Disproportionate Upper and Lower Body

[DreamChsr]

I cannot for the life of me get my legs to catch up to my upper body. My lower body is the last place I gain mass and the first place I lose it when I drop weight. I seriously have a flat ass and scrawny legs Is there anything that I can do about this?? I do compound lifts...squats, dead lifts, etc. I currently do a 4 day split where I work my legs once per week. Should I be training legs twice per week instead? Or is once per week sufficient enough?

I have a few other questions...

1. Is there any use in carb cycling while bulking?
2. If fat goes from a more solid state to a flabby/jiggly state (as in the case of my triceps where I tend to store a lot of fat), is that a good sign as in it's starting to come off? Or is that a bad sign? As in Ive lost muscle, therefore, my arms are no longer as solid?
3. Besides eating enough calories and lifting heavy consistently, what can one do to avoid muscle loss?

Thank you in advance for your feedback!

[freebirdmac]

Yeah, legs can be tough. It's far easier to see improvements on smaller upper body muscles than on our larger lower body muscles. You definitely have some big arms!

Those of us genetically shorted in the lower body need a lot of patience. No doubt you're building lower body mass. I think what you're experiencing when you lean out is not only loss of body fat but also loss of muscle pump. It can be quite humbling to see just how much muscle we really gained after leaning out.

If your number one concern right now is building your legs, then yes, eat up (bulk). I also think you should give legs 2x a shot. Try this; early in the week pick 3 exercises and do a 5x5 routine plus calves in the 4x8-10 range. You could pick leg press, hack squats, and Romanian dead lifts. Then late in the week pick 4 exercises and do a 4x10 routine plus calves in the 4x20 range. Something like squats, leg extensions, some type of lunge, and ham curls. Superset 2 of those. I like the extension + Bulgarian squat superset. Add in a few accessory exercises such as adductor/abductor machine and barbell hip raises. See what you think of this routine after a month.

[Euqinom]

What I would do is test your lowerbody for twitch dominance (using an 80% test, you can probably find it online)

And agreed with freebird. Although I would just suggest, do the opposite of what you're doing now, as it 's not working (don't be angry, I'm exaggerating ). Low frequency > High frequency, high volume> low volume, etc.

[freebirdmac]

What I would do is test your lowerbody for twitch dominance (using an 80% test, you can probably find it online)

And agreed with freebird. Although I would just suggest, do the opposite of what you're doing now, as it 's not working (don't be angry, I'm exaggerating ). Low frequency > High frequency, high volume> low volume, etc.

I do some cycling like that as well. The strength/hypertrophy routine wears me out after about 6 weeks. So then I go back to a quad/ham split. Within that split I do both x10 and x20. Then go back to the strength/hypertrophy routine.

[Simpy]

I agree with freebird - try hitting your legs 2x a week. I have noticed in my own training as well as in the training of others that hitting any lagging body part twice a week will help you succeed in your mass building goals more quickly.

[julysray]

I cannot for the life of me get my legs to catch up to my upper body. My lower body is the last place I gain mass and the first place I lose it when I drop weight. I seriously have a flat ass and scrawny legs Is there anything that I can do about this?? I do compound lifts...squats, dead lifts, etc. I currently do a 4 day split where I work my legs once per week. Should I be training legs twice per week instead? Or is once per week sufficient enough?

I have a few other questions...

1. Is there any use in carb cycling while bulking?
2. If fat goes from a more solid state to a flabby/jiggly state (as in the case of my triceps where I tend to store a lot of fat), is that a good sign as in it's starting to come off? Or is that a bad sign? As in Ive lost muscle, therefore, my arms are no longer as solid?
3. Besides eating enough calories and lifting heavy consistently, what can one do to avoid muscle loss?

Thank you in advance for your feedback!

oh my word you sound like me right now upper body lower body i started nrolw so im hoping to build up my legs more hope hope hope

[DreamChsr]

Yeah, legs can be tough. It's far easier to see improvements on smaller upper body muscles than on our larger lower body muscles. You definitely have some big arms!

Those of us genetically shorted in the lower body need a lot of patience. No doubt you're building lower body mass. I think what you're experiencing when you lean out is not only loss of body fat but also loss of muscle pump. It can be quite humbling to see just how much muscle we really gained after leaning out.

