Please Please Help My Hams!!!

[fitmedic]

slinky, what kind of glute-ham raises are /were you doing? apparently there are variations...

 

[slinky]

Yeah, on the floor.

I use my glute/hams to control the fall (make sure your hands/palms are out, too. Need them to "cushion" the fall to the ground). You will not need anytype of weight plate. Especially when beginning to do this exercise.
My boyfriend keeps my feet pinned to the ground - as we don't have the right apparatus and we've tried using a barbell with a couple of 45's, but that doesn't work as well.

I love these. These and good mornings are all that I do for my ham/glutes anymore.

 

[slinky]

Hi spatts!

Here, check this out (I view the following w/Real Player)
www.i-a-r-t.com/articles/quickresponse.html

Watch how this guy, Adam Archuleta performs his glute-ham raises. THIS is how I eventually want to be doing them. Overall, this video is amazing!

 

[SofaGeorge]

Fitmedic,
I've added 2 inches onto my thighs in the last few months. The basis for my hamstring routine is... SPRINTS.

I run 5 sets of 200 yards in the grass before I go to the gym. (The I start my gym work with 5 sets of 5 on squats.)

I trained at Gold's Venice for 10 years. I know many of the top pro bodybuilders... male and female. Many of the old guard swear by sprints as the top hamstring builder for mass.

I will admit sprints worked for me... much better than leg curls ever could.

 

[fitmedic]

HOLY HAMSTRINGS SOFAGEORGE...2 INCHES??!! ARE YOU FOR REAL?? Tell me about your sprints. I know there are different variations. You obvioulsy aren't talking about arpints on the elliptical.

 

[MR. BMJ]

Charles Poliquin has stated many times that athletes and bodybuilders should incoporate some form of sprints into their workouts for developing the hammies. If you look at most sprinters, they have decent sized thighs.

BMJ

 

[SofaGeorge]

HOLY HAMSTRINGS SOFAGEORGE...2 INCHES??!! ARE YOU FOR REAL?? Tell me about your sprints. I know there are different variations. You obvioulsy aren't talking about arpints on the elliptical.

My leg routne is posted on the training board... mostly designed by Night Fly and Spatts. They designed it when I asked for help on gaining leg size.

I do my Sprints on grass... five sets... top speed. I started out running for as fast as I could for 15 seconds... worked up to 23-27. (Sprints are just like weigth lifting sets. You have more speed/reps on your first one or two sets... then you start to drop.)

It takes about 15 minutes with rest (rest is walking around the park) and makes a great warm up into leg day. I walk to the gym after sprints.

Try to run on grass. It is harder at first but it definitely gives you a better sprint work out... and saves your shins.

 

[fitmedic]

sofageorge, when you say 2oo yards of 5 sets do you mean 2oo yards up and back is one set? how many days week do youdo sprints? or do you only do them on leg day? and you got hams with this routine not just quads??

 

[SteelWeaver]

Mmm, I gotta try this. Pity I hate sprints so much. But lucky my motivation for bigger legs is higher than any hate for anything, heh he.

FM - SF said he's going on holiday for a week, so he probably won't answer this right away. But I'm sure spatts will - sprint queen deluxe Damn, for a piece of her ham!

 

[SofaGeorge]

sofageorge, when you say 2oo yards of 5 sets do you mean 2oo yards up and back is one set? how many days week do youdo sprints? or do you only do them on leg day? and you got hams with this routine not just quads??

I run apx 200 meters...then walk leisurely around the park back to start... takes me about 3 minutes to walk back... that's my rest.

My advice is... don't think about distance... think about time. Figure out how long you can maintain top effort. I can maintain top effort for 23-27 seconds... in that range. I use the distance that I can cover in 23-27 seconds as the distance for my sprints.

Usually my breakdown looks like this:

1st sprint 23 sec
2nd sprint 23-24 sec
3rd sprint 25 sec
4th sprint 27 sec
5th sprint 27 sec

All sprints are the same distance with a 2-3 minute rest period in between. I could use a 60-90 second rest period just as easily... but the walk around my particular park takes about 3 minutes.

I've read many sprint training routines. Some have you run 10 sets of shorter sprints. Some go for 3 sets of longer sprints. For me... 5 sets seems best.

Right now I only sprint on leg day once a week... but I think I could easily sprint twice a week without over training. Many training routines I've read for sprint runners have them sprinting 3-5 days a week.

(I'd right more but I am on vacation and getting computer time is tough.)