leg advice

[jay_steel]

Currently training legs once a week one monday or tues. Never missing a leg day. My legs are strong as hell around 27 inches when pumped but i am not getting great seperation and my bf is not that high. They still look small to me though as well. Inner legs i feel need more development. I squat pretty wide also with toes slightly out. Need it for balence when going heavy. Any advice or things to add?

workout is this.

135 x 10 for two sets for a warm up
225 x 8
315 x 8
405 x failure (12 reps)
315 x failure (25 reps)

might shift it up to 405 x 8 and 450 to failure adding in another set.

leg ext. weight varies based on strength but i keep it controlled high volume, toes up 16-20 reps failure for 4 sets

same goes for leg curls

single leg press 16 reps

then i do the abductor and adductor to failure 3 sets each. some times throw in some glute movements as well. But idk i feel my strength is through the roof being that I am only 5 8 and 212ish. Guys with much larger legs then me squat way less. Am i stuck with genetics?

 

[heavyhitter]

some of this is just gonna be due to genetics and overall leg size. 27 inches is no joke for a dude your height though. I find for me that my separation gets better when im doing a lot more stretching type leg movements I.E. high box step ups, lots of different types of lunges and bulgarian split squats

 

[bieberhole69]

My legs don't separate well until I'm about 2 weeks out. I store a lot of my fat in my legs--so I think it comes down to genetics bro. I've seen girls with tiny ass legs and great separation, and guys with monster legs and hardly any separation. Genetics rule all.

 

[lvnp814]

My legs got a lot bigger from doing more volume with decent weight. You relly only have 2 work sets with your set up. Try warm ups then 5x10 with 385 or something like that. Don't know what to do about seperation though.

 

[gradeaphysique]

With the weight you claim to be pushing and the volume of your leg training your legs should be just fine. Don't be one of the people who plays the genetic card. Go back to the drawing board and ask yourself if you are really contracting your quads hams and glutes while squating etc. I feel like pre exaustion works well for legs. I feel a lot more of a contraction while I'm front squatting after pre exausting my hams on the single leg curl keeping my body straight and not extending my hips and then moving on to leg pressing with my feet high on the platform and throwing partials in there which I feel stimulates my hams well. Once I begin front squating my hams are pumped and provide plenty of support to my quads which feels great.

 

[Steve123]

I would get a little more work in around the 8-12 range thereabouts. Maybe hit that first work set for 2 more sets. Personally for legs, I always respond well to volume. As for separation, it's all diet. Unfortunately, you just need to be extremely lean to get that.

 

[Se]

135 x 10 for two sets for a warm up
225 x 8
315 x 8
405 x failure (12 reps)
315 x failure (25 reps)

If I may ask, why do you warm up with 135 10 times, then do two sets of 8 at those two lbs?

Is this just a continued warmup for you? Especially since you're pushing out 405 ~12 times. You've got four sets total that is good but essentially warm-ups. This leaves you really with only two complete sets. Why not warm up the legs with another exercise whereas you're per-exhausting the legs...then attack squats. No need to run those 4 warm up sets now.

 

[red5150]

what is BF not that high mean? can you post a pic of your wheels? you simply may not be lean enough or flexing your legs correctly.

 

[jay_steel]

ill try to get a pic up soon. but i would say bf is around maybe 12 ish. Still have abs in good...

honestly there really is not reason for how i am progression with my weight. After my show my legs were so weak i did something like that but ended at 315 and they were dead and just kind of kept with the same number of sets out of routine. My lower back was really weak to so by the time i got to 315 i really only had one more set before i felt like i was in pain.

My core is much stronger now and i strengthend up my lower back to support the weight just fine. So I will try this.

135 x 10 for tw sets (I do this just because of crepititous it helps with my knees)
225 x 16
315 x 12
385 x 10
405 x 8
430 x failure
315 x failure

maybe throgh in 450 as well.

Everything is engaged in my squat... I keep my glutes tight and drive with my heels.

thanks for all the help. I will give this a try on monday.

 

[Necrias]

I am "known" (but not really) for my leg development, and I will say wayyyy too much of this sport comes down to genetics. Before I had to call off my first show at 6 weeks out, my legs were still 28+ inches at 5-9 200 7-8%... people would ask me how I got my legs so big and I would just laugh; for the last 6 months I have only done 2-3 hypertrophy based sets per leg session, the rest were mobility/corrective in nature.

Most of my leg size came from PL and rarely doing reps over 5... if you were weaker I would suggest 5x5 (assuming you are actually hitting parallel on your squats rather than the bro-tards I see doing 1/4 squats), but instead I would instead suggest working up to a "heavy" set of 3-6 reps (leave a rep in the tank), then a set of 6-12 and 12-20 to failure or very close. Try to add weight or reps each week, similar to DC training.

The other things that really helped my leg/glute development is GHR, walking lunges, leg presses, and DB swings with moderate reps (5-15) and low rest periods.

 

[red5150]

ill try to get a pic up soon. but i would say bf is around maybe 12 ish. Still have abs in good...

honestly there really is not reason for how i am progression with my weight. After my show my legs were so weak i did something like that but ended at 315 and they were dead and just kind of kept with the same number of sets out of routine. My lower back was really weak to so by the time i got to 315 i really only had one more set before i felt like i was in pain.

My core is much stronger now and i strengthend up my lower back to support the weight just fine. So I will try this.

135 x 10 for tw sets (I do this just because of crepititous it helps with my knees)
225 x 16
315 x 12
385 x 10
405 x 8
430 x failure
315 x failure

maybe throgh in 450 as well.

Everything is engaged in my squat... I keep my glutes tight and drive with my heels.

thanks for all the help. I will give this a try on monday.

dont expect to have cuts or separation @ 12ish, unless you are genetically gifted in that department. no way no how. unrealistic expectation. you need to be leaner to tell what separation you have.

for example these pics are 5 weeks out, and 7 days out, 1 day out.