Story Of My Limbs

[mattanshrager]

delete

[thetopdog]

That's too much work in one day in my opinion

[Bruise Brubaker]

That's more sets than what I would recommend to someone who's been training his legs correctly for years.

Take a look at the wannabebig routines.

[IronCurtain]

Holy **** dude thats way too much, DL's and Squats AND goodmornings? Go either Squats with Supplemental exercises or DL's and supplemental exercises.

[Sidior]

:withstupi

[mattanshrager]

Does anyone here own Arnold Schwartzenneger's Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding? you guys should see how many sets/reps he has done in his recommended workouts. Insane amounts on wannabebig standards. I suppose that's why I do so many sets.

What do you guys think? is arnold wrong in his teaching?

[CiteCollegiale]

Do either stiff legged Deadlifts or good mornings not both

[JiggaHertz]

I remember when I did legs one day after taking about 6 months off from leg training due to laziness. I figured I'd take it easy and do a couple sets of squat/extension/curl/calf raise. I didn't feel like it was enough so I hopped on those hip flexor machines, where your legs do the scissor motion (one machine you push legs together, one machine you pull them apart). I figured it would be no big deal since I always see out of shape women on them. I've never knew you could feel muscle pain in some of the places I felt for the next few days.

EDIT: btw, 25 sets for legs is crazy

[DNL]

Does anyone here own Arnold Schwartzenneger's Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding? you guys should see how many sets/reps he has done in his recommended workouts. Insane amounts on wannabebig standards. I suppose that's why I do so many sets.

What do you guys think? is arnold wrong in his teaching?

If you're not as big as Arnold and if you're not on steroids... then you shouldn't be doing similar routines though

[kingmetal]

Im with DNL. The sheer amount of exercises/reps in Arnolds book is outrageous. If your a) not a genetic marvel like he was or b) chemically enchanced, stay the hell away from Arnolds book. Develop a solid routine focusing on compound movements.

[JSully]

I fell off my bike twice.
Today, I'm skipping school. Know why? My legs can't hold me up. I literally crawled out of bed, and had to do a dip onto the kitchen chair, my legs wobbling as I struggled to eat my eggs and toast. By the way, can someone critique my leg routine? I really enjoy my deadlifts and good mornings but do ya'all think I'm working my lower back too much?

pussy

That's too much work in one day in my opinion

I disagree.

Do either stiff legged Deadlifts or good mornings not both

Stiff Leg DL's work hamstrings, while good mornings work your back. 2 different bodyparts. If he were working back AND legs this day, then there would be nothing wrong with doing them both, but after he's done with squats he'd need to severely lighten the load up on Good Mornings due to back fatigue. On SLDL you shouldn't feel it in your back whatsoever.

If you ask me, disreguard the Good Mornings and I think he didn't do enough. This is just the way I train. When I'm trying to gain weight I have a good 4-6 more sets than he had.

Synopsis of what he did:
6 sets squats
4 sets SLDL
4 sets leg press
4 sets bb calf raises
3 sets seated calf raises

This is my ususal leg workout when bulking:
4-5 sets squats
4-5 sets leg extension
4-5 sets leg curl
2-3 sets single leg squat*
2-3 sets SLDL
and then 8-10 sets of calf raises.

*In replaceof the single leg squats, I'll either do Front Squats or Leg Press from time to time. Some weeks I may even switch regular squats for leg press depending on how my knees are feeling.

I generally stay on the lower end of the spectrum, but it just depends on how that exercise is feeling. If I'm pounding away and the exercise feels great then I'll do that extra set. If I'm not doin too well then I'll just do the minimum.

As far as soreness, you'll get over it. Staying home from school and lying around was probably the worst thing you could have done. You need to walk around, stretch, and use the muscle to free up the lactic acid buildup. I also recommend stretching hardcore after a leg workout, that helps alot with soreness. And please don't give me the excuse about riding your bike I used to ride 8miles one way to Golds Gym last year when my car was broke down. Sure, the ride home was a bitch, but I made it.

Anyways, congrats on a good leg workout! I bet ya can't wait for next week to go pound out some more.

[Ares]

You've never trained your legs before so you're probably topheavy which would make it hard for your tired legs to hold you up.

