The leg workout
I am an ectomorph, looking to increase muscle and mass.
My previous leg workout was,
Smith Squats
Dumbbell lunges
Leg extension
Leg curls
and Calf raises
New workout is,
Leg Press
Leg Extension
Leg curls
calf raises
hip adduction and abduction
I feel this workout doesn't really fire my legs as it used to in the old one.
Q1- Which exercise should I add to this new regime?
Q2- I tried doing barbell squats with a plain barbell and had hard time balancing it, plus my knees went past the toes all the time, is that ok?
Q3- In my previous workout the trainer told me to leave glutes (with the machine), while this new trainer says do abduction and adduction, are they beneficial for me?
(3)3 Comments
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I tried doing squats about 3 years ago for the first time and experienced the same problem as you - couldn't balance, knee position, etc. I posted a couple questions with exceptional answers on the topic:
Is it normal when starting squats to not have flexible enough ankles?
Excercises to try correct knees pointing inward
I avoided them for another year and did a routine very similar to your first one with minimal results - especially my squat, which almost didn't budge at all on the smith machine (made it to about 25kg).
Eventually I gave into the advice given to me in the above questions, and corrected some flexibility issues that were really holding me back. After that, I realized that I actually lacked almost all strength and mobility in my hips and glutes - I physically couldn't move my legs away from my body (out to the left and right). I did what your trainer is saying now and worked on the abductors / adductors around my hips and glutes and almost immediately was able to perform a squat (within 2 weeks). It has been about 4 months since then and I have seen considerable improvement in both the size and strength of my legs, starting on 30kg and now able to squat 75kg (both including bar).
As for my current routine, I work my legs in the same day as shoulders (which I'll leave out here):
Barbell Squat
1x8 warmup set
3x5 working sets
1x3 where I go as heavy as I can
Leg Press Machine
3x8 working sets
1x set to failure on as heavy as I can for 3-5 reps
3x20 calf extension
Lunges w/ barbell
Not 100% sure on reps - I walk the length of the gym and back per set.
Superset leg extension with leg curl
4x8 drop sets (start as heavy as I can, drop when needed to meet the 8 repetitions).
When I move onto shoulders, I'll do 10-20 body weight squats between most sets.
Like I said, the barbell squat is what has really made me start seeing the strength and size gains. It is responsible for the development of a lot of muscles in my legs that I don't even think existed beforehand.
Side note: Bringing my deadlift to a more serious level seems to have helped a lot as well.
Unless you're already pretty big, I'd ditch all these leg exercises. Just pick one hard squat (back, front) and do that heavy. Add leg press and some sort of calf work if you really feel the need. But if you aren't squatting at least your own bodyweight on the bar for reps then squats are going to be more efficient at growing mass than combining a bunch of isolation work.
With back squats do three sets of 10, as heavy as possible, adding five pounds every week or two. With front squats do the same with sets of 5. Leave the Smith machine alone.
No leg schedule is complete without at least some kind of squat at least every second legs day. You could try front squat or maybe hack squat. If you didnt do so already, make leg day exclusively leg day. No other muscle groups and most definetely no cardio on leg day. At least untill you strengthen up significantly.
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