Anyone here train back and hams?

[Xenith]

I wanted to ask if anyone here trains back and hams together. I am debating whether to split legs up and train quads with calves, back with hams or to do quads with hams, back with calves.

There are of course 2 sides to the argument: train hams WITH quads as they are synergistic (similar to chest/tris); train hams SEPARATELY to give them 100% and have them reach their full potential (difficult after killing your quads ).

X

 

[Devastation]

i train hams with lower back and somedays with upper back. i haven't directly worked my quads in over a year. the posterior chain is far more important for strength

 

[Xenith]

Thanks for the info. Due to an old back injury, I can't do regular deads due to the heavy weight, but can do SLDL no probs, hence wanting to combine back and hams. Also, bis would thus not be trained with back so I was thinking of having a dedicated day to arms (which are currently lagging any way). How does this split look:

Quads/Calves
Chest/Shoulders
Off
Back/Hams
Arms/Abs
Weekend off.

Cheers,
X

 

[Devastation]

Thanks for the info. Due to an old back injury, I can't do regular deads due to the heavy weight, but can do SLDL no probs, hence wanting to combine back and hams. Also, bis would thus not be trained with back so I was thinking of having a dedicated day to arms (which are currently lagging any way). How does this split look:

Quads/Calves
Chest/Shoulders
Off
Back/Hams
Arms/Abs
Weekend off.

Cheers,
X

from that split you should have adequate rest between bodyparts. just curious what are you doing for hams right now? are you doing glute ham raises?

 

[Xenith]

Hi There,

Nope - do not have the glute ham raises machine at the gym Plus the hams are not too strong (hence me wanting to do them separately and build them up )

Currently I do 3 sets SLDL followed by 3 sets of either lying or standing ham curls. That's about all I can take after the quad movements. I am actually trying to figure out whether to separate complimentary muscle pairings (chest/tris, back/bis, quads/hams) or training them together. It needs to be a 4-day split, which will be one of the following:

#1 (train all pairs together) **MY CURRENT SPLIT**
M - Chest/Tris
Tu - Quads/Hams
Th - Back/Bis
F - Shoulders/Calves

#2 (separate quads/hams only)
M - Chest/Bis
Tu - Quads/Calves
Th - Back/Hams
F - Shoulders/Tris

#3 (separate bis/tris from back/chest only)
M - Chest/Bis
Tu - Quads/Hams
Th - Back/Tris
F - Shoulders/Calves

X

 

[Bonkme2]

i train hams with lower back and somedays with upper back. i haven't directly worked my quads in over a year. the posterior chain is far more important for strength

I agree about the posterior chain, but not training quads seems like blaspemy.
I'm guessing by "directly" working your quads you mean you don't do stuff like hack squats or leg ext. But surely you still squat, no?

 

[6_pak]

Hi There,

Nope - do not have the glute ham raises machine at the gym Plus the hams are not too strong (hence me wanting to do them separately and build them up )

Currently I do 3 sets SLDL followed by 3 sets of either lying or standing ham curls. That's about all I can take after the quad movements. I am actually trying to figure out whether to separate complimentary muscle pairings (chest/tris, back/bis, quads/hams) or training them together. It needs to be a 4-day split, which will be one of the following:

#1 (train all pairs together) **MY CURRENT SPLIT**
M - Chest/Tris
Tu - Quads/Hams
Th - Back/Bis
F - Shoulders/Calves

#2 (separate quads/hams only)
M - Chest/Bis
Tu - Quads/Calves
Th - Back/Hams
F - Shoulders/Tris

#3 (separate bis/tris from back/chest only)
M - Chest/Bis
Tu - Quads/Hams
Th - Back/Tris
F - Shoulders/Calves

X

W/O #2 looks good to prioritize ham isolation exercises, but i would do quads/calves on mon. and chest/bis on tues. to give your hammys a little more rest b/w Quad day, as your hams will indirectly get a lot of work. I have recently changed up my routine to isolate my hams and they are growing more now than they ever did working them with quads. Although on quad day i will still do like 3-5 sets of ham curls. My routine is as follows:
Mon: quads/hams/calves
Tue: chest/abs
Wed: shoulders/traps/calves
Thurs: back/hams/abs
Fri: arms/calves

As you can see im focusing more on bringing up my hams. Mon. i will do several sets of curls, and on thurs. i will do 10-12 sets. I will rotate b/w regular deads and sldl every week. I believe the only way to get max. effort out of your hams is by working them separately.

 

[d3track]

slit #2
i did that for about a year at one point and it worked well

 

[Devastation]

I agree about the posterior chain, but not training quads seems like blaspemy.
I'm guessing by "directly" working your quads you mean you don't do stuff like hack squats or leg ext. But surely you still squat, no?

lol yes i still squat. i have done 2 sets of leg ext in the last 18 mos

 

[StereOMaN]

I wouldn't think doing Upper and Lower Back and Hams would be a good idea. Sounds like too much recovery for a regular schedual. If you were just hitting one area of your back and hams it might be more reasonable.

 

[Xenith]

stereoman - I assume you mean due to the fact that many people do regular deads for lower back and SLDL for hams, so doing both in one workout would be very difficult. In my case it may be different though as I can do SLDL but not regular deads (old back injury).

 

[TheOak84]

why yes i do, back, hams, and bis, along with traps and forearms. it seems like alot but not, ill give u the layout.

pulldowns - 4 sets
bb rows - 3 sets
hammer high row - 2 sets
seated row - 2 sets
shrug - 3 sets
hypers - 3 sets
ham curl - 3 sets
preacher curl - 3 sets
db curl - 3 sets
forearms - 3 sets

this takes about 1.5 hours. not bad considering i have a shake after hams and take a five mins break or so. ive been having success with it for about 4 weeks now. after the bb rows, everything else goes fast.

 

[wnt2bBeast]

lol yes i still squat. i have done 2 sets of leg ext in the last 18 mos

i bet your quads blew up from that