a weak body part

 

[PitbullTank]

Also, where are you lacking the most in your leg... Ham, sweep, upper/lower?

I go after lagging parts in several ways.. The first would be to find out what the best exercises are for your specific body part...... Prioritizing that part... Choosing exercises for other body parts that secondarily hit your target part... Then progressing

I don't like neglecting another part in hopes I can balance out a weaker part.... I would just prioritize different

Example , hams- my quads dominate my hams... So I took from JM to start w hams before quads... I'll throw in split leg squats or lunges w quad work to secondarily hit the hams... If my back wasn't fucked up I'd do SLDL for back rather than standard dls from floor or rack to secondary hit them as well...

 

[BradScott]

Pre-exhaust and the right exercise section. I see no other way to feel a weak muscle working other than these choices.

 

[CYNDER_BLOCK]

Here's what I have.

 

[doug1]

Everything seems to be in proportion to me. Just keep eating and training hard. Accept to a point your genetics. But if you want to bring a part up, like "the other one 55" said, frequency. For calves, like Elvia said, syntherol.

 

[doug1]

I don't know if anyone can answer this question but you honestly... i used to think i had week arms. turns out i was training wrong for my arms and more volume and cables works better for me... i used to think i had weak lats, turns out my lats are strong just wasn't targeting them right... thought i had week legs, turned out to be one of my strongest body parts... at the moment i think i have weak delts, but i'm slowly realizing...... i wasn't training them right.


i'm starting to not believe in weak body parts...

I like what you said. But respectfully disagree on last statement. Only the top 1% can even begin to claim that they don't have any weak body parts. Meaning, from day one, everything grew in proportion. That is almost impossible to find. Could be from the type of training for that muscle, but I don't think so. JMHO

 

[heroish]

Higher frequency especially on cycle - even to the point other parts are grouped together and just maintained.

No one grows perfectly all need to sculpt. Even Arnold had anecdotes of sleeping with a dumbbell under his bed and doing shoulder work day and night until they stopped lagging etc.

 

[ALLEX]

http://www.professionalmuscle.com/forums/beginners-forum/131210-split-ive-been-doing.html

 

[beastmode121]

Have you seen this gym rookie that blasts arms every other day and nothing else, have nice set of guns 3 month in his unorganized bro routine? Frequency !