“You can’t build a house without a foundation” is a phrase that I heard repeatedly from one of my old training partners when I decided to enter the realm of competitive bodybuilding. The person saying this to me possessed some of the most thickly developed thighs I had ever seen at the time and could outlift pretty much everyone when it came quad training. The adage that in order to build a massive physique, you had to begin from the bottom up, stuck with me and led me to building some decent sized legs. During that time, there was a lot of experimentation with different exercises, sets and reps schemes, intensifiers and playing around with angles, until I settled on what I believed worked best for building big quadriceps. In this article, I’ll share with you three tips that I not only used myself to build big legs, but have passed on to many others who are looking to do the same with their own physique. In no particular order, here are my top 3 movement tips for building massive quads!
Tip #1: You Don’t Have to Barbell Squat
There’s pretty much no way around the fact that if you want to build big old quads, then you’re going to have to squat and build yourself up to using a significant amount of weight. That said, the free weight barbell back squat isn’t your only option and doesn’t have to be the only way to squat. For years, I spent my weeks mentally preparing for the squat session that I would endure within my training program that would have me following the progressive overload approach. At one point, the weight we used got pretty heavy to the point that just surviving the session itself was a win but what was even worse than that, was the anxiety that built up in the days leading to the session. Just knowing how much we were going to try to squat for reps was scary and had I known that there were other ways of squatting that would elicit the same response, I wouldn’t have put myself through that. We were always told you have to squat to get big legs; so that’s what we did. Twenty-five years later, a bad back and a much more training knowledge, tells me that of course that’s not the case. If you don’t feel right doing barbell squats, then don’t do them and save yourself the pain you’ll end up with later on down the line. Do your hack squats, your belt squats, dumbbell squats and any other machine type squat you want because you’ll most likely get the same results, minus the back pain.
Tip #2: Drive Through Your Heels
A common occurrence with anyone who trains their legs heavy, is knee pain and discomfort. When you place a tremendous amount of force on a joint, while having it move through its normal range of motion, wear and tear on that joint is going to occur one way or another. In the case of quad training, you can do more harm than good if you aren’t displacing the loads correctly on your knee joints. Often times, the knee pain someone experiences is the result of overloading the knee joint by shifting the stress from predominantly on the quadriceps muscle itself to the joint. This happens when your pressure point during the movement is placed on the balls of the feet versus the heels. The body’s ability to generate maximal force lies within being able to create linear pathways for movements. In the case of a squat, the most liner line through the body goes from the top/middle of your head right down through to your heels. Therefore, generating force when performing the squat, must be initiated first at the heels, and then transferring up through the midline of the body. When you start pushing off the balls of your feet, you throw this off and create undue stress on the knees which in turn, creates pain in the long term.
Tip #3: Load + Volume = Size
If you haven’t figured this one out yet now is a good time to pay attention. Not every body part responds the same way to the training stimulus. A lot of people find success with heavy loads and lower volume when trying to attain a certain level of mass for say the back. On the contrary, a moderate approach with the weights and with a much higher volume, usually works out well for smaller muscle groups such as arms and the chest. For legs, however, you need to be using a lot of weight with considerable volume applied. What this means is you need to be following a progressive overloading style of training with respect to your weights, but you have to focus on maximizing the pump at the same time. This means multiple working sets with rep ranges sometimes in the twenties to fully engorge the quads with blood. In turn, you’ll see a much better return on effort for your troubles. Second to more weights and for more sets and reps, start doing more exercises as well. Typically you’ll see people do an extension movement, followed by a squat and then a press for quads. Well, start incorporating a second squat movement of another hip press type of exercise to trigger an additional stimulus for building muscle. Some will say that in training, a little goes a long way but that’s not the case for quads. You have to do a lot to get a lot so settle in with that and watch how quickly your quads explode with growth.
