leg strength, ideas & comments welcome

Hey guys, I've had a good boost of strength lately, but I've been eating s**t food since the holidays (lack of discipline), but my strength has gone up - go figure. Want to continue to increase my leg press. Squats aren't my strong point, since I have a longer torso. My max squat is around 550. Comments & flames welcome.

Here's my let routine I've been using lately.

Legs - once per week

squats, warm ups - 135 x 8-10, 225 x 8 - 10, deep squats, no belt or leg wraps
squats - 315 x 8-10, 365 x 8-10, 405 x 4-6, deep squats, no belt or leg wraps
leg press - @ 630 x 10-12, 720 x 8-10, 810 x 8-10, 900 x 6-8, 1000 x 5, deep presses, no belt or leg wraps
leg extensions - varied (depends on how spent I am, usually use lighter weight to failure at the 12 - 15 mark, 3-5 sets, to really burn the quads)
leg curls - same routine as leg extensions
calf raises - usually go to the smith machine as if I were doing squats, grab one of the aerobics boards to stand on to elevate my feet, and start off with 3 plates on each side for a couple of sets x 15 reps, then 4 plates for a couple of sets x 10-15, doing 'em slow and deep.

Some days I'll do the "girlie" machines to work inner and outer thighs, which really seems to help with my stabilizer muscles. I hate lunges, but need to do more of them, I feel, because the first time I ever did a serious set of the, my a** burned for a few days! I've been getting myself in shape and haven't used belts or knee wraps yet, as I haven't gone so heavy that I can't handle the weight, but I think with my current workout, I could be throwing around some serious weight in a year or two.

Anyway, here's a couple of off-beat questions... Does eating "crap" food help in gains, or just weight gains? Do you guys recommend sticking with the basics or doing the other "non-bulk" exercises such as lunges and those "girlie" machines that work your inner and outer thighs? And finally, is it good to only work legs once a week? (seems to be working great for me)

If it's working for you don't change it.

A good diet is critical to getting the most out of your strength program. Meat, chicken, fish, eggs, greens, nuts, rolled oats, shakes.

Don't neglect your abs and lower back. They are a HUGE part of overall strength and make a big difference in lifts like the squat.

Diet is important. Yes you can make pretty good gains eating Sh** food, but that also depends on what you're calling that food type. The main concern for you in trying to make strength gains is your protein intake and your "good" fats. When I say "Good" fats I'm talking about fats that come in eating red meat, nuts, etc. These fats are very important to someone who is training hard because they are a fast and ready source for energy.

Now as far as your training. Sounds like your doing pretty good. I wouldn't say you have a bad squat at 550#. Especially if your actually doing a "True Deep Squat". Which by the way about 80% of people lifting in the gym don't. That's why they say squats don't work for them because they aren't going deep enough. Now if you can truely "Deep Squat" 550# without a belt or knee wraps I think your squat is pretty **** good. There's no reason why you can't squat 650# even 700# with some tweeking in your program. There's really no benifit for doing the "Girlie" lifts if you're after strenght. If you squat properly and do supplemental exercises life; leg extensions, leg curls, stiff leg deadlifts, etc, you should be working all the other muscles enough to not have to waste your time doing the "Girlie Lifts". You mentioned that you might need to train your glutes more....if you're squating deep enough your glutes should be getting plenty of work. You mentioned having a long torso and that making it hard for you to squat. I really don't think that is that big of a deal. I'm 6' and weigh 230 lbs. with a very long torso. I only have about a 32" length when I buy pants....so I too have a very long torso. I truely deep squat close to 780#s. And I'm 100% clean except for using Protein Shakes. So you can achieve great strength. Have you ever tried box squats? These a great to do every few weeks. Really teaches your muscles to fire out of the whole I do box squats every fourth week for two weeks in a row. Try doing box squats for 5 sets of 3 reps. After you get use to the motion go as heavy as you can for 3 reps. When I say box squats I'm not talking about touch the box with your butt then go. I'm talking about using a box that's about 11" from the ground, sit on the box unloading your hips, and explode back up. True box squats. You'll be surprised how much your strenght will go up after a few cycles of these. Also, try training legs twice a week say Tuesday & Fridays. On Tuesday do nothing but your compound movements like Squats and leg press. On Friday really hammer your legs with all the assistance work including calves. Calves make up 10% of your over all leg strength and can be training every other day. Your calves are made up of the same type of much that is found in your tongue and can it is almost impossible to overtrain them. I do all my squats on Tuesday, and come back on Fridays to do my Deadlift work, lower back, and assistance leg work. Give this a try and see what happens. Good Luck.

Well when you eat **** food as I used to do you gain a fairly good % of body fat...I guess the ? which is weight division you want to be in...You'll be better at the high end of your weight division rather than the lower end..181's,198's,220's 242's..I started out a light 220 then 242 for 3 years and then the 275's big weight class..
You'll make your best gains sticking with sets of 7 and then sets of 5...Don't over train your lower back...do assistance excercises.....abs are extremely important,positioning of the bar is really important
On your light days take the squat to the floor pause then explode out of the hole for sets of seven,remember this is for form and explosion out of the hole.....Don't listen to these people do box squats..that's total ****ing bull****...A squat is breaking parrallel,bury it...don't do football sissy half squats..don't do it in the power racks and bounce it off the pins..free outa of the rack squats...I used to hate squats...It turned out to be my best lift...It'll work trust me on that one..

It is hard for some of the "Old School" guys to admit that something other than doing regular squats can improve your squating ability, but they do. It's a proven fact. Just look at the guys at Westside Barbell who swear by box squats as one of their core lifts. Yes box squats do work. People that say they are bulls**t just have never done them correctly. I do believe that if done incorrectly they are a waste of time. And if you only do box squats that's NO GOOD either. But if worked into your training cycle properly, box squats are a great benefit. It's like saying that the best way to train bench is by doing just simple full bench presses. BOX SQUATS WORK WHEN DONE PROPERLY. I've done many case studies on them in our lab and have written several documents for several journals that support these studies. :lift: