Need some leg growth!

[Stato11]

Hey guys, I'm getting frustrated with my legs because they seem to just not grow, at the moment im doing them once a week in a four day split and here's my routine..

Leg Extensions - 2 sets x 12-15 reps (lightweight for a warmup)

Squats - 6 sets x 20, 20, 15, 12, 10, 8 reps (I pretty much go to failure on all but the first set)

Leg Press - 1 warmup set x 20 reps
drop set x 10, 15, 20 reps

Hamstring Curls - 2 sets x 15-20 reps

I try and go for volume as this seems to be whats worked best so far but I'm still hardly noticing anything!

 

[TerpVTX]

Legs have been a troublesome muscle group for me as well. However, I have seen considerable growth in my legs over the past couple of months going up in weight on my squats while reducing my rep range except for my last set which is essentially a widowmaker set. So now for squats I will do 4 sets of 6-8 reps taking each set to failure. After the 4th set, I will drop the weight by 20% - 25% and do one set with the goal of trying to get 20 reps. IF I get 4 sets of 8 then I increase the weight the following week. Same with the widowmaker.

The back squat is the mainstay exercise in my leg routine (I don't have a leg press). I normally do another isolation exercise for quads and two exercises for hams, and 1 to 2 exercises for calves, so my workout routine would look something like this:

Leg curls 3-4 set of 10-15 reps, 1 set of 25 partials.
Squats 4 sets of 8 reps, 1 set of 20 reps
Leg extensions 4 sets of 15-20 reps
SLDL 4 sets of 10-12 reps
Donkey Calf Raises 4 sets of 10-12 reps with 3 second holds at top and bottom.

I swap in different isolation exercises routinely and also try and change the order, so one week I will pre-exhaust hams with leg curls before squats and the next I may pre-exhaust the quads with leg extensions. I will also change the rep ranges out from one blast to the next (I normally take a deload week every 6-8 weeks out), to keep the body guessing, but the lower rep heavy set squats followed by a widowmaker set have made a big difference in my leg development over the past few months.

 

[KTT]

Squats, ähm Squats and ..... Squats.

Yes this looks fine.

 

[woodswise]

Back Squats 10 sets of 10 reps, as heavy as I can handle and still come close to 10 on the last set, on its own day.

BLDL 10 sets of 10 as heavy as I can handle etc., on its own day.

My legs have grown nicely the past 6 months with two of my four day split spent doing these.

every few weeks, I do some box squats (5 sets of 5, very heavy) instead of regular squats, and add in another leg exercise, such as db lunges.

 

[Stato11]

thanks for the replys guys, i think Im going to try out some new rep ranges

 

[buck]

1 day training legs and 3 days training the other half of the body. might want to spend more time training legs. and add some Romanian/stiff legged dead lifts, and some calf work.

 

[9muscle9]

try something mental to make them grow perhaps?

10 sets of squats with 15 reps per set with a 60kg barbell, then next week try 7-8 sets with 3 reps per set with 85kg?

I believe legs respond well to high volume training because of there size.

 

[Stato11]

Thanks for the reply, I think I'm gunna take your advice 9muscle9 Ill try and alternate between high and low reps and sets each week

thanks guys!

 

[Incognito1]

Patience is the key. I have had issues with my legs too, being tall and long limbed doesnt help. But patience and consistent hard work is what pays off.

 

[9muscle9]

Consistency is key to developing huge legs!

 

[D.mang85]

I found that splitting my leg work out into 2 separate workouts through out the day helped my overall leg develope and put pretty good size on. For the first workout, I do heavy free weight exercises such as squats, leg press, straights, lunges and for my 2nd one I focus on concentration exercises such as leg extensions, leg curls, kick backs and throw in some super sets of random lifts at the end. My legs have always been decently strong for my height, but the size didn't add on until I stuck with a consistent workout plan.

 

[nelynel]

Yeah im gonna have to try this whole consistency an patients thing...im lacking it amongst other things

 

[saps]

Two suggestions and they have both already been alluded too.
Do hams first and do a high degree of volume for the entire thigh; they can take it.

 

[bigj274]

For me...legs (including calves) only respond to high volume!! Not sure of what different approaches u have taken but id recommend this!!

 

[Lionheart]

I am surprised no one has touched on squat depth. 99% of the time I see people squatting they are going no more than 1/3 of full depth, with the occasional person going to parallel. Yet after butchering a squat with 135 they add more and more 45lb plates. Squat and go ass to the grass. If you can't do that then work on the flexibility of your hip flexors, ankles, and hamstrings. I think the reason you see so many individuals struggle with leg training is simply not using a FULL range of motion on the squat, going BEYOND parallel. I'm 6'4" and my legs are way bigger than half the shorter guys at the gym who have bigger upper bodies than me. The difference I squat to full depth, I squat heavy, and I squat 52 weeks of the year that way.