To train quads effectively and efficiently, you’re going to need to get yourself fired up. Even in the days when anxiety filled my thoughts thinking about the weight I’d have to move, finding ways to get jacked up about what I was about to do was the key to overcoming it and crushing those workouts. Back then, we didn’t have much in the way of pre-workouts and I can tell you right now, had I had access to a product such as Kamikaze, I would have been all over it. Kamikaze provides the type of kick you need to get amped up for a big leg day, along with providing perfect clarity when focusing in on the task at hand. Training legs is typically the one day in the training week when you feel like you’re putting everything on the line and the last thing you want to do is go in unprepared. Take the advice I’ve given you in this article and pair it up with a serving of Kamikaze and you’ll be well on your way to building a foundation for your future house.
Author: Dana Bushell
Dana Bushell, a graduate of St. Francis Xavier University (BAHK, B.Ed) is an Educator, Writer, Strength and Conditioning Coach, Nutrition Advisor, Contest Prep/Lifestyle Coach and former competitive bodybuilder, who has been involved in the Fitness Industry for over 25 years. He has worked and written for major fitness publications and many popular bodybuilding sites, is a Gym Star Team member and works hard at teaching and promoting a fitness-based lifestyle in his career as a Physical Education Specialist.
Tip #2: Drive Through Your Heels
A common occurrence with anyone who trains their legs heavy, is knee pain and discomfort. When you place a tremendous amount of force on a joint, while having it move through its normal range of motion, wear and tear on that joint is going to occur one way or another. In the case of quad training, you can do more harm than good if you aren’t displacing the loads correctly on your knee joints. Often times, the knee pain someone experiences is the result of overloading the knee joint by shifting the stress from predominantly on the quadriceps muscle itself to the joint. This happens when your pressure point during the movement is placed on the balls of the feet versus the heels. The body’s ability to generate maximal force lies within being able to create linear pathways for movements. In the case of a squat, the most liner line through the body goes from the top/middle of your head right down through to your heels. Therefore, generating force when performing the squat, must be initiated first at the heels, and then transferring up through the midline of the body. When you start pushing off the balls of your feet, you throw this off and create undue stress on the knees which in turn, creates pain in the long term.
Tip #3: Load + Volume = Size
If you haven’t figured this one out yet now is a good time to pay attention. Not every body part responds the same way to the training stimulus. A lot of people find success with heavy loads and lower volume when trying to attain a certain level of mass for say the back. On the contrary, a moderate approach with the weights and with a much higher volume, usually works out well for smaller muscle groups such as arms and the chest. For legs, however, you need to be using a lot of weight with considerable volume applied. What this means is you need to be following a progressive overloading style of training with respect to your weights, but you have to focus on maximizing the pump at the same time. This means multiple working sets with rep ranges sometimes in the twenties to fully engorge the quads with blood. In turn, you’ll see a much better return on effort for your troubles. Second to more weights and for more sets and reps, start doing more exercises as well. Typically you’ll see people do an extension movement, followed by a squat and then a press for quads. Well, start incorporating a second squat movement of another hip press type of exercise to trigger an additional stimulus for building muscle. Some will say that in training, a little goes a long way but that’s not the case for quads. You have to do a lot to get a lot so settle in with that and watch how quickly your quads explode with growth.
To train quads effectively and efficiently, you’re going to need to get yourself fired up. Even in the days when anxiety filled my thoughts thinking about the weight I’d have to move, finding ways to get jacked up about what I was about to do was the key to overcoming it and crushing those workouts. Back then, we didn’t have much in the way of pre-workouts and I can tell you right now, had I had access to a product such as Kamikaze, I would have been all over it. Kamikaze provides the type of kick you need to get amped up for a big leg day, along with providing perfect clarity when focusing in on the task at hand. Training legs is typically the one day in the training week when you feel like you’re putting everything on the line and the last thing you want to do is go in unprepared. Take the advice I’ve given you in this article and pair it up with a serving of Kamikaze and you’ll be well on your way to building a foundation for your future house.
Author: Dana Bushell
Dana Bushell, a graduate of St. Francis Xavier University (BAHK, B.Ed) is an Educator, Writer, Strength and Conditioning Coach, Nutrition Advisor, Contest Prep/Lifestyle Coach and former competitive bodybuilder, who has been involved in the Fitness Industry for over 25 years. He has worked and written for major fitness publications and many popular bodybuilding sites, is a Gym Star Team member and works hard at teaching and promoting a fitness-based lifestyle in his career as a Physical Education Specialist.