Hi, i’ve been working out on off for 2 years and have been serious for the past year.
I weigh 210lbs and i guess half of that weight comes from my legs. They measure 26in while my chest is only a lousy 42in with 15.5in arms. My chest is espicially laggy.
I can’t fit into most of my jeans and shorts anymore and my legs look ridiculous compared to my upper body. They are by no means defined or cut but they aren’t laid with too much fat either (most of the fat goes to my midsection).
So what can i do to remedy the situation? I am already avoiding high reps for legs to keep volume low but i do like to have progressively higher squat/dead numbers.
I’ve been thinking of doing 3 chest/back workouts rotating parameters in a week while doing a max effort leg workout up to 3RM and a dynamic effort leg workout with 50% 1RM for 7x3, rotating squat and deads each week. However i’m afraid that my bench numbers won’t be able to catch up with squat/dead numbers. A chest workout may consist of 3 different exercises using 8x3, 4x12, 7x6 etc on 3 days.
Please help. Any input is appreaciated. Thanks.
[quote]shinchan wrote:
I can’t fit into most of my jeans and shorts anymore…[/quote]
So you wear a kilt now, or what? (teehee)
What situation? I’m a bit confused, but it sounds like you want to get stronger without adding size (for the lower body, at least). The remedy for that will be low volume, heavy load. Something like 3-4 x 2-3 (with a 3-4RM) for lower body work. I’d drop the DE day for lower body, that only increases the weekly volume. You can still gain serious strength on a lower volume routine like this.
I like the sound of it. Giving each day its own parameters (reps, sets, load) is a nice way to spur some new growth/results. Hope that helped a bit.
Thanks for the reply Minotaur. Can i do a max effor 1RM instead of 3RM to maintain size and gain strength?
[quote]shinchan wrote:
Thanks for the reply Minotaur. Can i do a max effor 1RM instead of 3RM to maintain size and gain strength?[/quote]
You probably could, as long as the volume was there. I think even Westside, when working up to a 1RM on ME day, starts with doubles or triples, and when the weight starts to “get heavy”, then they go for singles.
If you want to focus strictly on singles, I’d probably go for 6-8x1. That shouldn’t be enough volume to stimulate hypertrophy, but should be enough to ellicit strength gains. Also, remember to avoid muscle failure (failure would be good for growth, bad for strength. Not what we want.)