Not sure if you are squatting full depth. Pretty sure if you don't you will say you are anyway, but before adding any new rep schemes, exercise orders, or adding volume, check your depth on squats. You even seen an Olympic weightlifter with small legs? Ass to the grass

 

[NotEnough]

I am a big believer in constantly changing up the exercises, pre-exhausting, and superset and keeping heavy weight

 

[thebigguy84]

Squats, ähm Squats and ..... Squats.

Yes this looks fine.

Why just squat squat and more squats??? There are too many exercises that will put mass on your legs other than just squats. Dorian Yates didn't squat. Ya need a happy variety and balance of exercises.

 

[Romulus]

I am surprised no one has touched on squat depth. 99% of the time I see people squatting they are going no more than 1/3 of full depth, with the occasional person going to parallel. Yet after butchering a squat with 135 they add more and more 45lb plates. Squat and go ass to the grass. If you can't do that then work on the flexibility of your hip flexors, ankles, and hamstrings. I think the reason you see so many individuals struggle with leg training is simply not using a FULL range of motion on the squat, going BEYOND parallel. I'm 6'4" and my legs are way bigger than half the shorter guys at the gym who have bigger upper bodies than me. The difference I squat to full depth, I squat heavy, and I squat 52 weeks of the year that way.

Not sure if you are squatting full depth. Pretty sure if you don't you will say you are anyway, but before adding any new rep schemes, exercise orders, or adding volume, check your depth on squats. You even seen an Olympic weightlifter with small legs? Ass to the grass

I know for a fact that I do not squat correctly. I start bending forward way more than I should--and it is probably because of the flexibility issues you pointed out. Can you give some specifics as to how to improve flexibility and for for squats? I know they are the best leg exercise, but they are pretty much worthless for me as my lower back is easily my limiting factor, due to form.

Thanks

 

[Carolina18]

I had this same problem about a year ago. I'd train the hell out of them doing the typical exts curls squats presses etc and nothing seem to work. Id get stronger but growth was very very slow. I began training with a friend who's a NPC winner and he started me on Deadlifts at the end of my leg day. I never thought about it but since then i've seen ample growth in my legs. My ole lady has even noticed over the past year. The DL's have even widen my lower back out. I know everyone if different but maybe this solution would help you as well. Deadlifts stacked with lower back exts and your hams & quads will be hating you even more. good luck

 

[Lionheart]

I know for a fact that I do not squat correctly. I start bending forward way more than I should--and it is probably because of the flexibility issues you pointed out. Can you give some specifics as to how to improve flexibility and for for squats? I know they are the best leg exercise, but they are pretty much worthless for me as my lower back is easily my limiting factor, due to form.

Thanks

Sure man. I am no expert, but I can tell you some of the things I do. One of the first things I did years ago when I first swallowed my pride and decided to lower the weight and start squatting correctly was squat all the time, every training day. A lot of people will flip on this so let me explain. I would have my normal Squat day and that is when I would squat heavy. Every other day I was in the gym though I would make sure to take the bar, just the 45 lb bar and do sets of squats. A couple right when I came in the gym and in between each set of whatever I was training that day. You don't need to worry about weight just the use the bar and focus on going as deep as you can.This will help you get used to the movement pattern which will help your mobility through said movement pattern.

Do some type of mobility work pre workout. Buy a foam roller if you don't have one and if you can't afford one get ballsy and just go get a 4" PVC pipe. Before every training session I will foam roll both my hip flexors and IT band. I'll start with the left leg and after a minute or so I do a kneeling hip flexor stretch. Then I will switch over to the right same thing. I will continue to do this "testing myself" between rolling and stretching both legs by performing several reps of the back squat until I can squat deep without any stiffness. Joe Defranco also has his "agile 8" for hip mobility check it out.

Then finally at the end of the workout I work on static stretches. Kneeling hip flexor stretch, butterfly groin stretch. The thing is though I hold the stretch, essentially "waiting out the tension". Got this jewel from Pavel Tsatsouline in his book Relax into stretch. It has helped immensely.

http://brihaspati.net/downloads/Relax_into_Stretch_P_Tsatsouline.pdf

I will also use bands to really open up my hip flexors. Last but not least to give you a resource to show you how to implement that **broken link removed**. Just use the search feature, but here is one hip opener.

**broken link removed**

Good luck