Am I doing enough for legs?

[Warblade]

I've been training for about a year. I only recently joined a gym so I'm now able to train legs properly with regular squats and other leg exercises. I'm not sure whether I'm training my legs enough though.

1 warmup set of squats for 10
4 sets squats at 8-12
4 sets leg press 8-12
3 sets leg curl 10-12
5 sets calves 15-20

Is this enough? How about the rep range? Should I go for 6 to 8 like I do with my other body parts?

I'm not sure whether I'm doing enough for my legs. I don't do SLDLs because I do traditional deadlifts on my back day. Should I ditch the leg curls for SLDLs regardless of doing deads on back day?

Also a question on form. Someone was telling me that your knees shouldn't go past your toes. Is this true?

Relating to this, how do you do ass to floor squats if your knees can't go past your toes. It seems like a weird position.

 

[lemur]

Your leg routine looks good, just make sure you're busting your ass on those squats.
You may need to experiment a bit and figure out whether you need to add/take away exercises or just keep it the same. It's the same thing with reps. Different legs respond better to different rep ranges. My legs build the best from rep ranges between 12-15 reps. Yours might build the best with 6-8. It's all about which type(s) of muscle fibers are predominant in your legs.

About the ass to the floor thing.. I don't think most people can LITERALLY go ass to the floor, it's just saying go as low as you can.

Knees can't pass toes basically means your knees should be vertically parallel with your toes. This is to prevent you from leaning forward too much, and potentially damaging several parts of your body.

 

[needsize]

That's pretty close to the number of sets I do, I just prefer heavy sets of 5 reps for squats. As far as form, I believe you should squat as far down as your body will let you, ie, when I go down my heels are literally digging into may hams, and it built me some great quads.

 

[strong island]

Think you need a little more ham work...try at least 5 sets of leg curls.

And more for calves...but some people are born with great calves.


I personally think you need to do calves at least twice a week with a lot of volume...but everyone responds differently.

 

[strong island]

Oh yeah...do multiple warm up sets.

I do 4 warm up sets and then I am ready to rock and roll.

Don't fuck around because once you hurt your knees that shit can stay with for a long time.

 

[creep]

How many days a week do you guys suggest a leg work out? would one tough leg work out a week be good? My legs are my weekness and I really want to focus on building them up. In addition to legs once a week I'm using a stair climber 30 mins twice a week.

 

[Warblade]

Thanks for the replies guys.

creep:
I think most people would suggest going heavy with legs once a week. I throw in regular deadlifts on my back day. They also involve your legs (even though most see it as primarily a back exercise).

 

[louden_swain]

How many days a week do you guys suggest a leg work out? would one tough leg work out a week be good? My legs are my weekness and I really want to focus on building them up. In addition to legs once a week I'm using a stair climber 30 mins twice a week.

I guess it would depend on the volume and how fast you can recover. You can probably train them twice a week, but the volume would have to be lower than a one week schedule. This might be a possible routine:

Monday -

1. Squats - 3 x 12,10,8
2. Lunges - 3 x 12,10,8
3. Leg Extensions - 3 x 12,10,8
4. Lying Leg Curls - 3 x 12,10,8
5. Seated Toe Raises - 3 x 20,15,10
6. Leg Press Toe Extensions - 20,15,10

* Stair Climber

Thursday or Friday -

1. Leg Presses - 3 x 15,12,10
2. Hack Squats - 3 x 15,12,10
2. Leg Extensions - 3 x 15,12,10
4. Stiff Leg Deadlifts3 - 3 x 12,10,8
5. Standing Toe Raises - 3 x 15,12,10
6. Donkey Toe Raises - 3 x 15,12,10

* Stair Climber

You can do the stairs on your leg day. Also be sure to stretch. I usually warm up on the treadmill for 5 minutes, plus include a 15 minute stretch session to warm things up. The stairs and stretching should reduce the soreness in the legs. Also be sure to drink a lot of water, and keep your protein intake high. If you have the funds, I recommend liquid amino acids. Eat foods that digest easy, as heavy foods and a full stomach will promote misery while you are training legs. Good luck!!

 

[FatChops]

looks good, but maybe want to sneek a couple of sets of extentions to end your quad excercises, then go into your hamstrings. Try to do some more hamstrings, for example lunges, straight leg deadlifts, hamstring curls, mix it up

 

[trial0r]

Think you need a little more ham work...try at least 5 sets of leg curls.

And more for calves...but some people are born with great calves.


I personally think you need to do calves at least twice a week with a lot of volume...but everyone responds differently.

couldnt have said it any better myself.

about the calves, definitely throw in a second calve routine a few days before or after your main leg routine. right after im done with a set on the calf machine i step on a platform and get out 15-20 more reps with just my own weight for a real good burn