Splitting up Legs?

[InZane]

An interesting exchange of opinions...that's why this is such a good site.

Anyway, I split leg training this year with tremendous results. My gains have been quicker and weights went after faster. This was after years of doing legs in one shot.

I think it's really important to state the motivation for me deciding to split legs and there's one reason only...RECOVERY!

As the weights went up I found the full leg workouts took a toll on my nervous system = lowered immune system. I discovered I was most susceptible to getting a cold or flu the 2 days following a heavy leg session. So, I reasoned that splitting Quads and Hams over the week would ease recovery and in effect provide me with better gains..it did.

-iZ.

[Marcus]

I have always trained legs as one unit but over the last couple of weeks time constraints have forced me to split them up. I'm interested in contiuning to do so.

What's a good split to use that allows adequate recovery after hammering both quads and hammies?

[InZane]

My current regime:

Workout 1 Quads:

• Leg Press Warmup/3 x 12
  Squats 3 x 10+
  Hack Squats 3 x 12
  Leg Extension 1 x 10
  

Workout 2 Hams/Calves: (Calves first so they get the attention they deserve)

• Leg Press Raise Warmup/3 x 15
  Standing Calf Raise 3 x 12
  Seated Calf Raise 3 x 12
  Lying leg curls Warmup/3 x 12
  Seated Leg Curls 3 x 12
  Deadlifts 3 x 10 (alternate with dumbbell stiff legged deads every 2-3 weeks)

I keep them 4 days apart. Works for me.

-iZ.

[shruglife]

I have always trained legs as one unit but over the last couple of weeks time constraints have forced me to split them up. I'm interested in contiuning to do so.

What's a good split to use that allows adequate recovery after hammering both quads and hammies?

What do you mean by 'adequate' recovery? I remember reading you train DC where I think one of the pricipals is hitting bodyparts more frequently. You can adjust recovery time by editing sets/reps but a cool split (you will have to change it up eventually) taking a full week to recover could be:

HAMS/L. BACK

Glute-Ham Raise 5x10+

Deadlift/Lying Leg Curl (superset) 5x10+

Seated Knee Flexion 5x10+

QUADS

Leg Extention 5x10+

Leg Press 5x10+

High Bar ATG Squat 5x10+

I like the idea of pre-fatiguing the Hams/Quads before Deadlift/Squat because if your hitting them both in one week and your training U. Back with Bentover Rows/Cable Rows your L. Back gets a solid hammering. Pre-fatiguing in this way prevents my L. Back from getting over trained. It gets hit semi-hard on Back day, Hard on Ham day and easy on Quad day. Hope you can follow what I'm saying... Anyway thats just my suggestion, currently I train Quads/Hams together because my TP wants the w.e free and I want to bring my up my upper body :pfft:

[Marcus]

I haven't trained DC for some time. Was a good routine though.

I was meaning moreso a bodypart split, my current one is

Mon: Chest & calves

Tues: Arms

Wed: Legs

Thurs: Rest

Fri: Delts

Sat: Back

Any ideas?

[Palmer]

mine at the moment is

Day 1- Hams, Traps, Calfs

2- Chest, Bi's, Abs

3- Rest

4- Quads, Delts, Abs

5- Back, Tris,

6- Rest

7- Rest if im tired or back to day 1!

+ i do 45min cardio most mornings

[shruglife]

I haven't trained DC for some time. Was a good routine though.

I was meaning moreso a bodypart split, my current one is

Mon: Chest & calves

Tues: Arms

Wed: Legs

Thurs: Rest

Fri: Delts

Sat: Back

Any ideas?

I have a very similar split arranged differently. Interesting that you train Arms the day after Chest. Even though you may not hit Tris that hard on Chest day I would think they need more than a night to recover fully and then you don't hit them hard again except on Delt day a little bit. I give Tris a 2 day rest after hitting them semi-hard on Chest day and then hit them very hard in a second session on Delt Day giving them a 3 day rest before Chest again. I'm not sure what your other commitments are but the split Fry is using atm is:

Mon: Chest

Tue: Back

Wed: Hams

Thu: Delts

Fri: Arms

Sat: Quads

Sun: Rest

I do:

Mon: Back/Bis/Abs

Tue: Chest/Tris/Abs

Wed: Legs

Thu: Bis/Abs

Fri: Delts (morning), Tris (avo)

You could do if you didn't want to change things too much:

Mon: Chest & calves

Tues: Arms

Wed: Hams

Thurs: Rest

Fri: Delts

Sat: Back

Sun: Quads

Not ideal hitting them with other bodyparts so you can't really avoid adding an extra day to your training program.

