Sunday, 12 July 2009
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Leg Workouts... Good or Bad?
A lot of people I know absolutely HATE to do leg workouts. The number one reason my friends and clients use is "leg workouts are too hard," and the number two reason is ''it makes me too sore". I absolutely love being sore after a workout. Sure it hurts to stand, sit, walk, or pretty much do anything, but it sure does burn a lot of calories, and I look good in shorts!
About a month ago my buddy Matt started coming back to the gym. He was out for a while cuz he had shoulder surgery, but he's finished with rehab and is back to it. When he came in the first thing he told me was that he wanted a nasty leg workout that would make him sore for a week. So I stepped up to the challenge and put together just that. Here's the workout we did last Wednesday and didn't fully recover until Tuesday this week.
Weighted Walking Lunges: 3 sets / 20 reps (10/leg) / 135lbs
Hack Squat: 3 sets / 30sec. static hold + 10 reps / 270lbs
Step Ups: 3 sets / 20 reps (10/leg) / 100lbs
Angled Leg Press: 1 90 rep drop set / 10 reps of each weight / 810, 720, 630, 540, 450, 360, 270, 180, 90lbs
Leg Curls: 5 sets / 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 reps / 23, 30, 35, 40, 50lbs
Leg Extensions: 5 sets / 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 reps / 90, 120, 185, 225, 285lbs
Stair Calf Raise: 10 raises/step x 24 steps / no weight
So my main question is do you think that leg workouts are good or bad? Think you can do this workout? How does this compare to your typical leg workout?
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- From: C_UNIT42@xanga
Stats: This Week All Time Posts: 0 3 Views: 0 4320 Comments: 0 109 View all posts by C_UNIT42@xanga
Comments (32)
I love leg workouts. However, I don't think I'll be able to do that workout.
i don't do them often enough but they're good
when i run i use specifc muscles and it's good to do leg workouts to use other muscles
so my body is more balanaced out and less prone to injury
The only leg work outs you really need to do are squat and dead-lift(to an extent). If you want huge legs then the workout you mentioned will be probably work. I personally don't like leg workouts but I do enjoy a good dead-lift
squats, frog leap, yoga, bicycle. they're all good leg workouts.
I hate leg workouts because they hurt so good. :[
My workouts in the past would be squats, hack squats, leg press, extensions, curls, and then calf raises.
These days, I've been doing legs and shoulders on the same day, so I've been limiting myself to three exercises at a time, usually a press and some leg curls, etc. ex: this week, I did sumo hack squats, leg curls, and walking lunges before moving onto shoulders. It makes leg day more tolerable for now.
If I didn't have about seventy different injuries right now (yep, better start following my own advice), I'd be seriously working my legs. I don't really get the query as to whether a leg strength training regimen is a bad thing. It increases muscle mass and, when done correctly, toughens up joints. Actually, that's what I'd be careful of in regards to starting a leg workout-- your knees and hips can only take so much. START SLOW. You don't feel damage done to tendons and ligaments until things have progressed to a pretty bad state, so you need to start out smart and reasonable.
Hey, I just wanted to thank you for putting this article in. It actually seems like a relevant, useful article in comparison to the constant calorie cutting nonsense or anorexia whiner articles usually featured on this blog.
As far as legs go, it is my favorite work out there is. Nothing will ever beat an intense leg work out and primarily, men, are more concerned with upper body forsaking the lower body. I firmly believe that without an all around frame it doesn't matter how much you can bench or how big your arms are. In addition, think of all the testosterone you unlock with legs and lower back. I love it!
Your work out is pretty heavy, I have a very similar leg work out but I don't do a downward pyramid on the leg presses. I try to consistently lift between 200-400 on that exercise usually at 3 sets of 8. I also do less reps and more sets in the lunges, but with less weight as it appears you have beast-strength working for ya. I also do leg extensions almost exactly the same, backwards in order though (heaviest -> lightest.)
Great stuff, hope you post more!
nah, I have pretty strong legs so it's not a pain
BUT
I over did my first time on the hip abduction few days ago and my inner thighs hurt so bad. ;c
@kimtendo@xanga - the adduction machine works the inner thigh, the abduction the muscles at the hip. Just an fyi.
@scruffylizard@xanga - oh lol, i keep getting those confused xd
Legs exercises are awesome, but they can suck at first.
My typical leg workout isn't that extreme. Mine usually consists of sqwats and lunges with weights and leg curles.
@nolan_kun@xanga - glad ya liked it man, i'll see what else i can come up with. any suggestions?
I find that leg workouts ruin my running stride, and adequate quality cardio strengthens legs enough.
i love leg workouts :)
and i don't mind being sore. in fact, if i'm not sore the next day i'm a little disappointed because i feel like i wasted a workout :/
@C_UNIT42@xanga - i like the variations between different types of lifting / training and suggested work outs. most people don't realize there's stark differences between things like power lifters, weight lifters, body builders... or between training types like mma training vs conventional sports training. another thing thats important behind all that is the link behind diet and the personal goals. any of those would be more suitable to a health kicker blog in my opinon.
i find that too much of this site is related more to losing weight when i would guess that xanga is at least 73% asian, meaning that we want to know how to GAIN weight effectively... which is hard for our noodle lovin' ectomorph frames. ya know?
@EndlessMike03@xanga - thats a good point. i do have a few clients who are runners and we don't workout legs with weights, we use a strength building cardio routine.
@galadrielspitcher@xanga - thats exactly how i am. i hate spending the time and working hard and feeling like i didn't get much out of it.
@nolan_kun@xanga - i know what ya mean. i'll probably put something up about effective healthy weight gain, if healthkicker doesn't put it up it'll still be on my site soon.
@kimtendo@xanga - I did too for the longest time! Just keep repeating the darned things to yourself. I made up a nemonic for it but it's ridiculously complex.
Oh I love working out my legs, they're my strongest area of my body, of course, I don't use weights, just my own body weight is good enough for me. XD I do love that soreness after I've pushed myself further though. My main weakness is upper body. I HATE upper body workouts. D:
needless to say - I could not do all that. I prefer stiff legs (it's easier to walk it off) to a stiff arms (we once pushed a little too hard and I was so sore I couldn't eat simply because I couln't lift my hand to my mouth!).
to me, i'd rather do leg workouts than arm workouts lol.
I enjoy leg workouts. :)
In all honesty, I don't really do enough leg workouts. I play hockey all year round and have decent strength but I really should do more legs. I just never do.
If I was to "attempt" that series, I'd probably fail.
I don't mind lunges, can do oodles of those. Squats...feel uncomfortable for me..dunno why..they make my knees 'click'. (though until reading this I'd never heard of a 'hack squat' looks interesting)
Because hockey already works my gluts and quads I tend to try to focus on the other muscle groups. I do wall squats, 'sneaky lunges' (yeah P90x), 3way calf raises, and deadlifts.
I also have a love/hate relationship with leg workout
my bf literally busted my ass one day
and the WHOLE week I was sore lol
hold up, hold up! Where are the leg abdutor and and adductor sets??!
@Titanic_Spaz@xanga - i totally forgot how much hockey works your legs. i played a pickup game about 2 weeks ago and i was pretty sore afterwards. how is that p90x workin' for ya? i've never tried it but it sounds like its pretty tough.