My legs wont grow...

Seefylol

I've been weight training now for the last year and a half. I've come a long way from what I used to be. My upper body is definitely improving BUT

My legs are still the same size as they were before I started training. Maybe a tiny tiny tiny bit bigger, but not very noticable. I train them twice a week, deadlifts, squats and calf raises.

I don't want to be one of these guys with a huge upper bodies with chicken legs.

Any advice?

Bonny272

Maybe take up trail biking. My hubby had tree trunks for legs when he was biking. Of course it's harder for him to gain weight in his upper body. Try out some body building forums???

CoachDreesTraining

Get off the leg extension machine and do some squats and deadlifts.

FrnkLft

What protocol are you using? Have you tried working in multiple rep ranges? Have your big lower body lifts improved at all?

Iceberg_Simpson

Implants or steriod.


Or implants and steroids.

MB_Positif

Get off the leg extension machine and do some squats and deadlifts.

Uh...he said he does squats and deadlifts.

That said, just keep working on them. How are you progressing with your lifts? Are you getting stronger?

jwdieter

Eat more, is my guess.

Seefylol

Get off the leg extension machine and do some squats and deadlifts.

Can you not read?

Bamacraft

You do much long endurance running? Ive experienced the same thing over the past year - year and a half. I recently cut out my longer runs to see if that will help.

Seefylol

What protocol are you using? Have you tried working in multiple rep ranges? Have your big lower body lifts improved at all?

135x5
185x5
225x5
275x5
315x3-5

This is my deadlift routine.

And I do 5x5 with squats

MB_Positif

Get off the leg extension machine and do some squats and deadlifts.

Can you not read?

LOL!

cwolfman13

What protocol are you using? Have you tried working in multiple rep ranges? Have your big lower body lifts improved at all?

135x5
185x5
225x5
275x5
315x3-5

This is my deadlift routine.

And I do 5x5 with squats

Switch it up to a hypertrophy routine for awhile...less weight in the 8-12 rep range.

Bamacraft

Do you start with squats or alternate your first exercise? Also, just my opinion but seems like those are big jumps from 135 to 315. I dont think i would count the 135 as a set, only a warmup set. i would consider using 5x175 as 1st set, 2nd Set 5x200, 3rd Set 5x225, 4th Set 5x260, 5th Set 5x300lbs. I'd do squats the same way. I used a 5x5 calculator on BB.com to start and get me close and tweaked my wt after i saw how that went. I try to get 5 reps except for last set, and like you, aim for 3-5 reps. Once i get 5 reps on set 5, i bump up the wt on each set my next w/out. Again, i'm not speaking from self experience from this but based on researching etc.. to grow my legs this seemed to be the way to go. I started this program 1Oct and have seen some strength gains already. Too early to tell about size yet. I will see come 31Dec!

CoachDreesTraining

Get off the leg extension machine and do some squats and deadlifts.

Can you not read?

Doing the squat movement, and doing a squat are two entirely different things. Muscles respond to stress, if your upper body is growing and your lower body is not it, you are not stressing your lower body enough. Get off the message boards and put some weight on the bar.

(Quarter squats on the Smith Machine don't count)

Seefylol

Get off the leg extension machine and do some squats and deadlifts.

Can you not read?

Doing the squat movement, and doing a squat are two entirely different things. Muscles respond to stress, if your upper body is growing and your lower body is not it, you are not stressing your lower body enough. Get off the message boards and put some weight on the bar.

(Quarter squats on the Smith Machine don't count)

I don't use machines! Are you completely stupid?

JNick77

What protocol are you using? Have you tried working in multiple rep ranges? Have your big lower body lifts improved at all?

135x5
185x5
225x5
275x5
315x3-5

This is my deadlift routine.

And I do 5x5 with squats

Where are those weights in relation to a percentage of your 1RM? It's possible your volume is either not enough or too much; either situation can be counter-productive.

Also, how much are you eating each day?

Lastly, what are your exact goals? Leg hypertrophy? Increase 1RM of the Squat? Increase 1RM on the Deadlift?

I don't use machines! Are you completely stupid?

It's MFP, you're setting your expectations for intelligent and result-based responses a little too high. LOL!

kenyonl85

Some people's leg just don't grow....they have calf implants fortunately.

bumblebums

How tall are you, what is your weight, and how much are you eating--with macro breakdown? How much have your squat and deadlift weights increased in the past month?

HikerRR50

Vibrams + 40lb backpack+ hiking

james6998

What protocol are you using? Have you tried working in multiple rep ranges? Have your big lower body lifts improved at all?

135x5
185x5
225x5
275x5
315x3-5

This is my deadlift routine.

And I do 5x5 with squats

Switch it up to a hypertrophy routine for awhile...less weight in the 8-12 rep range.

This, Legs require more TUT time under tension for them to grow. Try lowering the weight just a tad and up to a min of 8reps and a max of 12. Hit 12 reps, add weight until your around 8 reps again. Rest only 1min or less and go hard.

CoachDreesTraining

Get off the leg extension machine and do some squats and deadlifts.

Can you not read?

