over training legs

[Foamy27]

I was wondering, how easy is it to overtrain legs? I know there are many factors the individual, gear, diet, etc.) I was reading some stuff about tom platz leg workouts and it was saying that he used to do squats with 225 for ten minutes straight and that sometimes he would just do as many sets of squats as he could for the whole workout. That seems like that would be a bit much. I'm just curious as to what you guys think.

 

[moya]

its pretty damn hard to overtrain legs... i would be more concerned with your central nervous system fatiguing...
if you are only doing legs once a week its very unlikely you are overtraining...
look at the smolov routine... its squatting 80%+ of your max for sets and reps, 4 days a week for a month... i did that natty without overtraining...

 

[Foamy27]

its pretty damn hard to overtrain legs... i would be more concerned with your central nervous system fatiguing...
if you are only doing legs once a week its very unlikely you are overtraining...
look at the smolov routine... its squatting 80%+ of your max for sets and reps, 4 days a week for a month... i did that natty without overtraining...

So, what would that mean, to overtrain your cns. Just mentally wearing out? And also, how did that routine work out for you? results?

 

[moya]

i did not make huge progress, but i made some strength gains coming off of a pretty big cycle, where most would lose strength... so i would consider that a success...
bloke answered the other question pretty well... and this is why programs split like 5x5 work so well for individuals that lift heavy... it gives rest between lifting days, where the muscles might be ready to lift, but the CNS needs time to recover...
feel free to beat the hell out of your legs as hard as you like, but keep in mind you may need to take a day or two off... even if you plan on workout out somthing else...

 

[ledhead]

You can overtrain your legs its a fact or any body part taking out all variables. Muscle breakdown occurs while working out and growth process occurs outside the gym. Ok, even if you give each bodypart adequate rest you can still overtrain that part by doing too many sets...Bottom line.. I think legs are the body part that people frequently overtrain. If you do 20 sets for quads you're overtraining. The problem is people dont know how to train legs. First, there are three main areas of the quad that should be hit while doing quads. You have the inner thigh, sweep, teardrop. Positioning your feet is crucial when doing legs. When squating, I keep my legs paralel with my shoulders for better leverage in order to hit the quad overall. Second, doing legs presses I spread my feet out a little more to hit the inner thigh. When doing presses the key is to feel the tension on the way down not in the exploding movement. Bringing the weight down slow enough to feel a little tension in the hip flexor area (upper thigh). Hack squats,I put my feet together in order to develope a sweep and some what hit the tear drops.Then do leg extensions to concentrate on the tear drop. Then do hams...6-8 sets maybe, at high volume...Lots of reps, 3 sets an exercise. If you're a power lifter, do whatever power lifters do.... because i have no idea what they're trying to do.

 

[PickMe69]

I was wondering, how easy is it to overtrain legs? I know there are many factors the individual, gear, diet, etc.) I was reading some stuff about tom platz leg workouts and it was saying that he used to do squats with 225 for ten minutes straight and that sometimes he would just do as many sets of squats as he could for the whole workout. That seems like that would be a bit much. I'm just curious as to what you guys think.

I go heavy on squats Monday and Friday, and I do light squats and Deadlifts on Wednesday with VERY intense HIIT cardio on tuesday, thursday, saturday... it took a little to dial in my diet (in that occasionally I just have to cut my loses and binge eat on some junk food to get the calories I need, and I've added a L-Glutamine supplement) and lately I've been seeing a 10 pound weekly increase on my squat, my deadlifts have jumped 30-40 pounds, and I fell much faster and can jump higher...

So I feel like with the right diet and supplements you can prevent overtraining, no matter how much you throw at them... otherwise I feel like it would take an incredible amount of training.

For example, Manny Paquio taking in 7000 calories a day, running 10 miles a day, and doing his fight training, and Micheal Phelps in his hayday taking in close to 10000 calories a day while training 6-8 hours a day in the pool, they were seriously pounding their legs (and bodies total) and I doubt they were really overtraining.

