Leg Training Help

[deadliftdeez]

I would have to say that legs are my weak point with my physique (mainly hamstrings), and I'm wondering if you guys had any pointers. I just switched over to an LA fitness (Esporta), from a shitty 24/7 commercial gym AND THANK GOD! They actually have good hammer strength equipment.. For everyone that is going to suggest RDL's for my hamstrings, I can NEVER get to feel them like I think I should be feeling them. I have tried smith machine, barbell, and dumbbell so many times. Ive tried pre exhausting my hams before doing them as well, and all I feel is a stretch with a lot of lower back work. so now I just don't do them, and do more sets of seated hamstring curls. If you guys have anymore hamstring suggestions PLEASE let me know!!!! I'm all ears!!!!

Anyways, this is my current leg day I have set up that I have been doing for about 4-5 weeks now. My legs have been growing so slowly, so I just started slowing some movements down and really focusing on the contractions.

---Hammer Strength V Squat (basically a plate loaded squat machine if you aren't familiar)---

2 warmup sets with no weight
1 set 10x reps 1 plate each side
1 set 10x reps 2 plates each side
1 set 10x reps 3 plates each side (light working set)
1 set 10x reps 4 plates each side (working set)
1 set until absolute failure 4 plates each side (I got 12 reps and stopped on the way down oof the 13th rep.. couldn't muscle up lol)

--- leg press --- (feet closer and lower, trying to really concentrate on my sweep)
2 plate warmup set (about 10 slow reps)
3 plates about 10 slow reps (2.5-3 second decend)
4 plates (working set around 12 reps 2.5-3 second decend)
DROP SET 4 plates/2 plates until failure (gym friends strip the weight to only about a 5 second break)

--- leg extensions ---
weight really depends on the extension machine
1 light warmup set
2 sets 12 reps (2 second decends)
1 Drop set to finish quads

--- Seated Hamstring Curls ---
I finally found these once I switched to this gym and holy shit these are amazing

2 warmup sets
1 set 15 reps (light working)
3 sets 10-12 reps (working sets)
1 set 10 reps (slow defending (2-3 seconds until failure)
***sometimes a bonus drop set because I love these so much, and my hamstrings are dog shit small

--- lying hamstring curls ---
1 warmup set
1 set 12 reps (working set)
1 set 10 reps (working set)
1 set 10 reps (working set) then drop set in half until failure

--- standing calve raises ---
1 warmup set
4 sets of 10-15 until absolute failure
***I just fuck them up super hard until I can barely walk, I have grown my claves pretty well over the past 2 years

 

[buck]

I trained my legs over 2 days for many years. Quads with your basic squat, press and such. And a day for hinge/hamstrings. Doing leg curls only builds the hamstrings that are involved with bending the knee. The biggest hamstring muscles are ones that help straighten the hip from my understanding. And those are the ones that you are not feeling or really working so i can see where your hams may be lagging in that area. I think you will need to incorporate more work like RDL's etc to accomplish your objective. When doing RDL's are you letting your butt drift back as far as you can while bending forward and then pulling pulling in a slow and controlled manner? Or are you just bending forward and having your lumbar region do most of the work?

 

[heavyhitter]

Always train a hamstring curl first. It gets a lot of blood around your knees and the cushioning from the pump feels amazing when squatting heavy afterwards. You’ll thank me, take it from an old guy. My favorite all time hamstring builder is the Nordic curl. They’re very hard so use band for assistance at first. These will smoke you

 

[krman]

Always train a hamstring curl first. It gets a lot of blood around your knees and the cushioning from the pump feels amazing when squatting heavy afterwards. You’ll thank me, take it from an old guy. My favorite all time hamstring builder is the Nordic curl. They’re very hard so use band for assistance at first. These will smoke you

That's awesome advice. Thank you so much. I'm going to try that

 

[heavyhitter]

I train legs mountaindog style. Start with a hamstring curl, move on to your heavy compound move, then train something stable you can blast like a leg press or hack, and then a stretch movement like lunges or knee extensions, and finish with another stretching hamstring move like sldl, or Nordic curls, or even another machine curl. This has made more progress on my legs than any other method I’ve trained, and my knee pain has slowly gotten better

 

[Gunsmith]

Get on YouTube and watch some of John Meadows vids focused on hams

 

[TrippplePPP]

I always thought I had good hams and I always loved to flex. I remember reading about Chris Cormier talking about flexing his hams as a kid and this carried on to having developed hams. Get out the mirrors and flex them hams. Hit your shots and flex them in each shot. Then when you go to the gym another day you can more easily feel your hams with any movement. And if you are not feeling the hams while doing straight leg deeds of any sort and it effects you low back, then your hams are tight. You should be stretching them anyways but if you also do this while flexing and lifting.

 

[qwerty]

Superset Leg curls with romanian deadlifts

 

[Delt123]

My hamstrings have grown a lot since I’ve started only doing curls for them, specially form the side.

Maybe you could mainly focus on curls while working on your RDL form. Try them slow and controlled. Same with the leg curls tbh, many just Yank the weight up and that’s not the way to go imo.

 

[Ruhlfreak55]

If you feel they're lagging why would you not be doing them first?

