Leg Days :D

[gunshowbabe]

Leg days are by far the greatest for me... I'm having a little trouble lately because of some injuries but that hasn't changed my opinion about leg days. I was in a dicussion yesterday about leg days and wanted to ask you guys your opinion on it...

this is what I am going to try for the next couple of months once my leg stops bothering me (by the way- my leg feels a lot better)

So one of the trainers at our gym gave a tip saying that there should only be one leg day per week but squats should be done 3 times per week. This is if you are trying to bulk up your legs. He also suggested dropping the weight from your normal 12rep workout a bit and do that (example 300lbs drop it down to 250) 12reps/ 3 sets. He explained that by doing this and doing it more often you body will mold to your lifestyle quicker... from there add 5 lbs each week no matter what. DONT DO LEGS 3x per week, just squats.

Anyway- I was wondering how many times per week you guys do legs, squats, or if you have any tips on the fequency or experience on this...

(ofcourse this has to be accompanied with the proper diet and protein intake)

Thanks to everyone!

[sleepyles]

Well I normally do 1 leg day per week, but do squats and deadlifts twice per week. Squats and Deadlifts on back days as the second day. The reason why I only do 1 leg day per week, is because I do a lot of cardio, so in essence my legs get a workout anyways from cardio. Sometimes when I don't even train legs, I notice my legs get huge.

Here is a sample leg workout that my fiance does with me that I posted in this thread, since one of Linda's FL challengers asked about legs/ glutes:

Top 20 Workout Tips

C&P from thread below, this was for her to tone her legs and glutes:

________________________________________
Here is the leg workout that my fiancé does for her legs, with only moderate/ light weight, until she feels the burn.

Barbell Lunges: 4 sets x 15 – 20 reps
Lying leg curls: 3 sets x 20 reps
One Leg Hack Squats: 3 sets x 25 reps
Cable Inner Thigh Pulls: 3 sets x 25 reps
Lying Adductor Raise: 3 sets x 20 reps per each side (left and right side)
Stability Ball Inner Thigh Tightener: 3 sets x 20 reps
Regular Squats: 3 sets x 15 reps
Calf Raises: 4 sets x 10 reps (done with stairs below)
Flutter Kicks: 4 sets x 25 reps (works lower glutes)

Cardio: 5 flights of stairs (walking up/ jogging up and going down) x 4 times, and then 20 minutes on elliptical or recumbent bike, no treadmill since her legs got a good workout, but needs cardio to burn calories.

At the top of the stairs she does 10 calf raises on the top step, but I am behind her to spot her so she doesn’t fall.

We also do Yoga together and that helps with her flexibility and toning of her muscles and body, as well as mine. But some people don’t like doing it.

I normally after this workout have to carry her (piggy back ride) to the car, since she is really sore and exhausted.

[justaguy87337]

well this wonderful new gym I have doesn't have a squat rack! so I do leg press and straight leg deads on leg day along with lunges. I do deads on back day. that's about as much leg workout as I get, well I run everyday post workout.

[gunshowbabe]

I still can't believe they don't have a squat rack... that's not a real gym JAG. lol

I'm really trying to build muscle on my legs so I go with the heavy weights and 12-15 reps for 3 sets.

My leg workout consists of :

Leg Press
Squats
Straight Leg Deadlifts
Leg extensions
Calf raises (with barbell) or sitting extensions

I also do leg curls, adductor, and lunges if my legs aren't already shot by then. After warm up and then cardio after my workout.

I was doing about 110 on squats If I didn't do the leg press first (because I dropped thw weight down and I do about 300 on that right now since my leg messed up) and sometimes I'll just put 40 lbs on the bar and do 3 supersets on squats... With this new technique I want to do squats on mondays, wed, and fridays before my workouts... technically it's 3 x the rate I would have if just doing one leg day plus I'm still adding weight... I'm hoping someone will tell me it works for them! lol

[pliny_2001]

I do legs once a week - anything else, and the wear on my joints starts to go from 'fatigue' to 'injury' in about a month. That said, I do a fairly rough leg workout on the theory that it takes alot to get your legs shocked enough to grow. My opinion here's straight from Arnold, who said that if you're doing legs more than once a week, you're not doing them right.

