How can I get my legs to grow bigger not just stronger?

[saudades]

I am starting to get so exasperated with my legs. They don't match my upper body in size at all IMO. I'll go through my workout for legs doing squats, deads, etc., and my legs will get pumped up, but the next day the size is all gone. I swear I have the toughest, non-stretching muscle fascia in the world. The muscles in my legs are strong as can be, but they don't look it. I know that stronger muscles usually are bigger muscles, but I seem to have a minimum of size increase as I get stronger.

What routines do you all have that have really packed on the size as well as strength for you?

 

[Crazymank]

Nothing better than squats.

 

[teedubgee]

I find the best thing I've ever done for legs was just changing shit up. I recently went from normal squats to smith machine close stance squats. My legs have been sore as fuck after each one of those workouts. That's why I love DC. Once you get used to something, you gotta change it up and you start improving again.

 

[saudades]

Good point TDG, I don't really get sore anymore. I think I'll mix it up. Thanks for the comments.

 

[mcgaret]

geting sore is a good indicator. Sometimes it is genetics. I had a friend years ago
who had a upper body that was perfect. Big, ripped, but his legs were SKINNY.
I used to watch him do like 400 lb squats (I forget the weight but it was heavier
then anyone else in the gym and this was a hardcore gym with a lot of guys
competing) for sets of at 15. Whatever he did them legs wouldn't grow.
Hopefully that is not your problem. Try different things to shock them - get back
to where you can hardly walk the day after your leg day. One thing we used to do
to shock a muscle into growth is 10 sets of 10 for a while. Luck bro and let
us know results from whatever you try.

 

[tilla52]

This is how I got my legs to finally start growing last year:

Pyramid on Free squats: 7 sets (8,6,4,3,2,1,20)
Hack Squats: 4 Sets (15,12,10,6-8)
Leg press: 3 sets (10 reps wide/ Immediatly 10 reps close)
Leg Extension: 5 sets of 20
Leg curl: 6 sets (3 sets legs close, 3 sets legs wide) 12-15 reps
SLDL: 4 set (12-15 reps)

Try it out if you want and let me know how you like it.

 

[mcgaret]

Hey tilla, I just read that and my legs got sore. LOL If that dont shock the shit
out of them nothing will.

 

[mikeswift]

Hey tilla, I just read that and my legs got sore. LOL If that dont shock the shit
out of them nothing will.

my brain is sore now. lol

keep at it Saudades, good responses here, DC stretches should help. Are you hitting your quads with IGF?

 

[winneevee]

When is the last time you took some time off? If its been awhile take 2 weeks off from training completely.

 

[teedubgee]

wow 2 whole weeks? I don't think I could handle that. I used to take a whole week off every 10 weeks, and that would drive me insane! Now I do 2 weeks of jus light weight.

 

[Presser]

If you stretch ur legs (quads) and (hams) every day I promise they will grow,

also 1/3 of your entire legs muscle mass comes from inner and outer quads, more so then quads, or hams alone, so if you dedicate urself to doing some serious inners and outter thigh exercise (YES THE MACHINES THE GIRLS USE) then you will add more mass to ur legs this way over any other possible alteration to quad or hamsring exercise you can think of,

side note: I read an article where jay Cutler said the inners and outers were as much as 2/3 of ur legs total muscle mass make up, never found anything to cooberate this but even at 1/3rd thats a huge part of ur leg especialy when most men dont crank them out like they do quads and hams, so its a huge mistake by not realy doing this beit 1/3 or especialy 2/3 of ur entire legs muscle make up

 

[Get_Swole]

thats a good point presser. I used to think that those exercises just supported your smaller support muscles. But after applied anatomy class with a ex bodybuilder he taught me alot. They will def. help ive been doing them ever since. And since i cant do squats anymore its a must for me to get everything i can out of it.

 

[teedubgee]

wow, looks like I'll be throwin in the crotch exposer along with some major stretching. hope my legs get way bigger!

 

[bigbaldbulldog]

This is how I got my legs to finally start growing last year:

Pyramid on Free squats: 7 sets (8,6,4,3,2,1,20)
Hack Squats: 4 Sets (15,12,10,6-8)
Leg press: 3 sets (10 reps wide/ Immediatly 10 reps close)
Leg Extension: 5 sets of 20
Leg curl: 6 sets (3 sets legs close, 3 sets legs wide) 12-15 reps
SLDL: 4 set (12-15 reps)

Try it out if you want and let me know how you like it.

