Great exercise combo for the legs...

[Debaser]

Other than calf isolation (arguable), this may be all that most of us need for our legs and lower back, 2 exercises:

Dead stop front squats (below parallel) and reverse hypers. I started using the sting ray for front squats and it definately makes it easier (in a good way). Here are some of the reasons that this combo of movements would be so effective:

1. By breaking the concentric-eccentric chain in the front squat, you're really helping to develop explosive strength, strength out of the hole which is sometimes neglected because of the stretch reflex. Also, this exercise works your entire lower body pretty thoroughly, while being relatively easy on your lower back, which is where:

2. Reverse hypers come in. Not only is this an excellent posterior chain exercise, but you're filling in a couple gaps left by the front squats. One being the lower back, and the other being that this is an "opposing" movement of sorts. By that, I mean that tension increases as you reach the top of the movement rather than the bottom.

Throw in some calf raise exercises if you wish, and you have a pretty thorough leg workout, in my opinion. What else do you really need?

 

[Cuthbert]

An ideal leg workout for me would have my box squat workout before the front squats and abs after the Reverse Hypers.

Definitely two great exercises though.

 

[cacellardweller]

Ah, leg work. Gotta love leg work. Here's what I'd recommend for a size-and-strength guy, based on things I've tried (still haven't given reverse hypers or box squats a go yet):

1: Deads, followed by leg press. I've ragged on the leg press for awhile, but with heavy squats out for the time being, I've been forced to use it. I didn't expect it to hit quads as hard as it does.

2: Deads, then front squats. This might be better for a stocky guy than the DL/LP combination, but that's not me. A long-legged guy has to be a little more mindful of his lower back tucking and such.

3: Squats and SLDL. The classic man-maker. So much has been written about it, I couldn't do it justice.

 

[Backlash]

Nice first post.

 

[cacellardweller]

Backlash - Thanks. I should have known that a thread about leg (and/or back) work would have been what brought me out of lurk mode.

Debaser - Enlighten me: why those two exercises? Do reverse hypers affect the hamstrings as well as do DLs/GMs? I know, of course, that the hamstrings are involved in hip extension, but the load is so much lighter it's difficult for me to imagine that reverse hypers would be sufficient as the sole exercise for them. (This is just hypothesizing on my part, as I have almost no experience with reverse hypers.)

Front squats are a wonderful assistance exercise for squats and are frequently utilized by Olympic lifters. Done conventionally, they really work the quads. I've never heard of anyone pausing them, as you suggest, but I would expect this would effectively be the same as bottom-position front squats. Still, I cannot convince myself that they are powerful enough to used as the sole movement that directly hits the legs. Any type of back squat--power, Olympic, pause, bottom-position, box, whatever--or most any deadlift would suffice, but as you said they would be tougher on the lower back.