When did your leg muscles started to grow and show definition?

6packsohard
6packsohard Posts: 23 Member
edited November 16 in Fitness and Exercise
My legs have been lacking and been training them seriously now twice a week.

Squats/ presses / lunges on both days.

Also do extensions/ hamstring curls/ calv raises/ glutes/ hip abductors.

After how many months dod you started to notice growth and muscles definition in your legs?

Replies

  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,701 Member
    I climb stairs, walk, and do lots of cycling.

    I started to notice muscle definition again maybe a couple months after ramping up my quantity of those things.
  • not_a_runner
    not_a_runner Posts: 1,343 Member
    Loaded question.
    Took me a couple years to see a huge change change in the overall shape of my legs. (Muscle building) It will probably only take me a few months to see change from fat loss. Higher body fat can keep you from seeing gains obviously.
    if you're not already, get on an established/progressive lifting program and make sure you're eating for your goal whether it's fat loss or muscle building.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    I would say for me muscle growth and definition were two opposite directions. My legs grew when I was bulking then the definition came when I cut. I did Strong Curves working legs and glutes 3x per week. This was a total of 8 months.
  • 6packsohard
    6packsohard Posts: 23 Member
    Okay yeah just curious, because I started working out again like 2 months ago, after being out for 1 year hahahah I was lazy.

    Now hitting the gym hardcore 5x a week, 2x legs. I eat proper. Protein/ carbs/ veggies/ fiber/ fruits etc. No softdrinks, only water/ tea

    Don't smoke/ barely drink alcohol.

    I made a lot of gainz, but don't notice any difference in my legs. Yeah getting stronger but don't see a difference in shape. Not in a hurry I guess just have to keep continue what I'm doing and keep progrssing with leg excersizes and then see what's up in 6 months...
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    edited March 2017
    6packsohard wrote: »
    Okay yeah just curious, because I started working out again like 2 months ago, after being out for 1 year hahahah I was lazy.

    Now hitting the gym hardcore 5x a week, 2x legs. I eat proper. Protein/ carbs/ veggies/ fiber/ fruits etc. No softdrinks, only water/ tea

    Don't smoke/ barely drink alcohol.

    I made a lot of gainz, but don't notice any difference in my legs. Yeah getting stronger but don't see a difference in shape. Not in a hurry I guess just have to keep continue what I'm doing and keep progrssing with leg excersizes and then see what's up in 6 months...

    What do you mean by this, do you mean you gained weight or you made strength gains?

    Also, what are your goals.. to gain weight, lose, maintain? If you have fat to lose, then cutting while lifting is a good idea, but just keep in mind that you can't spot reduce so fat may not come off where you want it to. If you are pretty lean and still see no leg definition, then you can either bulk or recomp to build up the muscle base in that area.
  • dbanks80
    dbanks80 Posts: 3,685 Member
    TresaAswegan wrote: »
    Loaded question.
    Took me a couple years to see a huge change change in the overall shape of my legs. (Muscle building) It will probably only take me a few months to see change from fat loss. Higher body fat can keep you from seeing gains obviously.
    if you're not already, get on an established/progressive lifting program and make sure you're eating for your goal whether it's fat loss or muscle building.

    This ^^ Took me couple years of consistent training and I run a lot to.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    edited March 2017
    Genetics, diet, training program, BF%, will all impact on how much progress and how fast you see progress. My legs don't really grow much at all, never have. They tend to get more ripped when I train them hard, but I may only see 1/4-1/2 difference in size at most.
  • ChristineCoen
    ChristineCoen Posts: 16 Member
    edited March 2017
    Muscle growth and definition are technically 2 different things and involve 2 different paths of training and nutrition. Muscle growth means muscles getting larger, legs change shape physically aka hypertrophy. This can take 6 months to a year to see change. Muscle definition Refers to how lean you are body fat-wise to showcase the muscular definition you currently have. This can take 4-8 weeks to lean out enough to see Muscle definition.

    What is your goal 3 months and 12 months? You may be doing conflicting things with your training and nutrition to not see results, or you may just be looking for results in a different place!

    Hope this helps!
    Christine Coen

    [Edited by MFP Staff]
  • mgalovic01
    mgalovic01 Posts: 388 Member
    edited March 2017
    I've done one grueling leg day once a week consisting of barbell squats, the hamstring and quad machines, calve raises, leg press, with the occasional abductor and adductor machines, hack squat and lunges. I'd do 4 sets of anywhere between 4 to 15 reps. I did this for, I don't know, a few years, on and off, mostly on. Never did see much results. Then, I started riding my bike to work and back home five days a week and my legs got swole. They started filling out my pants and everything. My job was about 3.5 miles away from my house and there were some hills I'd go hard on. Also, I was eating quite a bit, including a lot of carbs. I probably did this for a few months before it started snowing. It was the biggest my legs have ever been.
    FYI- coming to work all sweaty wasn't really a good look, so I stopped doing that, but for swole legs nothing beats regularly going hard on the bike, especially doing hills IMO.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    Years ago. Probably shortly after I got my first bike?
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    edited March 2017
    Probably 6 months before I noticed calf definition and another 18 months before seeing the barest of quad definition. There was fat loss going on between those points. Oh, and hamstrings were sometime in there too.

    But yeah, 2 months is a drop in the bucket. Be patient.
  • JB035
    JB035 Posts: 336 Member
    This is really going to depend on your cal intake and programming.

    You can do the movements you listed all day, but if you're not doing a progressive loading program you won't see much explosive growth. I'm currently doing Hatch Squat Program - it works.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    When did your leg muscles started to grow and show definition?
    1976 :)

    I can notice a difference in two months training in the build up to a big cycling event but my legs are already quite lean so any change shows.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    These "how long till ............", are completely pointless. Everyone is different.
  • razzapool
    razzapool Posts: 89 Member
    I do 2 hours cardio four times a week 1 hour on crosstrainer and 1 hour on powermill and I have found that gives really good leg muscles its the rest body I need work on lol
  • jessef593
    jessef593 Posts: 2,272 Member
    After I started eating in a surplus and lifting progressively, then cut the overlying fat while continuing to lift at a higher volume
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