Just Squats For Leg Development?

A

AlriteGeezer

Elite Member
Looking to add just size overall to legs, I'm thinking just plain and simple squat till I drop kinda thing...bearing in mind I'll be doing calves/hams seperate on their own day (usually a quick little Saturday morning session)

5x5 heavy squat... Then light weight high reps till I'm out of gas basically
 
Doesn't it depend on stance.
Narrower stance for quads
Wider stance for hams and glutes
 
It wouldn't be for me personally mate.

What you've listed there could defo form part of a leg workout for me but would not stand alone.

I think in restricting the session to one movement you limit yourself.

Taking squats as a the example....you limit the poundage you can put through your quads as opposed to say leg press.

I also feel like the limiting factor in how much you can push the high reps on squats is technique and safety comes into a bit.

To me it's wasting the extra time you've freed up moving hams to away from the workout.

That said...I'm rubbish at squatting and it's not to say it wouldn't work well for you.
 
Thinking about it...if I wear limited to one quad exercise I would be more inclined to do something like this.

Week 1-2 - 12 sets

Pyramid up in weight doing 8's - 4 sets

Sets of 6 pausing in the bottom position for 1 sec pyramid up in 6's - 6 sets

60 kg on bar squat untill you have to lock out. Rest in that position but do not rack bar then go again - call it two sets via 1 rest pause set.

Week 3-4 - 14 sets

Pyramid up weight doing 6's - 5 sets

Do a few feeder sets to find your working weight then so 5 sets of this. Squat down come half way up then back down then all the way up = 1 rep. Do 6 reps x 5 sets.

Same as last week's finisher but add an extra rp set so x 4 rest pause repetitions = 4 sets via 1 rest pause set.

Week 5- 6 - 16 sets

16 x 16 - 1 min rest

Weem 7-8 - 18 sets

Week 9-10 - 20 sets

Weem 11-12 - 22 sets

.....keep building it up the variations over the weeks.
 
There are better, less stressful to joints etc exercises IMO for building legs.
 
What would be your recommendations pip? I know you had knee problem, so had to work your routine around that
 
I was always under the impression that squats pretty much smashed every muscle in the leg.. Then isolate after
 
AlriteGeezer said:
I was always under the impression that squats pretty much smashed every muscle in the leg.. Then isolate after
Click to expand...

When you cant squat you have to work around it.
I leg pressed, lunged, ham curled and extensions.
 
I don't think you can beat squats and variations of personally.

It's just learning the technique And developing the flexibility to do it comfortably that takes time and patience.
 
AlriteGeezer said:
For building legs generally overall?
Click to expand...

Yeah, squat variations, hamstring curls and overloading and heavy sets on leg press are my staples.

I'd do some calf work as well, toe press etc


Mine this week for example.....


SQUAT- 60x6, 80x5, 100x5, 120x3, 140x3, 160x3, 180x2, 197.5x3+

LEG PRESS- 250x6, 300x4, 340x3, 370x8+ into a dropset with 290x failure

CALF RAISE MACHINE - Work up to an 8RM, straight into 2 drops to failure (-c25% each drop)

SINGLE LEG CURL- p10x12+ (right), 11+ (left), p9 x aim to match reps, p7x15+

Prob be in and out in 30 mins and I've covered all my bases. It'll look similar most weeks, I'll just switch hamstring and calf exercises. Might throw in paused squats and go lighter on leg press.... Thst the basis though
 
Agreed Rents, but glad you added leg bicep stuff in there :)

I think squatting is hugely dependant on your body mechanics and technique, back squats I always got great success in the glute's and upper thighs, but very little in the 1/3 above the knee, I mainly went for hack squats to correct that, don't think I ever got any of the squatting movements/leg press to REALLY hit the hamstrings though , which is why I mentioned the above.
 
Rentaghost said:
I don't think you can beat squats and variations of personally.

It's just learning the technique And developing the flexibility to do it comfortably that takes time and patience.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately most people dont do this and end up with injuries through squatting incorrectly.
 
I think if overall development is the goal, you probably need a few more exercises in your arsenal besides just squatting. Like any exercise, this is going to be very person specific.

I still believe that, for a large majority, nothing will pack on size to a person's legs more effectively than heavy, deep squatting - but you really have to experiment a bit and find the exercises that are well suited to you and allow you to make continual progress on. For me, I hate the leg press....I've only found a couple of machines that felt "right" to me - so for most part - squats, hack squats and v-squat machine are my choice.

If all you have is a barbell - then squats and variations of squats (front squats...etc.) are going to be your best bet. Put it this way, I've never seen a dude who can squat 140, 160, 180, 200+...etc. or front squat decent weights for sets of 10-20 reps lacking in the legs department in terms of overall mass....but I've seen plenty of dudes who load up the leg press machine and all these other fancy machines week in week out with shitty legs. I'm not sure if that's down to the exercise selection or to the differences in how people actually train/progress...etc.

It's all a matter of context I guess. There is no need to limit yourself to ONE exercise unless you don't have any other choice available to you.
 
Gator said:
I think if overall development is the goal, you probably need a few more exercises in your arsenal besides just squatting. Like any exercise, this is going to be very person specific.

I still believe that, for a large majority, nothing will pack on size to a person's legs more effectively than heavy, deep squatting - but you really have to experiment a bit and find the exercises that are well suited to you and allow you to make continual progress on. For me, I hate the leg press....I've only found a couple of machines that felt "right" to me - so for most part - squats, hack squats and v-squat machine are my choice.

If all you have is a barbell - then squats and variations of squats (front squats...etc.) are going to be your best bet. Put it this way, I've never seen a dude who can squat 140, 160, 180, 200+...etc. or front squat decent weights for sets of 10-20 reps lacking in the legs department in terms of overall mass....but I've seen plenty of dudes who load up the leg press machine and all these other fancy machines week in week out with shitty legs. I'm not sure if that's down to the exercise selection or to the differences in how people actually train/progress...etc.

It's all a matter of context I guess. There is no need to limit yourself to ONE exercise unless you don't have any other choice available to you.
Click to expand...

They have a safety net on those machines.
There is nothing to save you on a free standing squat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top