[jww13]

Start with fewer sets and fewer exercises. Once you are no longer exhausted from your workouts, gradually increase volume if you feel the need to. I can personally get great leg growth from just 2 sets of Squats (3x a week). I never do leg press or leg extensions.

Also it's tough on your CNS to do squats and deadlifts the same day, so consider splitting them up on separate days. I would stick to squats and SLDL for legs, and try that for a while. If it does not produce results, consider adding more.

[bullethead74]

bump for Squats and SLDL's; do them heavy enough and you'll still struggle to walk afterwards, but you wont overload your CNS and generally exhaust yourself.

[Songsangnim]

I know there are a substantial number of people on this forum who, like me before this morning, do not train their legs.
All i have to say is take caution of the first workout. I bike to the gym in the evenings. When I biked home last night after pounding my legs with 6 sets of free squats, 4 straight deadlifts, 4 leg presses, 4 good mornings, 4 barbell calf raises, and 3 seated calf raises, my knees kept aching and my muscles felt like they were being pulled all over. That memory of my first all-out heavy squat repeated itself in my head over and over. I fell off my bike twice.
Today, I'm skipping school. Know why? My legs can't hold me up. I literally crawled out of bed, and had to do a dip onto the kitchen chair, my legs wobbling as I struggled to eat my eggs and toast. By the way, can someone critique my leg routine? I really enjoy my deadlifts and good mornings but do ya'all think I'm working my lower back too much?

This is way too much work. Stick with the squats and deadlifts until you can handle them without being unable to walk the next morning. Were I you this is what I would do. 3 sets of squats followed by 3 sets of leg presses. Then two sets of standing calf raises, followed by 2 sets of seated calf raises. That should be more than enough for someone who hasn't been training his legs regularly. As for deadlifts put them on back day. Personally I wouldn't have the energy to do both on the same day.

[Songsangnim]

pussy

I disagree.

Stiff Leg DL's work hamstrings, while good mornings work your back. 2 different bodyparts. If he were working back AND legs this day, then there would be nothing wrong with doing them both, but after he's done with squats he'd need to severely lighten the load up on Good Mornings due to back fatigue. On SLDL you shouldn't feel it in your back whatsoever.

If you ask me, disreguard the Good Mornings and I think he didn't do enough. This is just the way I train. When I'm trying to gain weight I have a good 4-6 more sets than he had.

Synopsis of what he did:
6 sets squats
4 sets SLDL
4 sets leg press
4 sets bb calf raises
3 sets seated calf raises

This is my ususal leg workout when bulking:
4-5 sets squats
4-5 sets leg extension
4-5 sets leg curl
2-3 sets single leg squat*
2-3 sets SLDL
and then 8-10 sets of calf raises.

*

However this was his first leg workout. For a beginner that is far too much.

[pfc3rex]

just divide your days up better.. like squats on mondays, and deads on wednesdays accompanied by isolation exercises...

[Max-Mex]

Does anyone here own Arnold Schwartzenneger's Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding? you guys should see how many sets/reps he has done in his recommended workouts. Insane amounts on wannabebig standards. I suppose that's why I do so many sets.

What do you guys think? is arnold wrong in his teaching?

Not wrong, just not for you. Tone it down a bit. You really don't need to work your legs that much. If you want to continue doing squats and deads, then I suggest you do squats on one day and deads on another, with at least 2-3 days in between the two days. So you could do something like this with the lifts you did in 1 day

Legs Day 1
6 sets of free squats
4 good mornings (Leg Curls, 3 sets of 8 reps)
4 barbell calf raises (I don't do these, I do donkey calf raises or something close to it, 2 sets, 8 reps)

Legs Day 2
4 straight deadlifts (5-6 sets, 4 reps)
4 leg presses (2 sets, 8 reps)
3 seated calf raises (2 sets, 8 reps)

With exception of the GM's (I do Leg Curls), this is pretty much my leg routine. I do day 1 on Weds and day 2 on Sat or Sun.

EDIT: I do different amounts of sets/reps as well which I added to my post)

[rdkraus]

Great mental image.

Dipping "up" into your chair for breakfast.