No really, how important is it to do legs?

[WOLFCRAFT]

Cause other than cardio, I haven't been.

[green22]

Legs are the biggest strongest muscles you got. You like the house built on stilts look????

[Ronnie Rowland]

1) When you train legs it provokes the release of anabolic hormones.

2) The legs are your largest muscle group which means an increase in metabolic rate. This will have a repartitioning effect on the whole musculature by way of increasing nutrient absorption.

[SmittyTheOX]

1) When you train legs it provokes the release of anabolic hormones.

2) The legs are your largest muscle group which means an increase in metabolic rate. This will have a repartitioning effect on the whole musculature by way of increasing nutrient absorption.

Spot on. Ricky, have you ever heard the phrase "Squat for big arms" ??

[FireGuy]

Just wear baggy sweats to the gym and no one will ever know.

[FireGuy]

Oh, and cardio does not count for working legs in my book.

[Darksyde]

very.

[kaberle_15]

Extremely important

[Deltasaurus]

Cause other than cardio, I haven't been.

Possibly the Most One of the Big 3 (Squats,Deads,Bench) +Milt Press In my Book

not doing legs is no bueno

plz tell me u do back.

[DSM4Life]

common sense man....

[stpete]

I hate legs, but they must be worked.

[WOLFCRAFT]

Yeah, I just needed to hear all that as motivation really because I absolutely hate leg day.
I've started working them again the last two weeks and just need to stay on top of it.

And no I've never heard the phrase "squat for big arms".

And yes I do back.

Now do I need to squat or can I get the same effect from the leg press?

[AdamGH]

squats and sex... boost your testosterone naturally

[ottomaddox]

Cardio for legs, doesn't work. I've tried and failed at that. Now my favorite workouts are legs.

[Maverick_J8]

I think alot of people are unmotivated to train legs because they don't give efforts the chance to produce the results.

If your legs looked like Frank Zane or Tom Platz in an instant, would you not train them? Would you half-ass those workouts? No, you would work your ass off to maintain those wheels of steel.

You need to give them as much efforts as every other bodypart. If not more. Not to mention the fatloss properties of Squats.

[SmittyTheOX]

And no I've never heard the phrase "squat for big arms".

Heres just 1 of many examples:

There's a saying, "if you want big arms, squat!" How can this be? Squats are for legs! A group of scientists in Denmark (Hansen et al. 2001) conducted an interesting study of arm strength. First, the scientists tested the arm strength in a group of subjects and then divided them into two groups: One group trained only their arms and the other group trained their arms and legs. Both groups trained their arms the same amount of time, however, the second group performed additional leg exercises. At the end of the experiment the group that trained arms only increased their strength by 9%. The group that trained arms and legs increased arm strength by 37%!!!

How did this happen? Lifting heavy weights releases large amounts of testosterone and growth hormone. Since the legs are a large muscle group, you can lift much more weight than you can with only your arms. You'll never be able to use the same amount of weight and release the most testosterone on a biceps curl than you do on squats or even the leg press. So, the key point here is to use exercises that recruit large amounts of muscle, compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and pull/chin ups to get your ticket to the gun show!


Reference: Hansen, S., T. Kvornign, M. Kajaer, and G. Sjogaard. 2001. The effect of short-term strength training on human skeletal muscle: The importance of physiologically elevated hormone levels. Scandanavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports 11:347-354.

[Brown Ninja]

I'm hardly a fan of legs as well but as everyone else has stated, it need to be done. If you don't care for squats then make sure you kill it on the sled.

[MuscleScience]

1)

2) This will have a repartitioning effect on the whole musculature by way of increasing nutrient absorption.

Can you build on this statement.

[MuscleScience]

Heres just 1 of many examples:

Hanson has done some pretty good work in this area. He has a study similar in the journal of strength and conditioning and I also remember seeing one like this in J of Applied Phys if I am thinking of the same Dr. Hanson.


This paper of his and others is pretty bad ace, if your into this kinda stuff that is....LOL

Physiological hypertrophy of the heart and atrial natriuretic peptide during rest and exercise.
J Svanegaard, K Angelo-Nielsen, J S Hansen

Department of Clinical Chemistry, Svendborg Hospital, Denmark.

[Garbanzo Dude]

Listen to what others are saying above.....also you do want to end up looking like an up side down pear do you.....so train your legs!!

