Strength Weight Training: Anything and Everything II

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cptkirk said:
deep single leg exercises = leg size

there's a photo of my pegs here somewhere to prove it
Click to expand...

What's your typical leg workout kirky? All of my lifts are increasing nicely, yet i've still got these little bloody chicken legs. I work them every five days. I weigh 75kgs and just cracked the double plate squat two weeks ago.

Last week I changed things up by adding a couple of light weight/high rep sets of squats at the end of my 4x heavy sets, which feels ridiculously satisfying. Good/bad move?

In terms of single leg exercises, I incorporate lunges. Should I give single leg squats a go?
 
mcuzzy said:
biggest guy at my gym trains legs 3x per week after previously training them twice per week. he said the 2nd workout is basically zero effort with 3 sets of 15 or so reps but has made a big difference to leg size
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I certainly don't and don't have the time to, but I would agree with this. I don't see why it's necessarily overtraining when there are routines that have a similar workload throughout the week. And if you're doing low reps for at least twice the days you're working legs, I don't see DOMS being an issue either.
 
showdownhero said:
I'm only doing 60kg SLDL but really slow and controlled with a 1 second pause at the bottom of the movement. My hamstrings are really inflexible so I'm worried about doing too much weight and messing up my back. Did you gradually increase your weight up to 120kg or were you lifting pretty heavy from the start?
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I increased it up slow(ish), but my deadlift is pretty high anyway. 160-180. 120 is a warmup deadlift for me.

What i found was 125 was too heavy, 100-110 was too light and 120 was the sweet spot. Will slowly increase it over time though.

I don't do it super slow, but it's not an aggressive movement anyway.
 

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Syphoncom said:
What's your standard dl? And reps, if I may ask?
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My Pb's are 180x5, 182.5x4 @ 82.5kg (end of last bulk - about 6 months ago).

Post cut - 190x1 - NYE at around 77kg bw - this was first deadlift in 5 months as i was doing rack pulls during my cut.

Was doing 170x5 a few weeks ago, but have had bad leg cramps after 4 days camping in 38+ heat and currently suffering chest infection so have dropped it down to 160.

Goal is to get 200 for reps in the next 4-5 months.
 
Shupe said:
What's your typical leg workout kirky? All of my lifts are increasing nicely, yet i've still got these little bloody chicken legs. I work them every five days. I weigh 75kgs and just cracked the double plate squat two weeks ago.

Last week I changed things up by adding a couple of light weight/high rep sets of squats at the end of my 4x heavy sets, which feels ridiculously satisfying. Good/bad move?

In terms of single leg exercises, I incorporate lunges. Should I give single leg squats a go?
Click to expand...

i don't have leg or chest days or anything

i've just come off back squatting 3 times a week every week for 26 weeks - no overtraining in site either - which was my footy off season training

right now i've gone into in season mode which is squatting 2/week

if you want to improve something then train it more frequent, not with more volume in the same session where your so tired anything else is just making you more tired and not making anything stronger or bigger

for leg size a good main leg day for me would be:

back squats for strength (531, 3 rep max etc) staying 1 - 2 reps short of failure
single leg (bulgarian split squats, deficit split squats, deficit reverse lunges are the 3 best) with back knee hitting the floor each rep for something like 3 - 4 x 5 - 8 staying 1 rep short of failure

then on another day of the week 4 days later i'd do deadlifts for strength but stay 2 - 3 reps short of failure
front squats for something like 3 - 4 x 4 - 6
glute ham raises x 15 reps and increase 1 rep each session until at 50

you want range of motion to stress everything at once for the legs not short crappy leg ext/curls and such

to go 1 better do some car/prowler/tyre drags and/or hill/stadium sprints
 
Very solid, a 2.5 deadlift would be a great achievement. What is the set/rep range? I find it's so individual for deads, so many people do different things and swear by them.

At 77 myself my pb dead is 140, but I've started focusing on grip strength as well (which doubles as I rock climb) as I think that's a solid component. I've also found low reps once a week the best, but happy for others input. Cheers mate :thumbsu:
 
Syphoncom said:
Very solid, a 2.5 deadlift would be a great achievement. What is the set/rep range? I find it's so individual for deads, so many people do different things and swear by them.

At 77 myself my pb dead is 140, but I've started focusing on grip strength as well (which doubles as I rock climb) as I think that's a solid component. I've also found low reps once a week the best, but happy for others input. Cheers mate :thumbsu:
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look it all depends on what you want the deadlift strength for...i have a no tendons in my right hand issue so i'm stuck at 150ish for grip reasons but then i'm all about gym transference to my footy where once you get to probably 2 x bw which is where i was when i was doing them, is about all i need for footy so why waste time trying to go heavier?

but anyway you gotta go low reps for deads unless your spine to shit itself through your ear holes, no higher then 5 for mine
 
Definitely don't want my spine shitting itself through my ear holes! :D And I'm not into footy (I actually can't run which is a shame because I love it) but I am into rock climbing, but even that is more about endurance and flexibility. To be honest I'm not sure why you'd need such a high deadlift in every day life, but it can't hurt to push yourself (within your limits).
 