I give my calves an extra couple sets on an upper body day, though - they seem able to take it. And while it's more cardio than muscular, I'm running almost every day, and spinning twice a week - so they still get hit pretty often, but only once a week by the weights.

Are you currently just doing 1 set of 12? If I wanted to increase volume, I wouldn't drop down to 250 and do 3x12, I'd probably stay at 300 and do descending sets of 12, 10, and 8 -- that's just how I like to stagger them, YMMV, of course.

[mooshue]

Your legs make up 50% of your body, think about it, how many times do you work your biceps or triceps in a week? You hit them when you are doing arms, you hit them doing back and chest, hell you even hit a little bit when you do shoulder presses. I love working out legs. As a former fatty (im convinced all fat people have nice legs under there) thats my most muscular part of my body.
I do switch it up a little bit, ill do a program for about 8 to 10 weeks max. Sometimes the program hits legs 1 time a week. Sometimes twice, right now im doing 3 times.
BTW, nothing hotter to me than a fine chick doing perfect squats with a deceant weight

I also like to change the order in which i do my exercises. That way i can go way heavy on all the exercises at least 4 or 5 times throughout the program. Nothing sucks more than doing squats last after blasting your legs with deads, lunges, abductors, and press. It really works em good but i can only put about 150lbs on the bar.

I respond very well hitting muscle groups more than once per week btw, this was discovered by trial and error, trying many of the programs designed right here on this very site. Keep trying, log your progress, get a tape and measure you muscles every few weeks, keep a food log and exercise log, thats the only way to see what really works for you and how you respond to certain workouts.

[gunshowbabe]

Originally Posted by pliny_2001

I do legs once a week - anything else, and the wear on my joints starts to go from 'fatigue' to 'injury' in about a month. That said, I do a fairly rough leg workout on the theory that it takes alot to get your legs shocked enough to grow. My opinion here's straight from Arnold, who said that if you're doing legs more than once a week, you're not doing them right.

I give my calves an extra couple sets on an upper body day, though - they seem able to take it. And while it's more cardio than muscular, I'm running almost every day, and spinning twice a week - so they still get hit pretty often, but only once a week by the weights.

Are you currently just doing 1 set of 12? If I wanted to increase volume, I wouldn't drop down to 250 and do 3x12, I'd probably stay at 300 and do descending sets of 12, 10, and 8 -- that's just how I like to stagger them, YMMV, of course.

I'm doing 3 sets of 12-15...

[gunshowbabe]

Also- I guess the "dropping some weight" would be also to avoid injury too, right?

this is something I found from toon's post from the link Sleepy linked to me... I thought it was interesting...

[quote][20. Break Plateaus with Doublé Training
Doublé is a French term that means to do something twice. I learned it from Pierre Roy, who's probably Canada's best weightlifting coach. Basically it involves doing the same exercise twice in the same workout. Whatever lift you want to improve, you do it twice. So for example if your squat is weak, you squat at the beginning of a workout, then you squat again at the end. It's a great plateau buster that can work for strength specialization or hypertrophy specialization. Let's say you have shitty calves. You can do ten sets of calves at the beginning of the workout, then train chest and back, then do ten sets of calves at the end./QUOTE]

THis sounds awesome- I guess it does pay off to work the same muscle more often... I'm definitely trying this stuff

[justaguy87337]

I would try more sets of say like 4-5 sets in the 6-8 rep range. superset them with your straight leg deads....now thats a workout

[JarheadRI]

I just work legs one day a week too. Usually on Tuesdays. Now that being said when I do my lower back you will inevitably get some legs in there too. On Fridays I do deads, and straight leg deads and that definately hits the hammies. I seem to have less pain and a better range of motion when I do it this way.

[cuteitaliangurl]

I workout on legs twice a week. The reason why I do that is because I play soccer all year around, indoor and outdoor. My legs are big, but the running by playing soccer has strengthen them a lot more, and toned them. I have calves that are bigger than some of the "dudes" I play with.