[kickinit]

yeah legs are very important, I wish I could work them but cant right now.. Maybe someday soon.

[xlxBigSexyxlx]

legs? legs????


pppsssshhhh, who works out legss? f'n pussies!

real men do biceps!

[ray0414]

once u start workign legs hard and feel them getting stronger, doing little things gets easier, like just walking around and everything becomes easier, u will feel stronger with stronger legs, hard to explain but it feels nice.

[Jfew44]

When I was younger I really underestimated the importance of a good leg workout. I used to hop on the sled, do some ext and curls, and calves and I was done. When I started squatting regularly, I felt better overall, just like ray said.

Work your legs out!

[DCI]

I presume the big turn off for people is the pain when you do legs?? And with the lack of effort people sometimes towards legs. I would imagine the pain goes away the more you train them like any other body part.

[GT2]

I noticed once I started training my legs seriously (zeroing in on squats in particular), my whole body grew. I HATE leg day, but I love the benefits I reap from it!

[I_Want_Abs]

I love training legs! Cant beat big squats baby

[T_Own]

i read everything in here, and i know how true it is that most test/gh gets released after working legs, but i never really worked legs solidly, but still have some pretty big legs. i attribute that entirely to playing way too many sports (soccer basketball baseball track and wrestling) which all use a lot of legs.

another thing: if leg press isn't as effective as squats, is the risk and health hazard of bad knees and back (even with good form it can happen) worth it? asking that seriously

[GT2]

i read everything in here, and i know how true it is that most test/gh gets released after working legs, but i never really worked legs solidly, but still have some pretty big legs. i attribute that entirely to playing way too many sports (soccer basketball baseball track and wrestling) which all use a lot of legs.

another thing: if leg press isn't as effective as squats, is the risk and health hazard of bad knees and back (even with good form it can happen) worth it? asking that seriously

According to it's cost to benefit ratio, the answer is YES

[DSM4Life]

Why train legs when you could spend more time doing bicept curls ?

[DCI]

I did legs toda and my legs aren't as sore I was expecting them to be thank fook. But for me anyway can feel my whole body get a slight pump off it which is mad never had that before when I used train them must be from all the walking I do in work.

[WOLFCRAFT]

I presume the big turn off for people is the pain when you do legs?? And with the lack of effort people sometimes towards legs. I would imagine the pain goes away the more you train them like any other body part.

For me it's mainly the soreness afterward. I would go balls out when I would do legs then not be able to walk right for a week. I've been slowly adding more and more weight to my leg workouts and the soreness isn't even a fraction of as bad as it was.
Now that my legs are starting to get used to it I'm actually starting to enjoy the leg press and others.

But man, I still hate squats. So painful and exhausting.

Oh well gotta do what ya gotta do.

[Johny-too-small]

My reason is that the huge amount of mass on your legs will burn a large amount of fat (muscle = 3, adipose = 1 in terms of calories it burns per pound per hour) and as a result its easier to stay/get/be ripped.

Then you wont need to do cardio other than for the health of your heart. Did I mention my other reason?.....Id look like an idiot with small legs.

[DCI]

Squats are annoying all right to get them down correctly is more of the pain in the arse for me. Trying to get them all uniform all the time is challenging but like everything it will come I would imagine.

The last night time I did legs I could barely walk after it now I seen good so legs are going to be done all the time now

[Dinosaur]

they r important if u care about ur symetrical look. especially for out door sports.

[Rugger02]

once u start workign legs hard and feel them getting stronger, doing little things gets easier, like just walking around and everything becomes easier, u will feel stronger with stronger legs, hard to explain but it feels nice.

Agreed they make you're whole body feel stronger and faster. I walk out of the gym after leg day feelin like a bas-ass mofo. haha

[DCI]

Going from hating legs to being actually excited about them I can't to do em on Friday.

[sizerp]

Why train legs when you could spend more time doing bicept curls ?

Yeah! We don't want no biceptual flappage. Or do we?

[ergo]

Get them looking like mine. Very important.

[ergo]

According to it's cost to benefit ratio, the answer is YES

Those are my legs. No squating. This is how I do it.

