Squats Aren't Targeting My Legs

Yeah I understand, but still I wasn’t doing empty bar squats still a some weight on it just not heavy to others, but still a weight I struggle with:

What type of leg routine do you recommend for someone like me that doesn’t include hack squats?

Hang on… Is this whole thread about how you no longer get muscle soreness (DOMS) in your quads and hamstrings anymore??

You do not need DOMS to get stronger legs.

You do not need DOMS to get bigger legs.

As you continue to train you will find some muscles adapt quickly and the soreness will go away after a few sessions or with increased frequency of some movements (I very rarely get Hamstring or Bicep DOMS no matter how hard or heavy I hit those muscles), and some muscles may always get sore (for me it is triceps, quads, abs). But this is NOT an indicator that I have suffiently worked the muscles.

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At this stage you’d probably be best of doing lots of squats, mostly in the three to five rep range (any higher and you run the risk of ingraining bad technique at this stage).

You could start with something like 10x3, then the week after 10x4, then 10x5 all at the same weight. Follow that with 25-50 reps per leg of lunges or split squats and 50-100 reps of back raises. Do that twice a week.

No it’s not necessarily doms but I am also saying that I do not get muscle soreness aswell as any type of leg burn in squats, this wouldn’t be a problem for me if I was getting results from squats however I am not

What results are you after? I’ve read several times that you were using lighter weight which tells me you are getting stronger. If size is your goal than you still need to focus on building strength 1st at your level.

You won’t go from a 20kg squat to a 100kg squat in a couple weeks though. This process takes time and patience. I think you need to work on your patience as much as you need to work on your squatting.

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Unless you’ve been squatting consistently once or twice a week for over six months and not been able to add weight to the bar, you can’t even begin to complain that you haven’t gotten results from squatting.

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Trust me, I’m extremely patient. It’s taken some time for me to actually post this online. I don’t expect my legs to blow up on light squats, but still i would expect some changes by now but My legs have literally not changed. I kinda lacked motivation because of this and as soon as I didn’t find squats to be hitting my legs much I kinda just gave up on the rest of my workout because I’ve always heard you need squats to get bigger legs

Still born, yea I know how sqaurs could feel always left me sore for ages, but now nothing, I’ve tried adding weight but still no luck, my legs just feel normal, my hamstrings always used to burn too but they seem to feel the least amount of work

Take a photo of your legs now.
Then take the time to get your squat up to 100 kilos for a couple good reps.
Then take another photo of your legs.
Then take the time to get your squat up to 140 kilos for a couple good reps.
Then take another photo of your legs.

Then start whining about your results if the progress in the 3 photos is insufficient in your eyes.

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The absence of DELAYED ONSET MUSCLE SORENESS does not mean your legs aren’t getting worked.

My legs almost never feel sore anymore and my squat’s gone up 40lbs in the last month and a half. Soreness fades with adaptation.

Here. Stop squatting for 3 weeks. Then go back to squatting. You’ll be sore as hell for a week or two. Then magically itll “stop working” again.

Dr Squat told us years ago that Compound lifts mostly work the weakest muscles. Everything else is held back by the performance of what lags most.

If you’re a young, slender dude, you may not have the hips, back, or mid-section to squat enough weight to challenge your legs.

I would take Mark’s advice, and do some work (lunges/back raises) that focuses on your legs, without loading your back or requiring solid technique. Also, maybe some leg raises, or something to hit abs and teach you to lock your guts in. I know you’re doing leg presses and leg extensions, but I think lifts where you plant your feet and move your body around are better. Less like quad/knee extension and more driving the hips.

I know squats are THE TRUTH, but sometimes you gotta do little work before you can do the big stuff. Like pumping up your tires and greasing your chain before a big bike ride.

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Yeah I didn’t expect massive results that’s not what I’m saying. I was just concerned because I was starting to not feel my legs working in a squat, and I wanted to make sure it was not a form issue

I’ve been training a long time, have a half decent squat, not by the standards of this site but it’s okay. I still can’t get squats to work for me like some can.

This is a great article

You just need to find a way of incorporating squats that works for you, be that pre exhaustion, front squats, constantant tension sets or any other technique.

I do agree that at this stage you should be looking at getting the weight on the Bar up as your main concern, but learning to get a good connection should also be prioritised if getting bigger legs is the goal. Playing around with exercise order and rom will help you find what works best.

When I did the workouts in the article above I found the squat that worked best for me, I still hate squating and don’t have great leg development but I’ve added some size to them over the years.

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This. +1
As others have said, DOMs doesn’t really mean anything.
Take a break and come back to squats (or anything) and you will have DOMS.
Keep going, and adding weight, and the DOMS stops.
Does this mean training isn’t working?

That’s a good article. I’m going to give leg curls before squats a bit of a run and see how I like them.

Doms is soreness, delayed onset of muscle soreness = doms!

If your body has adapted to your current load then increase it with good technique!

Try squatting Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

On Monday do warm ups, then do 3x5 at 35kg!
On Wednesday do warm ups then do 3x5 at 37.5kg!
On Friday do warm ups then do 3x5 at 40kg!

On the following Monday do 42.5kg! And keep this going for as long as you can, you can program the rest based on your goals but this will increase your squat! Personally my feeling is that your squat should work your glutes and low back/core more than your quads/legs, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do them but you shouldn’t rely on them alone for growth.

:relieved:

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Hey everyone, I’ve looked up things about long legs and relation to squatting and I saw a video from a guy named Aaron reed (6"7 bodybuilder) and he said that tall guys stuff squats up by doing full rom, meaning they go all the way down and up, his tutorial for tall guys was to go all the way down but not all the way up to keep tension in the quads because when your tall and do full rom, this will take tension off your legs. I did this today and it felt different but it was mainly just my inner quad and butt getting work (not a bad thing) and my inner quad got a good pump.

Can anyone tell me if this is a good idea and if it is dangerous etc?

As I’ve said before, get stronger. Stop messing around doing constant tension rom squats with 30 kilos.

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Definitely have potential to get stronger, I just held of for awhile because I didn’t see anything happening but already upped my squat weight today