Stair exercises helps me with building my calves, shins, and hamstrings. Then again my legs are toned, but not as defined as I would like, but they are developed nicely, so I can handle slides and tackles while playing soccer.

As per squats I do them 2 twices a week as well. When I workout on legs, I do more sets and less reps to build, I think someone here mentioned that in their post.

[JarheadRI]

Forget calves! I can do tons a weight and mine never get bigger. Just genes. I also think you have to look at your overall workout as well. I pretty much do 4 times a week and I am dead after each workout. I don't know where they heck I could put legs in twice. I think this might be a little bit easier for the gals because they tend not to go all out, espescially with upper body, and they also have there power in their lower half. That is why men usually hate legs and like upper body and vice versa for women.

[mooshue]

Originally Posted by JarheadRI

Forget calves! I can do tons a weight and mine never get bigger. Just genes. I also think you have to look at your overall workout as well. I pretty much do 4 times a week and I am dead after each workout. I don't know where they heck I could put legs in twice. I think this might be a little bit easier for the gals because they tend not to go all out, espescially with upper body, and they also have there power in their lower half. That is why men usually hate legs and like upper body and vice versa for women.

how much weight is tons? I guarantee if you put some real weight on those calves a few times a week for a 6 week stint, they will grow.
Lets figure a guy weighs 200lbs. It already takes a shitload of work to exhaust the legs, the calves arent much different. A 200lb guy is perfectly capable of supporting that full 200lbs on 1 calf repeteadly for a long length of time, it does it all day long while you walk. If you want growth, that 200lb guy should never do calf raises with anything less than double his own body weight. My calves are 18", bigger than my arms. I toss at least 700lbs on that press 5 sets of 10 in the middle of my leg workouts. If im doing seated, i do at least my body weight. Donkey calves i have to lower it a bit because the machine only goes to 400lbs + whatever 45's i can stack on it, but you get the idea. The chapter in arnolds book about calves is a great read, really puts the legs ability to lift a ton of weight in perspective.

[mooshue]

Originally Posted by cuteitaliangurl

I workout on legs twice a week. The reason why I do that is because I play soccer all year around, indoor and outdoor. My legs are big, but the running by playing soccer has strengthen them a lot more, and toned them. I have calves that are bigger than some of the "dudes" I play with.

Stair exercises helps me with building my calves, shins, and hamstrings. Then again my legs are toned, but not as defined as I would like, but they are developed nicely, so I can handle slides and tackles while playing soccer.

As per squats I do them 2 twices a week as well. When I workout on legs, I do more sets and less reps to build, I think someone here mentioned that in their post.

making them bigger wont necessarily make them more toned, body fat reduction will give the toned appearance. It sounds like you got the right idea though with the cardio for soccer.

[cuteitaliangurl]

Originally Posted by mooshue

how much weight is tons? I guarantee if you put some real weight on those calves a few times a week for a 6 week stint, they will grow.
Lets figure a guy weighs 200lbs. It already takes a shitload of work to exhaust the legs, the calves arent much different. A 200lb guy is perfectly capable of supporting that full 200lbs on 1 calf repeteadly for a long length of time, it does it all day long while you walk. If you want growth, that 200lb guy should never do calf raises with anything less than double his own body weight. My calves are 18", bigger than my arms. I toss at least 700lbs on that press 5 sets of 10 in the middle of my leg workouts. If im doing seated, i do at least my body weight. Donkey calves i have to lower it a bit because the machine only goes to 400lbs + whatever 45's i can stack on it, but you get the idea. The chapter in arnolds book about calves is a great read, really puts the legs ability to lift a ton of weight in perspective.

Great post Mooshue. My post wasn't about calves alone. If you guys must know. I only weight about 120lbs and I squat 250lbs easily with 10 reps, my max is at 280lbs. As per calf press on the leg press machine I can do about the same weight. My legs are toned and firm, but it is hard to cut when the "monthly friend" arrives, and there is no motivation to follow through. Gross you guys out?

Originally Posted by mooshue

making them bigger wont necessarily make them more toned, body fat reduction will give the toned appearance. It sounds like you got the right idea though with the cardio for soccer.

