Don't know what advice to follow...
hypnoticdark
Posts: 7
Hi guys,
I am new to fitness pal message boards. I heard for Quad and calf muscle development you should go heavy and do around 5-6 reps. But then I was advised that since I have long legs, I should go lighter and increase my reps to the 10-20 range. I was told people with long legs need more repetitions and less weight, while those with shorter legs can use heavy weights with less reps. Which one is right?
I am new to fitness pal message boards. I heard for Quad and calf muscle development you should go heavy and do around 5-6 reps. But then I was advised that since I have long legs, I should go lighter and increase my reps to the 10-20 range. I was told people with long legs need more repetitions and less weight, while those with shorter legs can use heavy weights with less reps. Which one is right?
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Replies
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Going off of personal experience and from advice given to me by guys with much better quad development than myself, higher reps bring out the quads a lot better than lower reps. I'm not sure how the length of your legs affect this, but I happen to have longer legs.
For what is worth, I think progressive overload is much more important to overall hypertrophy than rep ranges. Higher rep ranges just happen be more conducive to glycogen and water supercompensation, making the muscles look bigger but not necessarily stronger.0 -
The answer is both. Your legs have both slow twich and fast twich muscles. And we each have our own proportion of each. Doing a mix of heavy-low rep and moderate-high rep will give you a fuller development. You can tweak your program based on how your legs respond to training.0
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This article might have some info. on calves training you might find beneficial:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/training-the-calves.html0 -
The answer is both. Your legs have both slow twich and fast twich muscles. And we each have our own proportion of each. Doing a mix of heavy-low rep and moderate-high rep will give you a fuller development. You can tweak your program based on how your legs respond to training.
I'd agree here.
I hit everything with some heavy/low rep stuff and some light/high rep stuff.
There's no reason to do just one.
Heavy compound lifts + lighter assistance with higher reps has worked well for me.0 -
The answer is both. Your legs have both slow twich and fast twich muscles. And we each have our own proportion of each. Doing a mix of heavy-low rep and moderate-high rep will give you a fuller development. You can tweak your program based on how your legs respond to training.
I'd agree here.
I hit everything with some heavy/low rep stuff and some light/high rep stuff.
There's no reason to do just one.
Heavy compound lifts + lighter assistance with higher reps has worked well for me.
^Yep to both!0 -
Thank you so much guys! I will be trying your advice out this week. I'm making progress everywhere else except my quads. So frustrating!
PS: And thanks for the article chrislindsay9!
Would you guys mind telling me what your typical leg workout day looks like? I could use some ideas to improve my routine.
Thanks!!!0 -
Ok I train a lot of women and it didn't take me very long to realize that they have some advantages over men. a) they generally have better stamina than men, they can get extra reps in where we would fail. b) the biggest disadvantage to this is that they do not get as much out of low rep workouts as men do. I guess this kind of makes sense but it's very surprising how much of a difference there is. Heavy training for a woman can be done at around 12 reps and they will reall excell.
I really admire how hard women can work and how well the take instructions.0 -
Thanks for the nice words about female strength trainers Dreamweaver! Today was leg day for me and trust me I killed them, lol!0
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Music to my ears0
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Ok I train a lot of women and it didn't take me very long to realize that they have some advantages over men. a) they generally have better stamina than men, they can get extra reps in where we would fail. b) the biggest disadvantage to this is that they do not get as much out of low rep workouts as men do. I guess this kind of makes sense but it's very surprising how much of a difference there is. Heavy training for a woman can be done at around 12 reps and they will reall excell.
I really admire how hard women can work and how well the take instructions.
^lol, not sure that's a compliment but I sure liked it hahaha0 -
they generally have better stamina than men, they can get extra reps in where we would fail.
I really admire how hard women can work and how well the take instructions.
thats why they should be on top?
sorry i couldnt resist myself lol0