[InZane]

Funny thing is I don't have any set days as my rotation spans more than 7 days. Also, I listen to my body, meaning if I've hit a body part hard and the next day my energy is way down I'll flag it until the next day as I don't want a sub-optimal workout where I can't give it 100% also, it reduces the risk of over training.

This takes some serious discipline as we all know what a Body Builder's mental framework is like.

-iZ.

[Marcus]

I'm thinking of:

Mon: Chest and calves

Tues: Arms

Wed: Quads

Thurs: Rest

Fri: Delts and hams or vice versa

Sat: Back

Sun: Rest

The only problem I find with hitting back after chest is that both are two very taxing sessions and I tend to suffer for the rest of the week. I used to train quads on Tueday and arms on Wednesday but found recovery was hindered also.

[shruglife]

Funny thing is I don't have any set days as my rotation spans more than 7 days. Also, I listen to my body, meaning if I've hit a body part hard and the next day my energy is way down I'll flag it until the next day as I don't want a sub-optimal workout where I can't give it 100% also, it reduces the risk of over training.

This takes some serious discipline as we all know what a Body Builder's mental framework is like.

-iZ.

I find having a set weekly program encourages consistency. As long as you stay on top of nutrition you shouldn't find you need to skip a workout but if you do it's easy enough to move it to the next day.

I'm thinking of:

Mon: Chest and calves

Tues: Arms

Wed: Quads

Thurs: Rest

Fri: Delts and hams or vice versa

Sat: Back

Sun: Rest

The only problem I find with hitting back after chest is that both are two very taxing sessions and I tend to suffer for the rest of the week. I used to train quads on Tueday and arms on Wednesday but found recovery was hindered also.

Go with what works for you - you want a workout that caters for your personal needs.

[InZane]

I find having a set weekly program encourages consistency. As long as you stay on top of nutrition you shouldn't find you need to skip a workout but if you do it's easy enough to move it to the next day.

Recovery, recovery, recovery...

I'm into my 40s now and natural. It was set days when I was in my teens/20s. 30s was mostly a hiatus.

And I'm just happy I can still make steady gains at this age (I'm able to lift heavier than when I was 20). The muscles continue to respond and so too do the tendons (normally via injuries ).

-iZ.

[startinfromscratch]

I'm thinking of:

Mon: Chest and calves

Tues: Arms

Wed: Quads

Thurs: Rest

Fri: Delts and hams or vice versa

Sat: Back

Sun: Rest

The only problem I find with hitting back after chest is that both are two very taxing sessions and I tend to suffer for the rest of the week. I used to train quads on Tueday and arms on Wednesday but found recovery was hindered also.

i do

mon - quads/calves

tues chest/tris

wed - rest

thurs - upper back/bis

fri - lower back/hamms

sat - shoulders/abs

sun rest

works for me, minimal x-overs

[Daniil]

If anyone's interested, Serge Nubret's routine was quads with chest, hamstrings with back, and arms and shoulders with calves.

[InZane]

If anyone's interested, Serge Nubret's routine was quads with chest, hamstrings with back, and arms and shoulders with calves.

Yeah but he used relatively light weights and very small rest periods (<30secs) between sets.

Also, he didn't take any protein supps and was known for eating huge quantities of horse meat throughout the day.

-iZ.

[shruglife]

I haven't trained DC for some time. Was a good routine though.

I was meaning moreso a bodypart split, my current one is

Mon: Chest & calves

Tues: Arms

Wed: Legs

Thurs: Rest

Fri: Delts

Sat: Back

Any ideas?

I'm actually quite interested in how you found DC Training? When comparing it with a volume orientated split like the one your doing now do you think it was better? Did you feel you gained more strength or mass, do you think fascia stretching actually works? In theory it sounds great but I'm skeptical...

[Monarchking]

I too do split legs up, I have tried doing them together but am simply just too exhausted after quads to give the attention to hams that they deserve. .

Im finding the exact same. and will proli give the split ago after i put sum more thought into it.

[Marcus]

I haven't trained DC for some time. Was a good routine though.

I was meaning moreso a bodypart split, my current one is

Mon: Chest & calves

Tues: Arms

Wed: Legs

Thurs: Rest

Fri: Delts

Sat: Back

Any ideas?

I'm actually quite interested in how you found DC Training? When comparing it with a volume orientated split like the one your doing now do you think it was better? Did you feel you gained more strength or mass, do you think fascia stretching actually works? In theory it sounds great but I'm skeptical...