What are peoples opinions on the "relative weight" of pivot point machines compared to straight free barbells

For example my gym has no barbells the only thing I can deadlift on is a crab looking piece of metal.

It basically has a H shaped bar wit a pivot point at the back of the machine load the plates on the outside stand in the middle grip the two handles in neutral grip and lift... kinda like one side of a seesaw I guess.

Im just wondering the difference in weights because I DL 190kg for 8 reps x 5 easy as..

And ive been on a 10 month cut

Im afraid the gym will run out of plates when im bulking and making big strength gains...

Inb4 get real barbells joining a proper gym around xmas
 
cptkirk said:
ha found it - with some old pez pictures on the same page too

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/member-profiles-post-yours.880332/page-4

looks a lot like the picture of those 2 cyclists actually
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Do you have anything for comparison, some sort of before and after deep one legged exercises?

Got to make sure it's not dat dere genetics getting you swole.

FWIW I'm actually a believer in your philosophy, adding long stride, deep lunges to my Squats, Deads and SLDL has definitely added size to my legs.
 

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Hey guys, I was browsing the forums on bodybuilding.com the other day and stumbled across a pretty intellectual debate on training in regards to the CNS and avoiding failure when working out (I'm talking a typical 3x8 reps workout). I cannot find the link now (although there are many others on the topic) but basically one guy was saying that if you always go to failure it shoots your CNS which is detrimental to hypertrophy and strength improvements whilst the other guy pretty much rubbished these points with counter arguments.
But anyway, what I'm asking is do people here think it is bad to go to failure every set for every exercise for every workout? Because currently I do pretty much 3 exercises (3-4 working sets) for each of these body parts over 3 days (with at least a day off depending on weekends) chest/should/tri (day1); back/biceps (day 2); legs/abs (day 3)... But for each set of every exercise I will go to failure (roughly 8-9 reps for upper body) and then almost always dropset at least once maybe two times to failure again. I like it because it feels like I've achieved a greater workout and leaves me more exhausted and I guess the "pump" is greater, but I'm wondering now if this may not be the most effective way?

Fwiw too I'm aiming for hypertrophy and couldn't really care what I lift for upper body (legs is a different story) and when I say "failure" I'm referring to failure without a spotter, so I'm a little unsure whether that is technically failure in terms of bench press and the like as I could most likely push out one more assisted rep but definitely not by myself.
Thanks!
 
FlowersByIrene said:
What are peoples opinions on the "relative weight" of pivot point machines compared to straight free barbells

For example my gym has no barbells the only thing I can deadlift on is a crab looking piece of metal.

It basically has a H shaped bar wit a pivot point at the back of the machine load the plates on the outside stand in the middle grip the two handles in neutral grip and lift... kinda like one side of a seesaw I guess.

Im just wondering the difference in weights because I DL 190kg for 8 reps x 5 easy as..

And ive been on a 10 month cut

Im afraid the gym will run out of plates when im bulking and making big strength gains...

Inb4 get real barbells joining a proper gym around xmas
Click to expand...

I think you'll find there may not be a lot of cross over between machines and free weight exercises. As well as strength there is a lot of balance/stabiliser/support muscles that need to adapt too. Using machines will take these out of the equation.

Quick example.. back when i was shoulder pressing around 62kg, my machine seated shoulder press was 115.

Basically as soon as you can it'd be better to switch over to a place that has barbells.

Another reason is you need some time at lower weights to learn the exercises and adapt to the lifts. I wouldn't go straight out and do a 100+ deadlift or squat without a lot of experience in learning the movement at lower weights. This changeover period might take 4-12 weeks.
 
cfol said:
Quick example.. back when i was shoulder pressing around 62kg, my machine seated shoulder press was 115.
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:eek:

If I'm Military pressing 50kgs I tone it down to sets of 7 reps
 
Mofra said:
:eek:

If I'm Military pressing 50kgs I tone it down to sets of 7 reps
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haha yep. I use 50kgs on free weight military press, while I might be able to do the 62kg reps, I'm not sure it would be that safe to be around when I was releasing them from overhead......

One good thing about machines.
 
metcard99 said:
Hey guys, I was browsing the forums on bodybuilding.com the other day and stumbled across a pretty intellectual debate on training in regards to the CNS and avoiding failure when working out (I'm talking a typical 3x8 reps workout). I cannot find the link now (although there are many others on the topic) but basically one guy was saying that if you always go to failure it shoots your CNS which is detrimental to hypertrophy and strength improvements whilst the other guy pretty much rubbished these points with counter arguments.
But anyway, what I'm asking is do people here think it is bad to go to failure every set for every exercise for every workout? Because currently I do pretty much 3 exercises (3-4 working sets) for each of these body parts over 3 days (with at least a day off depending on weekends) chest/should/tri (day1); back/biceps (day 2); legs/abs (day 3)... But for each set of every exercise I will go to failure (roughly 8-9 reps for upper body) and then almost always dropset at least once maybe two times to failure again. I like it because it feels like I've achieved a greater workout and leaves me more exhausted and I guess the "pump" is greater, but I'm wondering now if this may not be the most effective way?

