The legs. Ahh, the legs. Again, we’ll split this into two parts – quads and calves today, then hips another day. To start, we’ll talk about calves, because – as I’ve found out especially as of late – if you have stubborn calves that don’t grow, there’s one simple, but effective solution…
I’ll tell you that now.
Training Calves
I have stubborn calves. They don’t grow – or at least they didn’t, until recently. That is because up until recently I only trained them once a week. Now, to finish every workout (for the next couple of months) I’m ending with a calves Chinese drop set – unless I work them on that day, in that case, I just follow the workout as is.
If you have any stubborn body part that simply won’t grow, you need to train it more than any other muscle group. Finish your workout with a massive set for that muscle group.
The chinese drop set I do isn’t actually a chinese drop set, I just sit at the calf press machine, start at 250lbs or so, and drop by ten every time I fail. It ends up being the most painful parts of my training, but I’ve seen immediate growth in my calves.
One thing to keep in mind:
Our calves can take a lot of damage, they also need a lot of work, and a ton of reps to grow. So always do drop sets, rest/pause sets, and giant sets when training calves. Another thing that calves need to grow is a full range of motion – you’ll notice that most of us don’t do this when we’re doing raises, we stop short both at the top and the bottom (big tip: pause for a second at the top and flex the muscle).
Here’s a set to try:
A1. seated calf raise – 8-10 reps (4 sec eccentric contraction) 3-5 sets
A2. weighted calf raise – 12-15 reps (3 sec eccentric contraction) 3-5 sets
A3. bodyweight calf raise – 20-25 reps (fail with no tempo) 3-5 sets
rest 60 seconds then repeat
Training Quads
When we train our quads we rarely use a cadence or a tempo, but we should. For at least one set when we’re training we should be going slow (4+ seconds) on the eccentric contraction, we also NEED a full range of motion to build the girth in the muscle that we want.
Tip #1: if you have tight hip flexors, put 2 1/2 pound plates under your heels to make sure you’re getting a full ROM on your squats.
Quads also benefit from a warm up. Start your quads workout with leg curls (4-5 sets), using a 4 second eccentric contraction, pausing for 1 second at the top and flexing the muscle. Then start your quads workout and you’ll notice a lot more blood flow to the muscle, and a lot more growth hormone raising lactic acid as well.
Here’s an awesome set to try:
A1. Hack squat machine (or back squats) 3-5 sets of 10-12 reps (4 second eccentric contraction).
…ps I like using the hack squat machine for this one because it allows you to fail without killing yourself. Also, make sure you’re going ass to grass.
A2. Leg press – 3-5 sets of 20-25 reps (as fast as possible, as heavy as possible).
Supplement Note:
The legs take up a lot of calories and energy when we’re training them. Make sure you’re taking your BCAA’s half way through your quads workout to ensure you’re building the muscle, not consuming it for fuel and energy.