The legs. Ahh, the legs. Again, we’ll split this into two parts – quads and calves today, then hips another day. To start, we’ll talk about calves, because – as I’ve found out especially as of late – if you have stubborn calves that don’t grow, there’s one simple, but effective solution…<\/p>\n
I’ll tell you that now.<\/p>\n
Training Calves<\/span><\/p>\n I have stubborn calves. They don’t grow – or at least they didn’t, until recently. That is because up until recently I only trained them once a week. Now, to finish every workout (for the next couple of months) I’m ending with a calves Chinese drop set – unless I work them on that day, in that case, I just follow the workout as is.<\/p>\n If you have\u00a0any<\/em> stubborn body part that simply won’t grow, you need to train it more than any other muscle group. Finish your workout with a massive set for that muscle group.<\/p>\n The chinese drop set I do isn’t actually a chinese drop set, I just sit at the calf press machine, start at 250lbs or so, and drop by ten every time I fail. It ends up being the most painful parts of my training, but I’ve seen immediate growth in my calves.<\/p>\n One thing to keep in mind:<\/p>\n Our calves can take a lot of damage, they also need a lot of work, and a ton of reps to grow. So always do drop sets, rest\/pause sets, and giant sets when training calves. Another thing that calves need to grow is a full range of motion – you’ll notice that most of us don’t do this when we’re doing raises, we stop short both at the top and the bottom (big tip: pause for a second at the top and flex the muscle).<\/p>\n Here’s a set to try:<\/p>\n A1. seated calf raise – 8-10 reps (4 sec eccentric contraction) 3-5 sets<\/p>\n A2. weighted calf raise – 12-15 reps (3 sec eccentric contraction) 3-5 sets<\/p>\n A3. bodyweight calf raise – 20-25 reps (fail with no tempo) 3-5 sets<\/p>\n rest 60 seconds then repeat<\/p>\n Training Quads<\/span><\/p>\n When we train our quads we rarely use a cadence or a tempo, but we should. For at least one set when we’re training we should be going slow (4+ seconds) on the eccentric contraction, we also NEED a full range of motion to build the girth in the muscle that we want.<\/p>\n Tip #1:<\/strong> if you have tight hip flexors, put 2 1\/2 pound plates under your heels to make sure you’re getting a full ROM on your squats.<\/p>\n Quads also benefit from a warm up. Start your quads workout with leg curls (4-5 sets), using a 4 second eccentric contraction, pausing for 1 second at the top and flexing the muscle. Then start your quads workout and you’ll notice a lot more blood flow to the muscle, and a lot more growth hormone raising lactic acid as well.<\/p>\n Here’s an awesome set to try:<\/p>\n A1. Hack squat machine (or back squats) 3-5 sets of 10-12 reps (4 second eccentric contraction).<\/p>\n …ps I like using the hack squat machine for this one because it allows you to fail without killing yourself. Also, make sure you’re going ass to grass.<\/p>\n A2. Leg press – 3-5 sets of 20-25 reps (as fast as possible, as heavy as possible).<\/p>\n Supplement Note:<\/span><\/p>\n The legs take up a lot of calories and energy when we’re training them. Make sure you’re taking your BCAA’s half way through your quads workout to ensure you’re\u00a0building<\/em> the muscle, not consuming it for fuel and energy.<\/p>\n