Doing the squat movement, and doing a squat are two entirely different things. Muscles respond to stress, if your upper body is growing and your lower body is not it, you are not stressing your lower body enough. Get off the message boards and put some weight on the bar.

(Quarter squats on the Smith Machine don't count)

I don't use machines! Are you completely stupid?

You obviously don't lift free weights either or you wouldn't be asking this question. When you program 20 sets of biceps curls a week and 5 sets of squats it's not hard to figure out why your legs are lagging behind.

skullshank

Get off the leg extension machine and do some squats and deadlifts.

Can you not read?

Doing the squat movement, and doing a squat are two entirely different things. Muscles respond to stress, if your upper body is growing and your lower body is not it, you are not stressing your lower body enough. Get off the message boards and put some weight on the bar.

(Quarter squats on the Smith Machine don't count)

bro, do you even read?

add some hypertrophy for a bit and see if it helps.
i tend to go 2-3 weeks HT to 1 week heavy.
like james said...add weight once you can consistently do all your sets at x 10-12

ETA: am i missing something? coach where are you getting this info about his upper:lower ratio? sounds to me like hes training legs twice a week at the regimen he described up there.

bacitracin

Ride your bike, walk, and skateboard EVERYWHERE. You'll have tree trunks in no time.

jwdieter

You obviously don't lift free weights either or you wouldn't be asking this question. When you program 20 sets of biceps curls a week and 5 sets of squats it's not hard to figure out why your legs are lagging behind.

Maybe take a step back and read his OP. Pretty ridiculous to keep trolling with this line.

He's doing a very standard strength training routine, plus he's eating 2700 calories/day. If he's a normal height and weight, he just won't have much to grow with. If he switches up to hypertrophy and eats enough, the legs should grow.

Seefylol

Thanks for the help (most of you). I'll change things up over the next few months and see how things go.

DavPul

Get off the leg extension machine and do some squats and deadlifts.

if he's trying to add size i'd tell him to add some leg extensions to his squats and deadlifts. hypertrophy is about all those things are good for.

DavPul

What protocol are you using? Have you tried working in multiple rep ranges? Have your big lower body lifts improved at all?

135x5
185x5
225x5
275x5
315x3-5

This is my deadlift routine.

And I do 5x5 with squats

i think we've found the problem

Cranquistador

Get off the leg extension machine and do some squats and deadlifts.

Can you not read?

Doing the squat movement, and doing a squat are two entirely different things. Muscles respond to stress, if your upper body is growing and your lower body is not it, you are not stressing your lower body enough. Get off the message boards and put some weight on the bar.

(Quarter squats on the Smith Machine don't count)

I don't use machines! Are you completely stupid?

the ignore user button is very helpful and wonderful.:flowerforyou:

Cranquistador

Get off the leg extension machine and do some squats and deadlifts.

Can you not read?

Doing the squat movement, and doing a squat are two entirely different things. Muscles respond to stress, if your upper body is growing and your lower body is not it, you are not stressing your lower body enough. Get off the message boards and put some weight on the bar.

(Quarter squats on the Smith Machine don't count)

I don't use machines! Are you completely stupid?

You obviously don't lift free weights either or you wouldn't be asking this question. When you program 20 sets of biceps curls a week and 5 sets of squats it's not hard to figure out why your legs are lagging behind.

you must be bored..nice attitude.

DopeItUp

Some really weird advice in this thread. At least two or three mentions of doing cardio to gain size on legs? Suuuuure.

OP, look into something more hypertrophy oriented maybe? I've been thinking about doing some Layne Norton PHAT when I start my bulk.

SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish

Well, after ignoring the people telling you to get off the machines when you arent using them, consider adding them instead! I would reduce the number of sets you do and increase weight, follow one of the more varied programs for variety to stress the muscles too (lighter weight one day with more reps, heavy weight with very few reps the next session, etc). Then afterwards, follow with some heavy leg press/calf press sets, and leg extension and hamstring curl machine sets. Again, not many: 1 warmup, 2-3 heavy sets.

A bunch of people who dont know what they are talking about (just like they didn't read before answering) will tell you machines are no good, but they can be very good for increasing muscle mass, especially if you ADD them and go HEAVY, plus, since they are "safer", you can exert more. Sometimes its partially psychological, and you will go with your routine instead of increasing weight because you are not certain of your progress, or your spotters, and machines can eliminate some of this. This is what happens to me all the time with my bench press and squats: if I dont feel like I have a good spotter, I just cant do as much as I actually can do, and I end up doing lighter and not making progress.

The other suggestion about reducing or getting rid of aerobic exercise like running or biking is helpful too: the body will adapt to your exercise patterns, and it is very inefficient to have more mass on your legs if you are swinging them rapidly. Instead of running or biking, I find hiking up mountains with a pack is a very good exercise that does not slim legs as much as lots of run/biking and widens the calves due to unstable conditions while hiking that you have to deal with. I was one who would have a ton of strength in my legs, but didnt show it as much, especially in the lower legs, and making my only change at the time to hiking several times/week definitely increased calf size.