Leg Day Ideas?

[Human Mint]

I initially aded machine training for legs (as well as my whole body) because squat and lunge movements were giving me knee pain and sore muscles with little to no gain (only more strenght and resistance), but the cost outweighted the gains. I fell in love with machine training honestly. You can really isolate muscles and give them the care they need for jumping to others complex movements. 

Try the leg extension and leg curl station. 

Edited April 10, 2023 by Human Mint

[integral]

1. Standing hamstring curls: Go to a leg extensions machine and instead of sitting down stand up facing it and use it to do hamstring curls. 
2. Barbell squat lunges: Use squat rack for lunges, requires balance.
3. Balance beam Squats: Try doing 20 squats while balancing on a railing.
4. 360-720 Deep Squat Spins: Squat to the floor then jump up while doing a 360 degree turn then land full squat back down, repeat in the other direction for 20.
5. Clean and jerk
6. Hip Thrust Machine Weighted https://youtu.be/UVucPKyQVLU
7. One leg standing calves raises on ledge: No hand support Needs balance

Edited April 10, 2023 by integral

[Jannes]

Reverse Hack Squats are great.

[RamPhoenix]

Uphill sprints

walking lunges

reverse hypers

.....are a must IMO

[The0Self]

Conjugate system is the best training protocol for any fitness goal involving strength. Two days a week, one with speed box squats and speed deficit DL, and the other with a ramp to a max (90-92%1rm) of one of at least 12 variations of squats and deadlifts/hinges that you rotate each week to prevent overuse (you can alternate squat and hinge each week, or do 2-3 squat max weeks for every 1 hinge max week). That's the first section of the session, and it remains there no matter your fitness goals -- The rest of the session, however, can be toned down tremendously depending on your goals.

For the main part, choose exercises with a very high stimulus to fatigue ratio (which are thus very hard to overtrain), and hammer the absolute shit out of them. Examples of lower body lifts with high S/F ratios listed highest (best) first but only listing very good ones: Good Morning with safety squat bar, Hip Belt Squat, Isolateral (1 leg) Leg Press, Bulgarian Split Squat with safety squat bar, Bulgarian Split Squat with barbell, Good Morning with barbell, Glute Ham Raise, 45 Degree Back Extension, Hamstring Curl (never do more leg extensions than hamstring curls, ever, if you value your knees). If the exercise is this color, it doesn't involve the hamstrings. 5 sets of 10-20 reps for each of them -- choose 4 and do 2 per session.

Reverse Hyper was not listed, as it has almost no recovery cost and is in another category all its own. Use it if you have access. 5 sets of 10-30 reps -- at least once a week, preferably twice.

Make use of supersets, at least on upper body days. For lower body days, you can superset anything that doesn't involve the hamstrings (I changed the color of them to this color), with hamstring curls.

Also, in general you want to train lats/rhomboids and biceps on both lower body and upper body days. A typical split is: upper lower off upper off lower off. If you choose to do this, the lat exercises should come before the main section of this session (before the previous paragraph), and the biceps come after this paragraph. For the lats, always do at least as much horizontal as vertical, otherwise dangerous imbalances of the shoulder girdle may result.

To finish, train abs and/or calves. Hanging Leg Raises are the best ab exercise. Always use very slow tempo on calves to take the stretch reflex out (if you haven't had much calf growth yet, despite training them, that stretch reflex is why) -- 2 full seconds down, 1 full second pause in the stretch position, 2 full seconds up -- no need to pause at the top but it makes the tempo easier if you do pause for 1 second just like at the bottom. Maybe some hamstring curls if total hamstring volume has not exceeded 10 sets yet, though they probably should be done earlier if that would be so.

 

Regardless, you want 10-20 sets (within 3 reps of failure) per muscle each week, and no more than 12 per muscle fiber on any one day. Count the max ramp as a set for the muscles maximally involved (squats don't maximally involve the hamstrings, but hinges do), and count speed sets as half sets. 10x2 (60 seconds rest) for box squat and 6x2 (30 seconds rest) for deficit DL... count speed sets as quarter or half sets, or the reps therein as half effective reps (if you know what effective reps means) or full effective reps if the weight is heavy.

You should get access to accommodating resistance (bands and chains) as they work against your acceleration curve, which is especially useful on speed work as instead of using 65%1rm of straight bar weight, you can use 25-50(pref35alt e3w with 45)%1rm in bar weight + 15-33(pref25)%1rm in accommodating resistance.

To get really specific and high level, "10-20 sets (within 3 reps of failure) per muscle each week" would be changed to: 10-20 sets per week worth of effective volume on high threshold muscle fibers, even more specifically meaning... 25-50 "effective reps," twice a week, per muscle. "Effective reps" are the last 5 reps before hitting failure.

Edited April 11, 2023 by The0Self