Due to my back injury and diagnosed tendonitis in both knees, I start my quadriceps training with the back pad of the leg press machine upright in the 90-degree position. This allows me to keep my back perfectly flat, and I can generate the most power from this angle. My feet are placed high and wide. I consider this to be my power position (“power stance”), utilizing not only my quadriceps but also my hamstrings, glutes and adductor muscles. I’m not trying to directly stress any particular area of the quadriceps. I want total area development. Remember, though, that leg pressing is primarily considered a quadriceps movement. I allow my knees to track outward toward my armpits when the weight is descending, while I keep my back flat against the pad. I want heavy weight and higher reps, the number of which decreases with weight increase, never going below 12 reps. For my last 2-3 sets, I place my feet lower and closer together on the platform. Doing so increases the difficulty of the exercise, so I adjust the weight downward, to be able to attain my desired rep range, usually 15-20 reps per set. Muscle responds to stress created, not sheer poundage. When the weight is decreased from 900 pounds to 700 pounds, it doesn’t mean that the exercise just got easier. My range of motion will be less with my feet closer and lower than when I am in my “ power stance.” I do not let my knees track over my feet. If you’re watching, it will appear to you that I’m doing a legal press. Understand that even though my training is adapted to my injuries, my legs have never looked better. One exercise, maximum effort, then rest for a week. An example of one of my workouts: On leg day, I think about the workout all day. I know that this bodybuilding day is going to be more painful and more hazardous to my gym longevity then any other workout day. From the time that I slide into that leg press until the last set, I become an aggressive animal, not willing to accept failure and believing that on this day I will set a personal best. For example, recently the first set that I was willing to count was 8 plates on each side for 37 reps. When I was done with the set, with my heart rate 150+, and my hands cramped from holding on to the ass pad of the machine to keep myself locked in nice and tight, I was Fu@#king pissed that I pussed out and did not go for 40, after coming so close! Then I did 9 plates for 25, 10 plates for 20, 11 and a nickel – 1000 lbs. even – for 2 sets of 12. Back down to 8 plates, feet lower, for 2 sets of 20 reps. Totals: 7 sets, 146 repetitions, not counting warm-ups, 3 to 5 minutes of rest between working (post-warm-up) sets; workout time 1 to 1.5 hours. When done, I thank God that I do not have to do that again for 7 days. This is an actual workout performed within the last six weeks. One exercise, maximum effort, then allow the quads to rest and repair for days. I usually alternate a heavy leg press workout, such as above, in one week, with a slightly lighter one the next week. The alternating one relies heavily on rest-pause technique. An example of a rest-pause workout: feet high and wide (power stance), eight plates per side after thoroughly warming up, five sets, each 15-20 reps, a slow, controlled negative, full range of motion, pause in the hole, a complete stop then drive it out, and repeat for each rep. I find that this alternation of weight-generated stress on the muscle with explosive (rest-pause-drive) stress on the quads stimulates growth and the development of more strength and endurance for the heavy workouts. I use this technique for other muscle groups, as well. I have done the same for clients whom I have trained, and it works very well. However, I am not an advocate of high-rep training for the upper body.
Calf and hamstring are worked separately, and seldom on quad day. Yes, I have competed many times in the past. I am a hard gainer who has learned through trial and error what is best for me. I also would emphasize that the weights and reps that I mention above are effective for me, but the principles will work for anyone! It is crucial not to get hung up with the ideas that a certain amount of weight promotes growth for anyone, and that a lesser amount is not effective. Strength depends on the individual. You may use three plates instead of eight, and generate the stress required to promote growth for you, at a particular stage in your development. It is the method, not the poundage, that matters. For example, you will get more benefit if you are able to warm up, then do three plates for forty, four plates for thirty, five plates for twenty, and six plates for two or three sets of 12 to 15, drop the weight to four or five plates, and finish with two sets of twenty, than if you do eight plates for five or more sets of 6 to 8 reps. I have trained with partners who insisted upon matching my weight levels, believing that otherwise they were not lifting heavy enough. In fact, unless they were at the same strength level as I was, they ended up (1) sacrificing form for poundage, (2) failing to reach their desired rep ranges, or (3) injuring themselve. Once again, the body only knows stress on the muscles, not how many pounds you put on the leg press machine. Your muscles can’t read the pound numbers on the plates. By the way, I do no cardio, and get shredded using only intense lifting, which elevates my metabolism, and strict dieting for at least 12 weeks pre-contest, with 6 to 8 meals per day, also raising my metabolism, and manipulation of only carb intake for fat loss.