The punishment that is required to endure in order to possess legs like the Big Dogs is definitely a pain full of gratification. If you are looking for the quads that can wrinkle your dress clothes or that require two sizes bigger in the waist needed to fit those ham hock quads, then you are ready to test out the Advanced Leg-Blasting Workout!
For years, my training partner and I would constantly measure our workouts by leg day. We would consider it a good hard week of training, if we had a gut busting, puking in the waste basket type leg day. I know in today’s gyms you might have some machine that will do the squats for you or even some that lift your legs for you, so the thought of puking or busting guts probably sounds cliché. But, I doubt it sounds cliché to Tom Platz (the greatest legs ever) or the late Paul Demayo (a.k.a. Quadzilla) or even the former Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman for last eight years, because these guys could write a book on the proper positioning while puking in the gym next to the squat rack.
The road to big legs is not necessarily an easy one, because you will definitely find yourself in a squat rack with a bar loaded with 45lb plates. We (Nutrex Research Group) wanted to pen what we feel is an advanced program that will assist you in getting the big legs you have always wanted.
The legs are the grand daddy of muscle volume in the human body, which consist of 4 major muscles in the thigh area, 5 muscles in the back of the leg or the hamstring area and 3 in the calves. Simple math would tell us, we have a lot of work to do in order to get all of these muscles the trench-digging work required to stimulate muscle growth.
Now, if you have read any of our workouts, you will see that one common thing amongst all of these workouts is that you start your focused body part at the beginning of the week. I want to reinforce the fact that this is an advanced leg workout as this is not for the beginner. You should have at least 2 years of lifting under your belt before you may start this program.
Our training week will look like this:
Day 1 – Legs (heavy day)
Day 2 – Chest
Day 3 – Arms & Shoulders
Day 4 – Off
Day 5 - Legs (light day)
Day 6 - Back
Day 7 –Off
Why? We have found that in order to get a true break through in leg development, we need to have two leg training days in a seven day period. The thought here is that we will have a heavy day and a light day. The heavy day will be at the beginning of the week and the light day 3 days later for proper rest and recovery, but you must realize this is very advanced and requires proper diet and rest.
We have moved body parts according to its required movement, the direct or indirect tension and/or work load that may come into play as the week moves on. For example, we have put chest immediately after heavy leg day due to the movements required, which are movements that will not tax the legs. This way the legs have a day of rest without strain or indirect tension. We also move the back towards the end of the week for this same reason. All the body parts work load will be tough and we will need to keep our protein levels high, but you can make great gains if you EAT and REST!!! Here is how it will look:
First, we must determine your 1Rep Max (1RM), which is simply the maximum amount of weight you can lift for a particular exercise for one good repetition. You will need a spotter or your training partner for this one, but I highly recommend you taking the time and determine what your 1RM really is. You should also recalculate your 1RM when starting a new program or even continuing on a previous program. We also suggest a redo of 1RM if continuing this program longer than 6 weeks. So, after 6 weeks of this program, go back and retest your strength in these movements.
 Day 1 – Legs: Heavy day (quads and hamstrings)
a. Squats
3 sets of 8,6,4,2, reps at 75%, 80%, 85%, 90% 1RM
b. 45 degree Leg Press
3 sets of 8,6,4,2 reps at 75%, 80%, 85%, 90% 1RM
c. Leg Extensions
(manageable burning at the 12th rep)
2 sets of 12 reps
d. Leg Curls (Lying)
(manageable burning at the 12th rep)
3 sets of 12 reps
Day 2 – Chest
a. Flat Bench Barbell Press
3 sets of 6-8 reps
b. Flat Bench Dumbbell Fly’s
3 sets of 8-12 reps
c. Incline Bench Barbell Press
3 sets of 6-8 reps
d. Cable Crossovers
3 sets of 8-12 reps
Day 3 – Arms and Shoulders
a. Biceps Barbell Curl
3 sets of 8-10 reps
b. Triceps Rope Pushdowns
3 sets of 8-10 reps
c. Seated Dumbbell Press
3 sets of 8-10 reps
d. Dumbbell Lateral Raise
3 sets of 8-10 reps
e. Bent over Dumbbell
Lateral Raise
3 sets of 8-10 reps
 Day 4 – OFF (Rest and EAT)
Day 5 – Legs: Light day
a. Lunges (walking)
3 sets of 12 reps (each leg)
b. Barbell Deadlifts
(stiff-legged)
3 sets of 8-12 reps
c. Leg Extensions
3 sets of 12 reps (controlled slow
movement w/light weight)
d. Leg Curls (seated)
3 sets of 8-12 reps
(slow controlled movement)
Day 6 – Back
a. Lat Machine Pulldowns
(shoulder width hands / pull to the front)
3 sets of 8-12 reps
b. Barbell Dumbbell Rows
3 sets of 8-12 reps
c. Seated Low Cable Rows
3 sets of 8-12 reps
d. Hyperextensions
2 sets of 12-15 reps
Day 7 – OFF
If you look at Day 1, you will see a very heavy day and a format of quads first and hamstrings second, which is changed on the light leg day later in the week to an alternate format. The amount of energy required to squat is obviously much higher than performing leg curls or even stiff-legged deadlifts.
Nutrition:
We are now getting into what we call the 70% factor…the factor that holds approximately 70% of importance to a 100% result. Please understand that 100% results are a simple matter of making gains!! I truly feel the results you achieve are based on diet and rest, but we feel supplementation is included in the diet aspect and the rest needed.
We have had several individuals follow the diet and exercise programs we have available on our website www.nutrex.com with great success, but we feel you will need a special amount of protein and carbohydrates with a few other goodies to properly recover from this workout.
I like to base my food intake on: Calories in minus (-) calories out = calories needed.
Example: The average person consumes approximately 1600 - 1800 calories per day, but we are NOT average people doing average stuff here. We are looking to blast some legs in order to get the leg development we have always wanted, so we need some serious calories to help us recover.
I like the following ratio’s of nutrients for leg blasting:
Carbohydrates 2.0 gm/lb/TBW
Protein 1.5 gm/lb/TBW
Fats .5 gm/lb/TBW
TBW = Total Body Weight
It would look like this:
200 lb Male
Daily carbs = 400 gms
Daily protein = 300 gms
Daily Fats = 100 gms (either naturally occurring or added fats)
125 lb Female
Daily carbs = 250 gms / day
Daily protein = 175 gms / day
Daily fats = 50 gms |