 

[coreygb]

I started a variation of Starting Strength back in Feb. I was squatting 3 times per week, adding 5lbs each workout. From then until May/June, I I took my squat from 185x5 to 305x5. Once I got around 300x5, I was having trouble keeping up that intensity after a few weeks. I was sleeping enough and eating plenty of good quality foods. 300x5 isn't really that much, but I just felt beat and fatigued all the time, and my strength felt low, so I interpreted that as over-training. I currently still squat 3 times per week, but only one of those days is heavy. I feel much better, and stronger too. Ultimately though, I agree with the others. If you eat stupid amounts of food and sleep all day, you probably won't over-train, haha.

 

[moya]

You can overtrain your legs its a fact or any body part taking out all variables.
yes...
Muscle breakdown occurs while working out and growth process occurs outside the gym. Ok, even if you give each bodypart adequate rest you can still overtrain that part by doing too many sets...
more work=more rest and fuel to recover
Bottom line.. I think legs are the body part that people frequently overtrain.
MOST dont even train legs... they are often done half assed...
If you do 20 sets for quads you're overtraining.
is that the magic number? lol
The problem is people dont know how to train legs. First, there are three main areas of the quad that should be hit while doing quads.
quad means four, but continue...
You have the inner thigh, not part of the quad group sweep vastus lateralis, teardrop.vastus medialis... so what about the vastus intermedius? is that huge muscle in the front not important?
Positioning your feet is crucial when doing legs. When squating, I keep my legs paralel with my shoulders for better leverage in order to hit the quad overall. wrong, a wide stance gives better leverage, that is why powerlifters use a wide stance
Second, doing legs presses I spread my feet out a little more to hit the inner thigh. the adductor group, which is considered a part of the hamstrings, but yes go on...
When doing presses the key is to feel the tension on the way down not in the exploding movement. disagree... Bringing the weight down slow enough to feel a little tension in the hip flexor area (upper thigh). Hack squats,I put my feet together in order to develope a sweep and some what hit the tear drops.Then do leg extensions to concentrate on the tear drop. and to destroy your knees? we already have proof of that here...
Then do hams...6-8 sets maybe, at high volume...Lots of reps, 3 sets an exercise. so im guessing at least 3 sets for the previous exersises, now 8 here... looks like you're back to 20 sets for legs again lol...
If you're a power lifter, do whatever power lifters do.... we get stronger, not just look it... because i have no idea what they're trying to do.im not sure i have any idea what you are trying to do...

see bold... quite possible the worst post ive ever read...

 

[DaBangEm]

If I'm not mistaken that is done to "shock" your legs. 10 minutes straight squatting would not be an every routine thing to do. Adding sets like that will push you through new plateaus. This spring I did a similar leg routine for size and I would do a very light weight and do a warm up of 25 reps. Then I would do sets of 40-50 and do three of those. It's exhausting but I did get results. In 5 months I only did that routine twice.

 

[ledhead]

see bold... quite possible the worst post ive ever read...

You are awfully arrogant and rude for someone that didn't know suspension does not have an ester attached to it, and didn't know suspension aromatizes faster than other tests.

Second, I like how you sifted through my post for three days and googled biological terms, when I was talking from the top of my head. The majority of your post was your opinion. You so called powerlifters like that wide stance, so you can put a lot of weight on the bar and do half squats and try to look strong. Yeah, leg extensions wreck your knees, that seems to be the theme around here you picked up on. Of course they will wreck your knees when you are trying to do weight you can't handle, because your form is going to be incorrect. Judging from your erroneous posts your form and mechanics are incorrect. The original poster was talking about Tom Platz a BB not a power-lifter in case you didn't know, so why would you use powerlifter techniques in relation with a BB? Same scenario for leg presses, doing weight you should not be doing is going to wreck your knees. You probably never thought of that, right? Half leg presses build your legs, right? Trying to impress everyone in the gym by doing weight you cannot handle is the way to go according to you.

Listen dude, like I said you dont even know about test, you need a class in AAS 101, then come and see me. I told the one dude about water pills, you ran off with it to another post, real clever. Stop piecing people's posts together and stealing info from Flex Mag. It's too obvious dude...

Have a good night Mr. Moya, you're the man....