lagging legs

[stomper1]

for some reason my legs just wont grow. they are my worst body part. i am completely lacking a tear drop muscle above the knees and my hams are non existent. my upper body has always grown great I have had my arms up to 19" (That's great for me), but have never been able to get my legs past 25-1/2".
I have been using a fairly low volume, higher frequency program outline by LATS. Oh, and LATS, just to update you I have been making crazy strength gains using your program. it's just my damn legs wont grow and I know that if I can get them to grow I will unlock all kinds of gains all over. I would kill for a tear drop muscle. and it's really starting to piss me off because I have a fairly large muscular ass so from the side it's quite funny looking due to my lack of ham mass .
I would like to hear from some of you bros who have been able to overcome lagging legs. How did you do it? what might you suggest I try?
thanks guys

 

[stomper1]

anyone who just wants to post their leg routine that would also be great

 

[Johnny Bravo]

my routine

First off I do quads and hamstrings on different days. I get a better lift on each body part that way. There i no way you can get a good hamstring workout if you blast you quads correctly. I used to go for the huge lifts, low reps and the whole "mass building routines", but have to tell you that each time you hit them with heavy high reps, I dont care if you have the genetics of a tadpole they are gonna grow, First you have to make sure your eating enough and sleeping enough in order to get the proper ingredients for huge legs. With that said here is what I did for quads today:

Smith squats

185 x 15 (just to get the mechanics down)

2 sets of 225 x 15
1 set of 315 x 20
1 set of 405 x 25
2 sets of 495 x 10


3 sets of dumbell lunges

3 set of leg extensions x 25-30 reps

2 set of the hip abductors x 25

Then i do calves

If you cant grow on this, your doing something wrong. I have about 4 different quad and hamstring routines. Hamstrings are blasted equally.


Hope this helps

 

[anabolic_hippie]

here is my leg workout i used top have alot of troubles gettting my legs to grow but i compinsated with intensity
3 heavy sets of squats
leg press supersted with squats supersteted with hack squats supersetted with leg extensions i do this 3 times
then i do lunges 3 sets
then stiff legged deadlifts 3 sets
leg curls and drop set it a couple times 3 sets

if your legs wont grow from that then i dont know what will work
i only do this routine on juice though or my body cant handle it

 

[stomper1]

johny thanks for the reply.
I would love to see your ham routine if you don't mind
do feel your recovery is above average?
i ask because that seems to be higher volume. are you taking all sets to failure.

oh, by the way... your a phukin animal...495 10x... you disgust me haha..that's awsome strength bro... i'm jealous

 

[PUMPED]

feel the muscle and not the weight. It worked wonders for me.

 

[Kidrok]

One change I made which was major is moving squats toward the end of the workout. My routine goes basically like this:

1) leg ext - 3 sets
2) leg curl - 3 sets
3) high-wide leg press - 3 sets
(feet up to the top corners of the platform, hits hams/glutes hard)
4) hack squats - 3 sets
5) squats (full range of motion) - 3 sets
6) DB walking lunges - 2 sets

I've tried splitting hams and quads to different days but it just did not work well for me.
KR

 

[knucklehed]

Lots of volume in those routines

I recently exchanged my smith squats for hacks. I change out about every 6-8 weeks. Had a awesome set this week.
after a several warmup hacks

Load up 6 plates/ side and do a drop set
10 x 12 plates
10 x 10
10 x 4
faiure x3 (I made it to 15)
followed bya super quad streach
Then 1 rest/pause set of extensions
and another stretch

been walking funny ever since

KnuckleHed

 

[Dr.X]

You're going to see a hundred different routines posted - all probably work to some degree. I've had best luck either hitting quads and hams together every 5 days or split them and do each once a week.

For sets I do 6-9ea. Reps vary widely.

Exercise selection: same as everyone else - just ask yourself which are the hardest to you - and do those.

The main thing is to bust your ass.

 

[tbonus]

I like to do squats and stiff legged deadlifts. I am not huge by any means, but my leggs are decent size. I've found that doing moderate weight for reps in the 6-8 range has done me good for both exercises. Make sure you get the form down pact. When I do stiff leg deads, I usually do slow controlled movement all the way through and get a good stretch. At the top I pause for a second and then slow back down.
When I squat, either on the smith machine or in a rack, I come down slow and try to explode up. Still controlled through the movement, but try to explode up. These two have helped me get a the starts of the tear drop and have some lower body mass. My wife comments that when we first met and I was 155 lbs, I had no ass at all. After 6 years of lifting my waist is still the same size, but I am about 225.
Rest and nutrition has played a big role too.

 

[jawbreakerkid]

I'm with Johnny Bravo, break them up. There is no way you can effectively hit your hammies after tearing up your quads. For your teardrop I recommend front squats and single leg extensions. Do the extensions nice and slow, really contract the muscle on the way up, don't just swing the weight like I see so many people do. Also, while doing extensions, keep your ass on the seat, people tend to pull up off the seat making the exercise easier and taking the pressure off your quads.

 

[stomper1]

hey thanks all for the replys.

one thing I noticed was that the majority of you are doing roughly 12-18 sets for your legs over all. that is quite a bit higher volume than I have done in the past. did some of you guys come to this volume through trial and error? in other words have you achieved better results with the volume a little high when it come to legs?

I think I will try uping the volume a little to see what happens. i have never really done that many exercises for legs in the entire 5 years i have been training so i guess it only makes sense to give it try.

thanks guys

 

[Johnny Bravo]

hamstrings

here is a typical hamstring workout for me

3-4 sets of dumbell or straight bar stiff legs deads x 12 reps (slow, placing a 5 lb plate under the top of my feet to elavate them in order to get a better stretch)

3-4 sets of leg press (feet placed high on the pad, alternating my feet close for one set and feet apart the next) x 15-25 reps

3 sets of hamstring curls ( use good form , not a seizure swing) x 12 reps

1-2 set of inner thighs (abductor) x 10 reps

Then I workout calves like I did with quads

I do this intensity ALL the time!

 

[MikeS]

Re: my routine

First off I do quads and hamstrings on different days. I get a better lift on each body part that way. There i no way you can get a good hamstring workout if you blast you quads correctly. I used to go for the huge lifts, low reps and the whole "mass building routines", but have to tell you that each time you hit them with heavy high reps, I dont care if you have the genetics of a tadpole they are gonna grow, First you have to make sure your eating enough and sleeping enough in order to get the proper ingredients for huge legs. With that said here is what I did for quads today:

Smith squats

185 x 15 (just to get the mechanics down)

2 sets of 225 x 15
1 set of 315 x 20
1 set of 405 x 25
2 sets of 495 x 10


3 sets of dumbell lunges

3 set of leg extensions x 25-30 reps

2 set of the hip abductors x 25

Then i do calves

If you cant grow on this, your doing something wrong. I have about 4 different quad and hamstring routines. Hamstrings are blasted equally.


Hope this helps

I agree with JohnB greatly on most of these points. Split up Quads/hams. Also notice the quad workout-mostly squats.
Reps and power have to be fit into the equation.
There is no way around the squat. I do reps with exercises that follow the squat. Its probable that squatting for reps like John works better than leg press for reps. Just the way I do it-I did squats yesterday up to 405x10. Then legpress machine with the stack for 35 reps.