There seems to be a consensus among competitors that legs in particular tend to lose a lot of size when you head past the age of 40. Pro Bodybuilders such as Kevin Levrone and Flex wheeler both did come-back contests recently and their wheels where down in size noticeably compared to back in their prime (their upper bodies still rocked).
I’m not going to pretend that things don’t get tougher as we age, aches and pains are more common than when we were spring chickens. However, by adjusting our training styles we can still maintain and build leg size as we rack up the extra birthdays.
FORM AND VOLUME
If you can still throw around big weights like you did in your twenties then good luck to you. For the rest of us mere mortals, you may have to concentrate on great form while increasing the volume and time under tension. This can be just as demanding as lifting heavy weights, so don’t think this is an excuse to slack off. You should still be leaving the gym with jelly legs and hoping breakfast will remain in your stomach.
My Last Leg Workout
|
EXERCISE |
TEMPO |
SETS & REPS |
|
Warm-up leg extension |
2:0:2 |
2 x 15-20 |
|
Leg extensions |
2:3:2 |
4 x 10 |
|
Hack squats |
2:0:2 |
4 x 15 |
|
Hack squat wide stance |
2:0:2 |
2 x 15 |
|
Goblet Squats |
2:0:2 |
3 x 20 |
|
Dumbbell leg extensions |
2:3:2 |
3 x 10 |
|
Lying leg curls |
2:0:2 |
4 x 10 |
|
Dumbbell stiff legged deadlifts |
2:0:2 |
4 x 10 |
|
Standing calf raises |
2:3:2 |
4 x 10 |
Leg presses, split squats and lunges all make regular appearances on my leg days.
· After warming up with a few sets of leg extensions I try to pump as much blood as possible into the quads by holding the contraction at the top for a count of 3 seconds. This also warms up the knees for the next exercise
· The hack squat wide stance and goblet squats are both done sumo style to get the adductors and hamstrings into play. Quads obviously still assist with the movement.
· Dumbbell leg extensions finish the quads off but also have a nice bonus of activating adductors as well. Because you have to hold the dumbbell in place between your feet, you are forced to contract the adductors as well as the regular quad work from the extension itself. A fair bit of adductor work here but they do feature prominently in all front and rear competition poses and add extra beef to the upper leg.
· Hamstrings get some indirect work from the sumo hack and goblet squats, now we finish them off with some isolation exercises.
· For calves I hold the contracted position for at least 3 seconds, 5-6 seconds is more painful and will yield bigger calves.
Age is no excuse. Drop the weights back if you have to, just make sure the target muscles are contracting fully, do some time under tension and go for the burn.