My legs wont grow...

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Seefylol
Seefylol Posts: 197
in Fitness and Exercise
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?
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Replies

  • Bonny272
    Bonny272 Posts: 154 Member
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    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
    CoachDreesTraining Posts: 223 Member
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    Get off the leg extension machine and do some squats and deadlifts.
  • FrnkLft
    FrnkLft Posts: 1,821 Member
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    What protocol are you using? Have you tried working in multiple rep ranges? Have your big lower body lifts improved at all?
  • Iceberg_Simpson
    Iceberg_Simpson Posts: 737 Member
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    Implants or steriod.


    Or implants and steroids.
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
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    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
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
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    Eat more, is my guess.
  • Seefylol
    Seefylol Posts: 197
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    Get off the leg extension machine and do some squats and deadlifts.

    Can you not read?
  • Bamacraft
    Bamacraft Posts: 175 Member
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    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
    Seefylol Posts: 197
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    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
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
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    Get off the leg extension machine and do some squats and deadlifts.

    Can you not read?

    LOL!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    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
    Bamacraft Posts: 175 Member
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    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
    CoachDreesTraining Posts: 223 Member
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    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
    Seefylol Posts: 197
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    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
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
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    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
    kenyonl85 Posts: 217 Member
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    Some people's leg just don't grow....they have calf implants fortunately.
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
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    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
    HikerRR50 Posts: 144 Member
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    Vibrams + 40lb backpack+ hiking
  • james6998
    james6998 Posts: 743 Member
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    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
    CoachDreesTraining Posts: 223 Member
    Options
    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.

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