I want bigger legs and I want your advice

[lazyoman]

@fish3rofm3n Honestly, the most jacked my legs got was when I was rehabbing from a torn ACL, I never used more than 2 35lb weights but that was for RDL. But the rest was body weight.

There are few things you want to emphasize imo, the first being slow, challenging reps. For example 30 slow Bosu ball squats is much more beneficial than 90 bodyweight squats. Every exercise you do, especially legs, you want slow, controlled, and challenging.

Another thing that helps a lot, is working on balance and single leg exercises. The two typically go hand and hand. During the rehabbing i would just do one leg step downs with a 10lb kettlebell extended in front of me which is a good start. The thing to think about here is there is not a single person on this planet who can pistol squat and has small legs. Plus the road to an full pistol squat strengthens you knees immensely which 50 year old you be very grateful for.

This is anecdotal, but frequency is also important, I saw much more growth when i did some kind of leg training 3x days a week as opposed to just one leg day. And by leg training, I mean just doing 3ish exercises that were challenging for me. Whether lunges, box squats, bridges, Bulgarians.

Also worth noting, if your striving for athletic ability, flexible hips and legs is just as valuable as absurdly strong legs.

Have fun with it dude. Good luck.

 

[mordinsky]

@lazyoman Also anecdotal: I am the single person on this planet with small legs than can pistol squat.

 

[lazyoman]

@mordinsky Is this the real bluegill15 or is that the body dysmorphia talking? We all have it and its important yo establish a dialogue about it. Youre legs probably look dope.

 

[swimmer]

@lazyoman Same, and very average height (5'10"/178cm). I think the reverse is more likely true - likely lots of small people who can pistol squat with skinny legs, but few big/tall people who can do the same since small folks typically have a better power to weight ratio.

 

[xxipkerzixx]

@swimmer I'm not so sure if it's a relative strength thing. For me it's a balance or mobility thing. I'm pretty bulky (1,85 m/96 kg) and I can only do weighted pistols (holding a dumbbell in front of me). With unweighted pistols I just fall backwards.

 

[tulipgirl11]

@fish3rofm3n My friend had to stop training his legs cause they got to big for all his jeans. His routine was just Bulgarian split squats drop sets with dumbbells then a weighted vest and dumbbells slow 3 second negatives explosive up. Nordic curls with his legs under his moms car for support and he was always late for school and so he ran up a big hill to school every morning.

 

[shannonsomebody]

@fish3rofm3n I used to be a ballerina before I started lifting, and my legs have always made the guys jealous. Couldn’t do a push-up, but I could outdo anyone on the leg press (400lb now, for what it’s worth). It could be the constant muscle tension of 90 minute classes, or maybe it’s the combination of slow twitch and fast twitch muscle fiber training, or maybe the amount of jumping/balancing on one leg at a time. But I’d recommend looking up some basic ballet “drills” to incorporate. For example, relevés in deficit with the balls of your feet on a 45lb plate, or sauté/coupé jumps. All the Pure Barre branded classes are hot garbage btw, don’t waste your time on that. YouTube tutorials will give you a good start.

 

[katifda]

@fish3rofm3n If you don’t have gym, you can try these with your dumbbells or anything else you can find to create as much resistance as possible. Cause reality is no matter what way you look at it, you’re going to need either lots of resistance / weights or taking every set to failure if you don’t. The latter you’ll probably run out of energy before working muscles enough to fatigue and have to use maximum effort to maintain a rep. Anyway exercise like:

Bulgarian / split squat
Lunges / reverse lunges
Pistol squat
Goblet squat

If you don’t have heavy weights take each set to failure or very close to failure. And EAT! That’ll be your best bet from my understanding

 

[dawn16]

@fish3rofm3n I would recommend one-legged squats. Either pistol or shrimp, takes a while to learn the balance

 

[magazine1]

@fish3rofm3n Some odd advice: tiptoe on a daily basis, hold leg extensions for a minute back/front/side... Look at ballet dancers; massive legs for tiny trunks.

 

[hellothere123]

@fish3rofm3n Also, check out FitnessFAQs' workouts. Daniel is not only a great calisthenics teacher, but his legs are big and shredded

 

[fishivyfish]

@hellothere123 Daniel's great, but I'm pretty sure he uses weights for leg hypertrophy.

 

[negixess]

@fishivyfish He does and has confirmed this I'm sure. He does barbell squats and deadlifts iirc

 

[hellothere123]

@fishivyfish Ηe has said several times that has used and uses both weighted and bodyweight exercises for hypertrophy and strength. Even so, he has made like 10 videos about bodyweight leg exercises and how to grow bigger and stronger legs, so I think he'll find plenty of useful info in his channel

 

[fishivyfish]

@hellothere123 Right, he has excellent information, no denying that. But the OP seemed to imply his legs are the result of solely calisthenics.

 

[lissie]

@hellothere123 Can confirm. I bought Limitless Legs. Volume and single leg isolation is the foundation of the program. Daniel makes a point to mention that it's not impossible but way more efficient to also lift weights.

 

[hellothere123]

@lissie Does Limitless Legs give you the option to use weights?

 

[lissie]

@hellothere123 I mean, yeah. For sure. Hold something heavy and do the movement. There are various professions that I feel are challenging enough for me at the moment.

 

[flyingdonkey]

@fish3rofm3n I want smaller legs lmao, they're too big

 

[dawn16]

@fish3rofm3n Jumping squats, Bulgarian split squats with dumbbells, and you probably need some type of hamstring curl machine. Also, u can add dumbbell swings for glutes/hams, but it doesn't hit hamstrings enough alone.