Leg growth prblems//Soreness seems backwards

[Goldprospector]

I have tried a ton of different types of routines for the legs, including sets, reps, different training days, different amounts per week, and just about everything else I have read in magazines.

Right now I am on 12 sets per muscle group. I do Hack squats (4 sets), leg press (4 sets), and Leg extensions (4 sets)...but then I can only do just a couple of sets of legs curls for hamstrings because of cramps and soreness and muscle fatigue in the hamstrings.
What I am getting at is that my hamstrings and glutes are getting sore from work during squats and leg presses (I know because I have tried those 2 alone). The only part of the quads that get sore are the teardrop muscle right above the knee. I don't EVER feel any soreness or fatigue in my upper quads or outer quads.

I have tried toes out, toes in, toes straight...but I don't seem to get sore anywhere but the glute and hamstring...WHY??? Shouldn't the quad be doing all of the work during squats?

I have decent development of the Hamstring (from a side view) it looks like a bicep muscle back there...but I have very little quad development. They are only slightly bigger than they were two years ago.

I am 6'5" tall and have 36" inseam,Which is a little short, so I have fairly long legs. Any suggestions would be helpful.

 

[Tom Treutlein]

Firstly, drop all that damn volume. Those exercises are useless. Second, learn that soreness means NOTHING. Do NOT use it to gauge the efficacy of a bout of training - ever. It does not mean SHIT, contrary to popular belief.

Now, work on your squat. Simple, ass to the grass squat. Work in the 5x5 rep range, maybe even take a look at the 5x5 routine madcow2 provided for us here on the forums. It works wonders. Don't focus on all these isolation-esque exercises. Heavy squats, sumo deadlifts. Throw in some SLDLs for assistance, should you feel you need it. No leg extensions or curls, no machines, no hack squats. Work with multi-jointed, heavy compound movements.

Lastly, eat enough. You will not add any mass unless you're eating an excess of calories. Multiply your bodyweight by 20 - eat that much. If you have a very physical job or are physically active outside the gym (15+ hours a week of HIGH activity - think full court basketball) - then you might want to push that up to 25x bodyweight. I know I'm eating at 28x bodyweight, I'm 18, and I still don't gain weight due to a number of physical activities that just drain all my resources. If you're young like me, you have to fucking EAT.

 

[bignate73]

the reason your upper thighs arent growing or feeling anything is because every lift you do is isolated. you don't use any of your groin/inner thighs to stabilize. maybe with some wider foot positions, but with a freestanding squat, all you do is stabilize your hips as you come up. my adductors comprise a large part of my upper thighs from PL squatting, wide box squats, sumo DL's etc. if its overall quad development you are looking for, then some OLY high bar squats would do wonders or front squats. but remember not to guage all of this with soreness. I've had days where I break my own PR's and am not sore later. working your hip flexors with various exercises will work your rectus femoris also, which will add some thickness too.

hope that helps.

 

[rbtrout]

It takes time. I used to do squats once a week and my leg growth was incredibly slow. I started doing the 5X5 routine, which has Mondays doing full-weight squats - 5 sets and 5 reps - as low as you can go. Wednesdays are 5X5 squats with about 80% of the weight and Fridays are squats, starting at a lower weight and doing 5 sets adding weight each time (pyramids). I've seen more response from my quads in 3+ weeks than ever before.
As Tom said, you need to eat! If you're younger and still in the group of lucky high metabolism people, you need to eat like crazy to support the muscle growth. At my age, if I ate 20 times my bw in cals (even if it was clean food), I'd balloon up to near 300# with a high bf% in a short time.
Again, don't focus on all of the isolation exercises, the best ones are the compound movements - deadlifts, squats, bench press, bent rows, etc.

 

[musketeer]

Great Leg routine:

Squats

3 x 5-8 to near failure

Leg extensions

1-2 x 15-20 stressing the peak contraction

Stiff leg deadlift

1-2 x 10-15 slow stretch emphasised

(and maybe 1-2 sets of single leg curls)