Fwiw too I'm aiming for hypertrophy and couldn't really care what I lift for upper body (legs is a different story) and when I say "failure" I'm referring to failure without a spotter, so I'm a little unsure whether that is technically failure in terms of bench press and the like as I could most likely push out one more assisted rep but definitely not by myself.
Thanks!
Click to expand...

i with the first bloke - no failure for me

why go to failure (actually think what the word means) then go to failure AGAIN? your not really adding much but more fatigue and if tiredness is the base of workout quality then god help us all

if you watch actual bodybuilders they'll just use a lot of sub maximal sets and just pump and pump and pump the muscle rather then trash the shit of it

how far you stay away from or go past failure will depend on your split too
 
metcard99 said:
Hey guys, I was browsing the forums on bodybuilding.com the other day and stumbled across a pretty intellectual debate on training in regards to the CNS and avoiding failure when working out (I'm talking a typical 3x8 reps workout). I cannot find the link now (although there are many others on the topic) but basically one guy was saying that if you always go to failure it shoots your CNS which is detrimental to hypertrophy and strength improvements whilst the other guy pretty much rubbished these points with counter arguments.
But anyway, what I'm asking is do people here think it is bad to go to failure every set for every exercise for every workout? Because currently I do pretty much 3 exercises (3-4 working sets) for each of these body parts over 3 days (with at least a day off depending on weekends) chest/should/tri (day1); back/biceps (day 2); legs/abs (day 3)... But for each set of every exercise I will go to failure (roughly 8-9 reps for upper body) and then almost always dropset at least once maybe two times to failure again. I like it because it feels like I've achieved a greater workout and leaves me more exhausted and I guess the "pump" is greater, but I'm wondering now if this may not be the most effective way?

Fwiw too I'm aiming for hypertrophy and couldn't really care what I lift for upper body (legs is a different story) and when I say "failure" I'm referring to failure without a spotter, so I'm a little unsure whether that is technically failure in terms of bench press and the like as I could most likely push out one more assisted rep but definitely not by myself.
Thanks!
Click to expand...

Even though I don't follow the leangains style Reverse Pyramid Training approach to the letter I agree with his philosophy of training to failure on the first set only. This allows you to push your limits without burning out your CNS

Read more here
http://www.leangains.com/2008/12/reverse-pyramid-revisited.html
 
showdownhero said:
Even though I don't follow the leangains style Reverse Pyramid Training approach to the letter I agree with his philosophy of training to failure on the first set only. This allows you to push your limits without burning out your CNS

Read more here
http://www.leangains.com/2008/12/reverse-pyramid-revisited.html
Click to expand...

thanks for link. god read.

interesting to me as it's practically the way i train, without having known of this article or ones similar. i was doing it more as a consequence of my own logic.

ive always advocated the importance of the first work set.

pyramiding up, or saving your maximal effort for the last set of an exercise seems to be ineffective to me, for my objective anyway which is trying to increase strength.
 
Shupe said:
In terms of single leg exercises, I incorporate lunges. Should I give single leg squats a go?
Click to expand...

Possibly one of the best exercises. A lot of growth.

I enjoy them more than regular squats now..

Ive found the best leg movements to be (in no order of importance)

Front Squat
GHR
Deads (and SLDL)
Single Leg Squats
Walking DB Lunges
 
cptkirk said:
i with the first bloke - no failure for me

why go to failure (actually think what the word means) then go to failure AGAIN? your not really adding much but more fatigue and if tiredness is the base of workout quality then god help us all

if you watch actual bodybuilders they'll just use a lot of sub maximal sets and just pump and pump and pump the muscle rather then trash the shit of it

how far you stay away from or go past failure will depend on your split too
Click to expand...

Okay thanks. So say for example if I was to do 4 sets of pullups which is usually the first of 4 back exercises I do, would you suggest to stop one rep prior to the final one which is usually a struggle where the chin only just makes it above the bar if at all, for each of the four sets?
Because currently I'd do roughly 15, 10, 9, 9 with about a minute in between and these are all to failure? Is this possibly overdoing it?

I find it pretty interesting because obviously you can get results either way, because I've trained this way for the last 4-5 years (only 23 years old) and have gotten fairly good results but its a little worrying to think that there's a more efficient alternative that is also "easier" if I can use that word.
And finally, not that I'm really concerned with weight loss at all but is it fair to say that training this way would expend far less calories than the alternative of repeatedly reaching failure method? Thanks again!
 

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Strength Weight Training: Anything and Everything II

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