Quads Won't Grow

I’ve been consistently hitting 2 leg days a week and have been progressively overloading on my squats and leg presses and I also implement quad minor exercises like hack squats, sumo deadlifts and leg extensions but no matter what, the size and definition wont grow :frowning:
Same with my calves, 2 times weekly and progressive overload but no bouncing and yet they still look average!

I’m currently trying to lean bulk so I dont see why they wont grow. They looked the same for over a year!!

1 Like

6 months ago, what weight did you squat and leg press for 8-10 reps? What weight do you currently squat and leg press for 8-10 reps?

What do you currently weigh?

1 Like

Do they LOOK like they aren’t growing, or are they actually not growing? Are you taking measurements?

3 Likes

Throw in one widowmaker set for squats at the end of your leg days. One widowmaker set is when you take your 10 rep max and don’t rack the bar until you grind out 20 reps.

Like the definition isnt growing for sure and the size looks the same, havent measured

Sounds brutal

Do this.

1 Like

Started from 180 when I first got into fitness and my lowest reached 150 and now I flow between 156-161 or a bit higher

I’m 5’9 or 5’10
Age 16
Male
I am a student and therefore dont move much and I lift usually 6 times a week doing push pull legs 2 times a week and core every other day.

On the topic of this, is someone able to tell me my tdee?

…I’m so confused by this statement.

And like 3 months ago you said you were 154-160, now you’re 156-161, so your “lean bulk” is literally 100% ineffective, but the good news is:

You’ve been eating at maintenance, so this shouldn’t be hard to figure out.

2 Likes

Eating more should help you. There are websites that can help you calculate your BMR and TDEE off of that - might be helpful in your future to find this out yourself and knowing the math.

Like Chris said, would be nice to know much weight you’re pushing on these sets.

If it makes you feel better, you should try a light ish 8x8 with short rest periods for your lagging body parts at the end of every session. For me, I did this with lat pulldown and had to get new shirts because I grew a shirt size.

Quads are one of the easier muscles to grow. You may be glute & ham dominant so they take over when you do squats. Do front squats, learn about proper leg placement when performing leg press to activate more quads.

Calves for me is just a matter of stretching and fully contracting the muscles at the top, most guys in the gym don’t go all the way up when they do standing or seated calf raise

1 Like

I try to aim for 5x5 on bench and MOST but honestly its 50% 5x5 and 50% of the 12,10,8,6,4 sets like Arnolds

I dont know if you meant grow as in size or definition. Well I guess they’re the same but I’m lacking both size and the teardrop looks

How light? hahah

50% 5x5 looks super lazy.

And I wasn’t asking about your bench and arnolds, I was asking about your squats and leg work. But if 50% 5x5 is the heaviest you’re going, this may be a problem.

That’s what I figured. Like Flap said, you’re exactly the same weight you were back in July. That’s at least three months of zero weight gain… which means zero size increase. Like, where did you think the muscle going to come from?

You didn’t answer the question about your strength progress in the 8-10 rep range, but the fact that you’re not gaining any bodyweight makes it a moot point.

It’s right around whatever your current calories are. So… fix your diet.

I don’t know what this means.

Like Hostile said, put yourself through 20-rep squats. You’ve said your max is around 245, so try squatting 185 for 20 reps, taking 2 or 3 breaths between every rep and not racking the bar until you’re done. Do it twice a week for the next 4 weeks, and add 5 pounds each week (not each workout).

But the bottomline is that you need to eat more. There’s no point in changing your training if you don’t increase calories significantly. Over-focusing on your training without fixing your nutrition is just going to waste even more time. What, exactly, did you eat yesterday?

Oh no by arnold i meant that the 12,10,8,6,4 thing was what he did and that’s what I do for squats now

Yesterday I was coming off vacation so I had: an apple, some chips, large bbq rib rack and fries and salad etc… and some sushi and just some snacking on bread or so
However my normal day would go something like this:
Fruit for breakfast(sometimes 1 cup of oatmeal but rarely), fruit for snacking(lots of it), some meat soup or just leftovers for lunch, and whatever is family dinner for dinner and I usually eat my largest meal for dinner since it’s right after my workout. Yesterday, I ate 2 chicken breasts, loads of broccoli,celery,cauliflower and carrots and peanut butter sauce and also later snacked on fruit. I also snacked on the meat soup after the main dinner as well

That’s some snacks and one real meal.

That’s also some snacks and one real meal.

… … … one real meal and some snacks.

Dude. Come on. Eat three meals a day, seven days a week, for the next 4 weeks.

2 Likes

Replace one of these with green veggies. Sugar is sugar, and you’d be surprised how much sugar you can get from eating tons of fruit. Fruit is great, and eating a variety of fruit is great too but this is unnecessary, especially given your otherwise inconsistent and inadequate diet.

1 Like