Again, just having trouble with lowering body fat percentage, but I am not trying to look like a bodybuilder just mainly toning and some definition. I know if I really wanted to lose body fat, I would, but that isn't my personal goal.

[JarheadRI]

Originally Posted by mooshue

how much weight is tons? I guarantee if you put some real weight on those calves a few times a week for a 6 week stint, they will grow.
Lets figure a guy weighs 200lbs. It already takes a shitload of work to exhaust the legs, the calves arent much different. A 200lb guy is perfectly capable of supporting that full 200lbs on 1 calf repeteadly for a long length of time, it does it all day long while you walk. If you want growth, that 200lb guy should never do calf raises with anything less than double his own body weight. My calves are 18", bigger than my arms. I toss at least 700lbs on that press 5 sets of 10 in the middle of my leg workouts. If im doing seated, i do at least my body weight. Donkey calves i have to lower it a bit because the machine only goes to 400lbs + whatever 45's i can stack on it, but you get the idea. The chapter in arnolds book about calves is a great read, really puts the legs ability to lift a ton of weight in perspective.

Well my gym is limited so I basically do the max on all the machines. Maybe I can try the one legged approach I never did that. And I did read Arnold's book on that section. He had the same problem too. Of course he used to take a lot of roids and I am not willing to do that so I will have skinny calves.

[gunshowbabe]

[/quote]Again, just having trouble with lowering body fat percentage, but I am not trying to look like a bodybuilder just mainly toning and some definition. I know if I really wanted to lose body fat, I would, but that isn't my personal goal.[/quote]

I think you contradicted yourself a little with this post, but I think I know what you mean... you are not necessarily trying to loose weight but you ARE trying to tone up? Which again, as Mooshue mentioned would have a lot to do with bf% .

Playing soccer is a great form of cardio so I would suggest maybe tweaking your diet to try and lower the bf% that or there are different ways to lift weights too that will help...

[mooshue]

Originally Posted by cuteitaliangurl

Great post Mooshue. My post wasn't about calves alone. If you guys must know. I only weight about 120lbs and I squat 250lbs easily with 10 reps, my max is at 280lbs. As per calf press on the leg press machine I can do about the same weight. My legs are toned and firm, but it is hard to cut when the "monthly friend" arrives, and there is no motivation to follow through. Gross you guys out?

a woman doing perfect squats with heavy weight is so sexy, you need to capture that on video for us

Originally Posted by cuteitaliangurl

Again, just having trouble with lowering body fat percentage, but I am not trying to look like a bodybuilder just mainly toning and some definition. I know if I really wanted to lose body fat, I would, but that isn't my personal goal.

you wont look like a bodybuilder unless you take the supplements, gear, and eat enough food like a bodybuilder does along with training like a bodybuilder does. Thats a real common misconception for people who lift. "I want to get toned, not huge like Jay Cutler" Trust me, you will never look like Jay Cutler, work your ass off, get your diet in check, and you'll like the end results.

[cuteitaliangurl]

Originally Posted by gunshowbabe

I think you contradicted yourself a little with this post, but I think I know what you mean... you are not necessarily trying to loose weight but you ARE trying to tone up? Which again, as Mooshue mentioned would have a lot to do with bf% .

Playing soccer is a great form of cardio so I would suggest maybe tweaking your diet to try and lower the bf% that or there are different ways to lift weights too that will help...

Yes you got it, not trying to lose weight, but toning up. It is about BF% as you and mooshue stated. My bad, sorry was trying to print some recipes for dinner off from here, and wasn't thinking straight. Sorry didn't want to jack your thread.

I will leave the thread now

Get it back on subject guys

[mooshue]

Originally Posted by JarheadRI

Well my gym is limited so I basically do the max on all the machines. Maybe I can try the one legged approach I never did that. And I did read Arnold's book on that section. He had the same problem too. Of course he used to take a lot of roids and I am not willing to do that so I will have skinny calves.

Yea dude, when you run out of weight, go single leg. It will take you a while to run out of weight that way. Ive never taken roids or anything yet and my calves grew nearly a full inch once i started putting some real weight on them. I used to do the 200-300lb calf raises too until i read that in his book, but never again.