This is so cloase to what I did i won't waste time posting my workout for legs. My legs went from 26in to 31in in about 3 months.. that was about 12 years ago and now I can barely squat 135lbs without my knees feeling like they are going to burst out. When I do 5 sets of 135lbs I can't bend my knees for about 10 days.. I killed my knees and any future of doing leg training again be careful and plan ahead.. Best Of Luck

 

[supermannpc]

heavy reps and stretching

 

[tilla52]

BBB I understand your a little more seasoned than I (lol) and wanted to see if you had any suggestions so I don't end up like you. (no offense) Wraps? Other excersices just as productive? Doing a workout like this is the only way I've finally seen growth in my legs. Thanks

 

[saudades]

geting sore is a good indicator. Sometimes it is genetics. I had a friend years ago
who had a upper body that was perfect. Big, ripped, but his legs were SKINNY.
I used to watch him do like 400 lb squats (I forget the weight but it was heavier
then anyone else in the gym and this was a hardcore gym with a lot of guys
competing) for sets of at 15. Whatever he did them legs wouldn't grow.
Hopefully that is not your problem. Try different things to shock them - get back
to where you can hardly walk the day after your leg day. One thing we used to do
to shock a muscle into growth is 10 sets of 10 for a while. Luck bro and let
us know results from whatever you try.

I hope that isn't my problem either. Considering how skinny they were in the beginning, my legs have come a long way. Hopefully I can get them a lot further. Thanks for the tip on shocking the muscle.

 

[saudades]

I used to have the same problem....

Figure you use your legs more than any other muscle you are trying to build, so they are going to be used to alot of endurance type work...so on that note, if you hit squats, you might need a good 5-6 sets, of high weight low reps work. Box squat to get the heavier weight in, but really hit the weight high as possible, and deeper reps, and this should not be a problem for you anymore, leg work 1x-2x per week dependent on your bodytype,

whats your routine like now??

Right now I'm using a couple of machines because normal squats kill my knees. One machine is called the power squat, and the other is not actually so much of a machine, but you put the weights on a kind of bar attached to a lever so that you lift one end of this lever. Of course the lever reduces the actual weight you are lifting because of physics, but I can still pile 630 pounds on it which is about equivalent to squatting 400 normally.

I do warmup sets and then go heavy.

Lever squat machine
270 x 15 warmup
360 x 15 warmup
450 x 15 warmup
540 x 10 set
630 x 10 set

or

Power squat machine

180 x 15 warmup
270 x 15 warmup
360 x 15 warmup
450 x 10 set
540 x 10 set

I do deads the overhand grip way

warmup and then heavy (relatively speaking)

225 x 10 warmup
275 x 10 warmup
315 x 10 set

Usually, these completely wipe me out as far as legs go. I do DC stretches after each of these exercises. I'm using the 3 days/week DC schedule so legs are hit once one week and then twice the next week. My legs get pretty pumped doing this, but they are extremely stubborn and seemingly don't want to grow bigger.

 

[saudades]

my brain is sore now. lol

keep at it Saudades, good responses here, DC stretches should help. Are you hitting your quads with IGF?

Doing the DC stretches, and in fact, that has kept me from getting sore. I haven't applied IGF to my quads, but perhaps I should. I'll have to get some more. My current experiment is working well with other bodyparts so maybe it will work really well with my legs.

 

[saudades]

If you stretch ur legs (quads) and (hams) every day I promise they will grow,

also 1/3 of your entire legs muscle mass comes from inner and outer quads, more so then quads, or hams alone, so if you dedicate urself to doing some serious inners and outter thigh exercise (YES THE MACHINES THE GIRLS USE) then you will add more mass to ur legs this way over any other possible alteration to quad or hamsring exercise you can think of,

side note: I read an article where jay Cutler said the inners and outers were as much as 2/3 of ur legs total muscle mass make up, never found anything to cooberate this but even at 1/3rd thats a huge part of ur leg especialy when most men dont crank them out like they do quads and hams, so its a huge mistake by not realy doing this beit 1/3 or especialy 2/3 of ur entire legs muscle make up

I had never thought of that before. Looks like I'm going to have to add that in. Thanks for the tip!