Written by Lee Haney
29 April 2019

19leehaney-legs

Build Big Legs with Lee Haney

8x Mr. Olympia Goes Back to Basics

 

Part 3: Leg Training

So far in this series, we have covered the best exercises for back and chest, pointing out common technique errors and giving you tips on how to do them right. This time, we have a lot of ground to cover, as in the quadriceps and hamstrings. If you don’t have great legs, especially these days, you won’t go very far in bodybuilding. So let’s get right down to it!

 

The Fine Line Between Stimulating and Annihilating

We all know that in order to gain size, we have to stimulate the muscles in a way that forces them to respond with growth. But there is a fine line, as I always point out, between “stimulating” and “annihilating.” Too often, I see bodybuilders with chronic pain and injuries in the lower back and knees, and unfortunately even quadriceps tears aren’t uncommon. There is a scientific way to go about building muscle without tearing the body up. At 58 years old, I can honestly say I have no pain in my back, hips, knees, shoulders or elbows at all. The sad thing is that I see many men far younger than me who have already had knee or hip replacements, and the damage was done mainly in their quest for prize-winning legs. With that in mind, I won’t be talking so much about the actual exercises as I will what’s far more important— the order of those exercises.

 

Leg-Training Lesson in California: Don’t Squat First!

As a kid, I was taught that squats were the king of lower body exercises. I did them first on leg day, and I went as heavy as possible— good reps with 495. Then I did leg presses and leg extensions to finish off quads, and leg curls and deadlifts for hams. Then, after I turned pro via winning the 1982 IFBB Mr. Universe, Joe Weider invited me to move from my native South Carolina to come out and train in “The Mecca,” Los Angeles. Here I was, a 22-year-old rookie, watching and training alongside legends like Tom Platz, Robby Robinson, Frank Zane, Albert Beckles and others at Gold’s and World Gym in Venice. One thing I noticed right away was that most of them didn’t start their leg workouts with squats. They usually did leg extensions, leg presses, and then started squats. After asking around, I learned that they were “pre-exhausting” their thighs with those other exercises before moving on to the granddaddy of mass and power. Not only did that help warm up the knees more thoroughly, but it made it so that you could get the same results with less weight on squats; meaning the same stimulation for the actual muscles but with far less stress on the joints. I found I no longer needed to use 495 pounds. Heck, even 135 for my first warm-up felt like 275 normally would! I could get the same results with 315 as I did with 495 on my heavier sets. The fact is, your joints and tendons will wear out fast if you’re not careful. Case in point: several years ago I put a 19-year-old young man who had just won the NPC Teen Nationals, through a leg workout in Atlanta. He was in the habit of squatting first in his leg routine, and was able to handle 500 pounds. But guess what? This young athlete wasn’t even out of his teens yet, and he was already having back problems. I cautioned him that he wouldn’t be in this game long if he didn’t take steps to keep his joints healthy, and not to say that this was the reason why, but I haven’t heard from him or about him in years.

 

Squats

Now that I’ve made it clear that squats should not be done first in the leg workout when you would be able to handle the most weight (which is irrelevant anyway— muscle only knows stimulation), here are some guidelines. First off, being that this is a foundational and basic mass-building movement, we want to keep the reps in the range of 6-10. Eight is a very good average to aim for. A lot of guys go higher on the reps, as in 15-20 or more. You simply won’t build as much size that way, because the body works on a supply and demand basis. This is why sprinters’ legs are so much thicker and more developed than those of a marathon runner. If you can get 20 reps with anything, you need more weight! As far as a foot stance, go with what feels comfortable and natural to you. You shouldn’t be overly narrow or wide. Finally, you want to take your sets to failure, but you never want to be stuck and struggling at the bottom of a rep. That’s an invitation to injury. As I’ve discussed before, your reps should resemble a “check mark,” meaning you don’t pause at the bottom at all.

 

Leg Extensions

We go a little higher on reps for leg extensions, for two key reasons. Number one, the knee joint wasn’t designed to bear heavy loads in this motion. Those are only meant for multi-joint movements like leg presses and squats, where the hip joints are also involved. Second, leg extensions are not meant to be a mass builder. Keep your sets around 12-15, pyramiding up, and squeezing the quads at the top of each rep. Leg extensions are also great for doing descending or drop sets, but don’t do more than two of these in any given workout. The legs can start looking flat and rubbery if they are overtrained. Don’t go by what you see and read about the pros doing, because this is their whole life. Unless you can eat seven meals a day and take a couple of naps every day too, don’t try to copy what they do in the gym.

 

Leg Press

The leg press is an excellent precursor to squats, because you can use some good weight and fatigue the quads without involving the back at all. Keep your reps around 10-12, and go as deep as you can without your butt starting to come up off the seat. Push from the heels, as this will give you better power and deeper separation in the muscles. These days, you mostly only see angled leg press machines, but I still prefer the old vertical models that the old-school guys like Arnold, Robby, Franco and Zane relied on. Just be careful not to go too deep if you have access to one. One time I went too deep and my ribs were sore for a month!

 

Leg Curls

Once the quads are done, we move on to the hamstrings. Lying leg curls are the first exercise we do. Four sets here warm up and stretch the hamstrings. I see a lot of guys with no mind-muscle connection who totally miss out on the negative component of the rep where you get all the stretching benefits. They drop the weight and bounce out of the bottom, which is an easy way to hyperextend the knee joint or worse, snap a hamstring tendon. Control the descent and keep that rhythmic “check mark” tempo going. I consider leg curls more of a shaping movement, so there’s no need to even try and go extremely heavy. I would stick with lying leg curls most of the time. A few weeks out from a contest, you can add in seated or standing leg curls.

 

Stiff-Leg Deadlifts

When I was in South Carolina, we had plenty of powerlifters around but not many bodybuilders. I did plenty of deadlifts, but until I got to California I wasn’t even aware of stiff-leg deadlifts. Then one day I saw Tom Platz doing them with those steel cable hams of his and I said, whatever this exercise is, I better start doing it! The key point with stiff-legs is to keep the back flat or neutral— never let it round! Your hips should move back and away from your body as you descend. Your toes may feel like coming up a bit off the ground as you get into the bottom position. Unlike regular deadlifts, this is not meant to be a heavy power movement. I usually stayed with 185 or 225 at the very most. Sometimes you see these being done off a block or a deadlift platform for a deeper stretch, but that’s only necessary if you’re using 45s. I usually used 25s, and that way I was able to get the same stretch while standing on the floor.

 

leehaney.com

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

 

DISCUSS THIS ARTICLE ON THE MD FORUM

 

 

FOLLOW MUSCULAR DEVELOPMENT ON:

FACEBOOK: MuscularDevelopment Magazine

TWITTER: @MuscularDevelop

INSTAGRAM: @MuscularDevelopment

YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2fvHgnZ