I wanted to try something different after volume training for several years. I trained DC Style for a good year or two I think. Made some good gains particularly in strength. It's definitely worth a try.

[Melbot]

Frankly xen pi@#s me off with this post. No one rule applies for everyone. And to base everything on so called science purely from study will get you absolutely nowhere. I have done quads hams together and have recently split them as you get to tired from quads.

Besides its about stimulating the muscle and feeding it. Not about whether you train it all at once or not. If you have the strenght and energy to be able tell me you can smash quads doing heavy squats, lunges, hacks squats and or leg presses and still hit your hammies just as hard as doing them fresh by all means do that. But dont base it on readings or books. Base it on actually doing those squats!!

[xen]

'so called science'

Don't fear knowledge mate. I'd take being informed over your so-called ignorance any day. Just my personal preference however.

'Not about whether you train it all at once or not.'

Of course not there are many ways to train. Training your body all at once is the most efficient method for size gains however. Did you read that article link? If not do yourself a favour and read it: http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.d ... ___&page=1

It says you gain around twice the muscle training your body all at once vs. splitting, and these studies were done on humans, and this article is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. From the article:

'The men who worked each muscle more frequently gained 9 pounds of muscle -- 5 more than those who trained each muscle only once a week.'

Further, if you alternate your rep ranges over the 3 full-body workouts your rate of strength gains will also double over using the same rep range all the time:

'...in a 2002 study, Arizona State University researchers discovered that men who alternated their repetition ranges in each of three weekly training sessions gained twice as much strength as men who didn't vary their repetitions.'

I find those gains amazing, I'm surprised everyone is willing to write them off...

' If you have the strenght and energy to be able tell me you can smash quads doing heavy squats, lunges, hacks squats and or leg presses and still hit your hammies just as hard as doing them fresh by all means do that.'

Er, all those exercises hit your hams already lol. No wonder you have no energy left, your hamstrings are already fried, especially if you know how to squat properly, i.e. A2G. Leg Press and A2G squats are classic exercises for developing the "rear chain", i.e. lower back, hams, glutes, etc.

'But dont base it on readings or books. Base it on actually doing those squats!!'

Why wouldn't you base it on both?

[Specter]

http://www.menshealth.com...lol..this coming from a guy who frowns upon people reading BB magazines..lol.. :pfft: Nice one xen..you go away and start doing your leg routine and come back with some pics of your legs someday :roll:

[shruglife]

http://www.menshealth.com...lol..this coming from a guy who frowns upon people reading BB magazines..lol.. :pfft: Nice one xen..you go away and start doing your leg routine and come back with some pics of your legs someday :roll:

file.php?id=6126&mode=view nuff said

[Kiwijuice]

5'11" - 6'. Mesomorph. 105kg (10% bodyfat?, not exactly sure on this at the moment, I'm a little short of having abs ). Single, uncut

For 4-5 reps: BP = 85kg, SQ = 115 (A2G), DL same as squat but I know I could pull more. I have no idea what my 1 RMs are.

this tells me your just starting out, so if you would please refrain from giving "advice" that would be good. take a back seat and listen :wink:

[lil_man]

does splitting up legs help with mass, definition or both?

i currently do legs friday.i myt try splitting my leg routine anyway, change routine a bit

[Specter]

does splitting up legs help with mass, definition or both?

i currently do legs friday.i myt try splitting my leg routine anyway, change routine a bit

both bro....big muscle group...honestly look at yourself in the mirror and look at your legs...have they grown training them as a whole in one go???

I train my quads one day, hams and calfs the next day...the way I train them like that is because many years ago I use to train them whole but got sick of walking out the gym like a freaking handicap(No offense to anyone)and also waking up the next day so sore that I couldnt train other body parts, because the doms in my legs held me back...so I split them up and found that the rest/recovery periods in between helped me recover a lot better and carry on with training other body parts instead of being in pain 1-2 days from whole leg training..

So in Quad days...focus on them and hit them hard heavy as you normally do, if you want definition...high rep them...same with hams and calfs...just for a little extra..eg..Say I train Quads on a Wednesday and Hams on Thurs...come Saturday I will get in one exerscise on my quads and Hams again and and do 4-6 sets heavy leg ext and Lying Ham Curls just to shock them...

[xen]

Evidence! None of you have put up anything to support you opinion. Not a single person. Only personal attacks, which makes me think you have nothing.

I'm happy to learn something new, unlike some others here. Give me link that proves your points and I'll happily change workout/opinion. And please don't waste my time with anything that hasn't been published in a journal.