Also we do straight leg/ romanian deadlifts on the pit shark a lot (just did it on an atlantis belt squat yesterday too) and that works very well. You're also leaving out things like glute/ham raises. I always do at least 3 hamstring exercises in a workout, usually 2 curls and straight leg variation. Watch the Renaissance Periodization video on fixing your RDLs.
Start using a fuckton of intensity adders for the leg curls. Myoreps, dropsets, super slow reps, holds, etc.

 

[juggy38]

If you can’t nail RDLs, semi-straight leg deadlifts. Basically deadlift with hips higher.

Look at Jordan peters Instagram, he does them a lot.

And also milk the eccentric on the deadlift variant. It is a huge missed aspect of doing hip hinge movements for growth.

 

[juggy38]

But doesn’t LA fitness have those stupid ass octagon plates? I hated those when I used to train there

 

[Ruhlfreak55]

But doesn’t LA fitness have those stupid ass octagon plates? I hated those when I used to train there

Hate them because you can't roll on deadlift. No matter what anyone tells me (and in this case the physics/math even agrees), I still feel like I get something out of the roll.

 

[heavyhitter]

If you feel they're lagging why would you not be doing them first?

Also we do straight leg/ romanian deadlifts on the pit shark a lot (just did it on an atlantis belt squat yesterday too) and that works very well. You're also leaving out things like glute/ham raises. I always do at least 3 hamstring exercises in a workout, usually 2 curls and straight leg variation. Watch the Renaissance Periodization video on fixing your RDLs.
Start using a fuckton of intensity adders for the leg curls. Myoreps, dropsets, super slow reps, holds, etc.

Partials are one of my favorite hamstring intensifier

 

[Papa Van Smack]

More time under tension or heavy squats. I agree with doing hams first.

 

[lookslikesausage]

Paul Carter has made two excellent videos for RDL and SLDL to help with cueing

Paul Carter | Hypertrophy | Education on Instagram: "More help people with their RDL, because...and I don't know why, but this movement is hard for some people to master. - You can use the band to cue the hinge or you can just use a plain ol' wall. -

4,165 likes, 59 comments - liftrunbang1 on August 8, 2021: "More help people with their RDL, because...and I don't know why, but this movement is hard for some people to master. - You can use the b..."

www.instagram.com

Paul Carter | Hypertrophy | Education on Instagram: "Some big named influencer musta posted some crappy toes elevated RDL's recently because I had about half a dozen questions about it in the Q&A. - And it's total nonsense. - Elevating the toes for a

4,760 likes, 71 comments - liftrunbang1 on August 15, 2021: "Some big named influencer musta posted some crappy toes elevated RDL's recently because I had about half a dozen questions about it in th..."

www.instagram.com

 

[Gorilla_Waters]

What works best for me is high rep squats. You can tweak the program below. Just as it is grew my legs. If you do the program right your legs will be jello twice a week.

The 185 Rep Squat Workout

Climb out of that training rut and challenge your muscles and mental fortitude with these old-school squat workouts.

www.t-nation.com

 

[alfresco]

Seated leg curls are dope. While my hams would never be considered
great (my wife's are naturally better (https://ronkoeberer.com/Home-Page-Images/27)
so you can take this with a grain of salt.

I don't know the make or model of the seated leg curl machine I use
but I consider it better than lying leg curls as those but too much
strain on my lower back.

The way I don them might be considered unique but they are responsible
for some degree of improvement. Now . . . move the seat all the way back
or remove it completely. Do not use it. Adjust the pad on the movement
arm for length and drop down the restraining pad to restrain your legs
in a secure position with the axis of rotation in-line with you knee.

Sit completely upright, and you will, if adjusted properly, feel a good
stretch in your hamstrings. Continue sitting as upright as possible
and curl your legs back under as far as possible and hold it there
for a second. You can even lean forward a bit and you feel a superior
contraction. Return to the start of the movement, keeping your
torso upright and you will feel a good stretch in your hamstrings.
Repeat for 15 to 20 reps. Frequency and sets are entirely up to you.

Hope this helps.

 

[heavyhitter]

Seated leg curls are dope. While my hams would never be considered
great (my wife's are naturally better (https://ronkoeberer.com/Home-Page-Images/27)
so you can take this with a grain of salt.

I don't know the make or model of the seated leg curl machine I use
but I consider it better than lying leg curls as those but too much
strain on my lower back.

The way I don them might be considered unique but they are responsible
for some degree of improvement. Now . . . move the seat all the way back
or remove it completely. Do not use it. Adjust the pad on the movement
arm for length and drop down the restraining pad to restrain your legs
in a secure position with the axis of rotation in-line with you knee.

Sit completely upright, and you will, if adjusted properly, feel a good
stretch in your hamstrings. Continue sitting as upright as possible
and curl your legs back under as far as possible and hold it there
for a second. You can even lean forward a bit and you feel a superior
contraction. Return to the start of the movement, keeping your
torso upright and you will feel a good stretch in your hamstrings.
Repeat for 15 to 20 reps. Frequency and sets are entirely up to you.

Hope this helps.

I lean forward slightly as the stretch feels better, and I don’t go to full extension. I stop about 5-6 inches short of fully lengthened as the calves do the majority of the work for the first portion of a hamstring curl

 

[alfresco]

I lean forward slightly as the stretch feels better, and I don’t go to full extension. I stop about 5-6 inches short of fully lengthened as the calves do the majority of the work for the first portion of a hamstring curl

???