Reply To: Instructions and workouts to develop "mass" for the legs.

Home Forums Strength and Fitness Forum Instructions and workouts to develop "mass" for the legs. Reply To: Instructions and workouts to develop "mass" for the legs.

#580
BR Srinivasan
Keymaster

With regard to your query about developing “mass” for your legs, this can actually be answered in a pretty comprehensive manner. However, since it is taking some time for me to complete the detailed response (blog), let me first give you a brief answer.

Introduction:
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To begin with, we at Focus You Strength Academy, coach people on Strength Training for overall Fitness. We do not endorse nor teach Body Building styles, for purposes of overall Fitness. Again, I reiterate…we have nothing against Body Building as a sport, but do NOT endorse it (nor teach it) for purposes of overall Fitness.

With that out of the way…by “mass” I take it that you are looking to add muscle to your legs. So, our version of looking at this would mean that you are looking to add strength to your legs.
Strength training by the way, does NOT follow a body part split kind of training…all exercises are designed to use and to strength the whole body by involving as many muscles as possible through the biggest range of motion, in each exercise.

What that means is, we do NOT advocate exercises just for the legs…such as just for the thighs (quads), separately for the calfs, separately for the hamstrings etc.

Recommended Workouts:
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Deadlifts (standard deadlifts, Strength Training style), and
Squats (style: Low Bar Back Squats)

I. Deadlifts:
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So, for your legs, with regard to exercise, you need to Deadlift. The deadlift style is done in the following steps, IN ORDER and…WITHOUT SKIPPING ANY STEPS:
1) Approach the bar, until bar in over the MIDDLE of your feet…for most everyone, this will be above where you would tie your shoe laces, or an inch away from your shins.

2) Go down and grab the bar….
a) Do NOT lift the bar yet
b) Do NOT DROP YOUR HIPS
a) and b) are VERY IMPORTANT

3) Move your knees (not your feet) forward until shins TOUCH THE BAR…this is IMPORTANT too

4) SET YOUR BACK… by this we mean, your lower back should be in extension. Can be done by “CHEST UP” cue…or “showing your chest to the person in front of you”. When doing this DO NOT DROP YOUR HIPS…This step will feel uncomfortable and that’s OK. If you feel too comfortable after setting your back, then, you are NOT doing something right.

It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that your lower back is in extension, because then, the weight will be handled by the Spinal Erectae muscles…that is, muscles that run beside your spine on the lower back.

On the other hand, if you do not do this step properly, that is, your lower back is ROUNDED, then, your spine is going to be loaded (instead of the Spinal Erectae muscles mentioned above), and pretty soon if not immediately, you will DESTROY your lower back, for SURE.

5) Take a deep breath and hold.

6) Tighten your whole body…nothing should be loose.

7) SQUEEZE the bar…do NOT Yank/Jerk on the bar.

8) Lift the bar, first with your legs, keeping the Back Angle (the angle that your extended back makes with the floor) steady, until your knees have extended fully.

9) After step 7, extend your back and stand up fully.

10) You only need to maintain the fully upright position for about a second or so…don’t need to prolong it.

11) Put the bar down. However, note two important things here…

a) You don’t need to slowly put the bar down…as the deadlift only helps strengthen during the Concentric Phase (the phase when you pull up the bar). The Eccentric Phase (when you put the bar back down on the ground) is nowhere as important. So, just pull down the bar.

b) However, in the interest of not disturbing everyone around you, do NOT just let go of the bar… Just rapidly place the bar back on the ground, with y our hands continuing to hold onto the bar.

c) Make VERY SURE that you do NOT ROUND YOUR LOWER BACK when putting the bar back down on the ground.

12) Just as important, do NOT BOUNCE THE BAR OFF THE GROUND. Reset from step 1. This is NO JOKE.
The number of sets IN THE BEGINNING, will be 3 sets of 5 reps each with the SAME WEIGHT FOR THE DAY.

Do this no more than 2-3 times a week, and INCREASE THE WEIGHT ON THE BAR BY 2 KILOS EACH DAY.
Remember, for any given day, deadlifts (our style) are done sets across…meaning, the SAME WEIGHT ACROSS ALL THREE SETS. And, exactly 5 reps…(NO MORE or NO LESS) per set.
II Squats:
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Remember the style that we use is Low Bar Back Squats (LBBS). Ensure that you are working out Squats every single time you hit the gym (not on consecutive days etc, as discussed above). Sets are again 3×5…sets across. Increase weight by 2 kgs, every new day.

Example:

Monday 40 kgs LBBS (Low Bar Back Squat)… 3 Sets with 5 Reps each…all sets and reps with 40 kgs
Tue…no gym work
Wed 42 kgs LBBS… 3 sets with 5 reps each… All sets and reps with 42 kgs.
Thu…no gym work
Fri 44 kgs LBBS… 3 sets with 5 reps each… All sets and reps with 44 kgs.
Sat…no gym work
Sun…no gym work
Monday 46 kgs LBBS (Low Bar Back Squat)… 3 Sets with 5 Reps each…all sets and reps with 46 kgs
So on and so forth…

Recovery:
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Remember that you need to Recover/Rebuild… So,

1) Workout only once a day (I say this, because Body Builders do workout more than once a day, due to following Body Split routines)

2) Do NOT workout on consecutive days. Meaning, if you workout on Monday, then do NOT workout on Tuesday. Workout again on Wednesday and then NOT on Thursday. Workout on Friday and then do NOT workout on Saturday or on Sunday.
These days when you do NOT workout, are the days when your muscles grow strong and grow bigger.
3) You need to eat a lot, eat well and eat a LOT of Proteins and
Carbohydrates and Fats (all fats are good except Trans Fat), for your muscles to grow. The primary nutrition for your muscles are Protein…so you need to eat a LOT of it.
4) Need to REST well on ALL DAYS. Note that you would need a MINIMUM OF 8 HOURS OF SLEEP EVERY DAY. Skimp on this, and nothing good will happen.

Nutrition:
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As mentioned above, you need to eat a LOT of protein… Recommended amount of protein is Number of Grams of Protein should at-least equal your body weight in Pounds.
So, if you are around 65 kgs (equalling about 150 pounds), then, you need to eat at-least 150 grams of protein. To give you an idea of how much protein you should eat, 1 whole egg (with yolk included) contains about One hard-boiled egg (with the yolk) has about 6.29 grams of protein!!!
You can make up the protein requirements by first eating a LOT of sensible home made foods. Try eating a LOT of eggs (with the yolks)…they are cheap and a VERY GOOD SOURCE OF PROTEIN. However, cook them any style you want, but do NOT eat them raw.
If you can eat meat, they are the best source of protein…both in content and in terms of bio-availability (the amount of protein you eat, that gets actually absorbed by your body).
Drink LOTS OF MILK. This is Important.
Only if you have topped off on the above home based cooking options, should you consider Supplements. And by supplements, we mean legitimate/legal supplements. For this, I would recommend nothing other than Whey Protein. Nothing else is required.

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These are our recommendations for you to put on mass, for your legs and everywhere else on your body.
For more discussions, we really need to do that in person. However, please feel free to shoot any questions you might have on this (or any other related) topic.
Hope you find this useful… Cheers