Can my legs be saved?!

[lancslad1980]

I only have myself to blame for this!

I have trained on and off since my late teens, but only seriously (with proper knowledge) for the last year. Throughout this time I shied away from legs (massively stupid with hindsight). I have since 3 months ago started training them properly, by going back to basics and following a tweaked version of starting strength.

My strength has increased alot with my squats but still nothing to shout about. So can my legs eventually catch up? 1 year? 2 years? of bulking.

Currently cutting as I have never been super lean, then will bulk all winter.

Also anyone suggest my bf %?

Thanks in advance.

[JohnRainbo]

Get ye to a squattery.

Eat and squat, man. Those are pretty small, but you can work them and save them.

Body fat guess: 16%

[MDGCT]

I only have myself to blame for this!

I have trained on and off since my late teens, but only seriously (with proper knowledge) for the last year. Throughout this time I shied away from legs (massively stupid with hindsight). I have since 3 months ago started training them properly, by going back to basics and following a tweaked version of starting strength.

My strength has increased alot with my squats but still nothing to shout about. So can my legs eventually catch up? 1 year? 2 years? of bulking.

Currently cutting as I have never been super lean, then will bulk all winter.

Also anyone suggest my bf %?

Thanks in advance.

Of course you am catch em up! Squats, deadlifts, Bulgarians & stiff legs. Start there & don't rely on machines to grow your wheels. You need a broader mix.

If you really want to spark growth up your leg workouts to 3 or more x per week & do a mix of strength & hypertrophy workouts. You'll get there just make wheels your focus for 3-4 months.

[Hacii]

Legs are your biggest muscle mate, train them hardcore and you eventually will.

[lancslad1980]

Thanks guys, just what I thought - train hard and eat lots.

2nd question: How much weight do you think I have to lose to get down to circa 10% ? I started 3 weeks ago at 224 lbs, picture taken yesterday at 214 lbs. I was thinking about 200 lbs ?

[kandufitness]

Oh course you can... and i dare to say your legs will grow faster than any other body part too.

Keep in mind that your body wants to be proportional. Also, because of the way we evolved as a species, our legs are MEANT to be our biggest and strongest body part. They're meant to help us get away from predators, chase down prey, migrate and follow food, and lastly, carry us the duration of our lives without problems.

So basically you're in a good position. Now what you have to do is workout legs (in sections-quads, hips, glutes, hams, calfs) so every movement stimulates and fatigues the muscles. Then just go home and eat big.

Gotta eat big to get big.

I'm in a similar boat to you, but my legs aren't that bad. For me, my legs went through atrophy after sustaining a couple of injuries (Tendinitis from getting jacked and dunking on kids since 16yr-LITERALLY- and pulling my hamstring during track).

But it is what it is. Just know you're not alone and i'm in the same boat as you. Also, I bet a solid amount of people giving advice in this thread don't have legs good enough legs to really be giving advice... they're just regurgitating stuff that they've know should work.

Good luck and if you want some advice feel free to hit me up.

edit: "my legs WENT* through atrophy"... wrote when instead of went

[lancslad1980]

Thanks for encouragement kandufitness. Considering I never did legs, I now train them 3 times a week (squat) and love doing them. You are right about gains coming quicker on them, I guess Im getting newbie gains on them?! I think I going to stick to squats (ATG, no ego weights here!!) and calf raises for 6 months steadily increasing weight (as long as I eat). Then reassess from there. Good plan?

ps. I train in my home gym so no machines.

[etkillah]

I once had a similar problem, although not quite as severe. Started doing squats twice a week, not to failure, sets of 6-12. Even if you haven't worked legs hardly ever at your size you should easily be able to rep out 185 for sets of 10+ and 225 for 5+. Basically what I did is just work legs as often as i possibly could, aka whenever they aren't so sore that I can't even take a crap properly.

[Tingram7]

If you want big calves fast you should tippy toe holding kettle bells or dumbbells

[MaudeMoo]

Hahhahaha, ok i'm sorry...


Dude, you're legs are not that far off man. Squats will save you. Do them. Keep at it!

[rowza]

200 Pounds at 10 % bf is about 171pounds of LMM so want to loose abotu 15-20 pounds i would say to get down there