Tom Platz Leg Routine?

[Sparkycool]

I was just reading the Bible of Bodybuilding by Arnold Schwarzenegger and at the section about quads he was saying that Tom Platz would often do stuff like massive drop sets, sets of like 50 - 100 reps, etc. He said that it was not rare for Tom Plats to do stuff like put 225 lb on his back and squat that beyond paralell for like 10 minutes straight. He also said that on leg extensions he would do as many full reps as possible, then go down to 3/4 reps, then 1/2, reps, then 1/4 reps, and so on and so on. This seems like it would obviously some crazy stuff to do to your legs. but i have a questions... does anyone know how often/when he would do this? And doesn't 100 reps seem a little high, or is it different for lower body work? tanks

[GuitarRonnie13]

I was just reading the Bible of Bodybuilding by Arnold Schwarzenegger and at the section about quads he was saying that Tom Platz would often do stuff like massive drop sets, sets of like 50 - 100 reps, etc. He said that it was not rare for Tom Plats to do stuff like put 225 lb on his back and squat that beyond paralell for like 10 minutes straight. He also said that on leg extensions he would do as many full reps as possible, then go down to 3/4 reps, then 1/2, reps, then 1/4 reps, and so on and so on. This seems like it would obviously some crazy stuff to do to your legs. but i have a questions... does anyone know how often/when he would do this? And doesn't 100 reps seem a little high, or is it different for lower body work? tanks

I think it might be in the newest Muscular Development magazine. He talks about his squats and his leg days. He would do squats once every two weeks but go INSANELY all out on them. I have noticed that legs respond better to higher reps, at least for muscular hypertrophy (muscle growth), and I know A LOT of people agree on that. On the leg workouts where he did not do squats, he would go all out on hack squats. It's amazing that his knees are even functional today though. 100 reps might be kind of high for someone not taking steroids. Tom was taking them and the main point of steroids is that you can train harder and more frequently because the muscles heal faster. So training like Tom is most definitely going to be over-training for anyone not taking roids.

[ironwill2008]

And doesn't 100 reps seem a little high, or is it different for lower body work?

He had a regular routine that he usually performed, but would occasionally throw it out the window and do something completely off the wall, as you've read.

Here's one of Platz' "regular" leg workouts, copied from a muscle mag 20 years ago:



Tom Platz Squat and Leg Routine


Squats, 8-12 sets of 5-20 reps

Hack Squats, 5 sets of 10-15 reps

Leg Extensions, 5-8 sets of 10-15 reps

Lying Leg Curls, 6-10 sets of 10-15 reps

Standing Calf Raises, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps

Seated Calf Raises, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps

Hack Machine Calf Raises, 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps


I can't recall how often he said in the magazine article that he performed this workout, but based on what most other Pros were doing back then (lots of volume), it was probably once a week.




As far as the issue of 100-rep Squat sets (or any other exercise, for that matter), some people make great progress with such schemes. The only way for you to find out if it will benefit you is to try it for several weeks and see how it goes.

Bring a trash can.