If your number one concern right now is building your legs, then yes, eat up (bulk). I also think you should give legs 2x a shot. Try this; early in the week pick 3 exercises and do a 5x5 routine plus calves in the 4x8-10 range. You could pick leg press, hack squats, and Romanian dead lifts. Then late in the week pick 4 exercises and do a 4x10 routine plus calves in the 4x20 range. Something like squats, leg extensions, some type of lunge, and ham curls. Superset 2 of those. I like the extension + Bulgarian squat superset. Add in a few accessory exercises such as adductor/abductor machine and barbell hip raises. See what you think of this routine after a month.

I will definitely give this a shot. Really stoked that you replied to my thread. I always lurk around the boards and read the great advice you give to others. Thanks!

What I would do is test your lowerbody for twitch dominance (using an 80% test, you can probably find it online)

And agreed with freebird. Although I would just suggest, do the opposite of what you're doing now, as it 's not working (don't be angry, I'm exaggerating ). Low frequency > High frequency, high volume> low volume, etc.

Thanks, I will look into this. I did try switching it up at one point from really heavy weight and low reps to medium intensity and really high reps and I was sooo sore that I was down for almost a week trying to recover. I guess my legs just weren't use to the high frequency.

I agree with freebird - try hitting your legs 2x a week. I have noticed in my own training as well as in the training of others that hitting any lagging body part twice a week will help you succeed in your mass building goals more quickly.

I think you ladies are right. I think I really should focus more on lower body training as I currently hit my upper body 3x per week - it gets most all the attention. I will try 2x a week for my legs.

When I started training, I did bulk up 12lbs heavier then my current weight and my legs and butt looked great. However, my upper body was just out of line. I think I had 2 stomachs at that time...haha. I was eating way over maintenance then, but now I've learned to take a much slower approach.

Any feedback on my other questions? Hope they weren't too silly. Esp the one about the jiggy fat :P

[Euqinom]

Thanks, I will look into this. I did try switching it up at one point from really heavy weight and low reps to medium intensity and really high reps and I was sooo sore that I was down for almost a week trying to recover. I guess my legs just weren't use to the high frequency.

You'd have to make the change appropriate. You can't do the same amount of volume etc, you're doing high volume, drop down!

[DreamChsr]

You'd have to make the change appropriate. You can't do the same amount of volume etc, you're doing high volume, drop down!

I did drop down, but not too much. I went from very heavy to medium heavy. I don't think I should drop down too light, then there would be no point, right?


Does anyone cycle carbs while bulking?? Would it be beneficial for a lean bulk?

[freebirdmac]

I did drop down, but not too much. I went from very heavy to medium heavy. I don't think I should drop down too light, then there would be no point, right?


Does anyone cycle carbs while bulking?? Would it be beneficial for a lean bulk?

There is no reason to carb cycle while on a bulk. You may naturally eat more on some days rather than others, but they should be pretty high on a daily basis.

[Simpy]

I think carb cycling is incredibly time consuming. It requires thought. And patience. And preparation. I would definitely limit it to a cut because who wants to think about that stuff all the time.


Also, from what I've read (I've never done a carb cycle on a bulk) it's not really that big of a difference maker, if any.

[DreamChsr]

There is no reason to carb cycle while on a bulk. You may naturally eat more on some days rather than others, but they should be pretty high on a daily basis.

How about if I were to up my cals significantly on days that I train my legs while continuing to eat slightly above maintenance on other days? Would that help to build my legs? I figured that I need about 1700 cals to maintain and I'm eating 2000 cals to build. My stats are 5'1 105lbs. Ideally, I'd like to be around 112lbs - BF% <17% . I'm not shooting for that lean petite look. I want to be buff like Amanda

[Euqinom]

I did drop down, but not too much. I went from very heavy to medium heavy. I don't think I should drop down too light, then there would be no point, right?

Volume and poundage are two different things. Low volume usually means high poundage. Since you are doing a large number of exercises, the overal number of reps x sets x lbs per musclegroup is high, that's what I meant. I didn't say train like a wuss. Change it up completely: from split to FB, from high volume to low volume, not or/or, but an all around change.

[DreamChsr]

Volume and poundage are two different things. Low volume usually means high poundage. Since you are doing a large number of exercises, the overal number of reps x sets x lbs per musclegroup is high, that's what I meant. I didn't say train like a wuss. Change it up completely: from split to FB, from high volume to low volume, not or/or, but an all around change.

Haha...OK, got it. And I definitely do not train like a wuss

[freebirdmac]

How about if I were to up my cals significantly on days that I train my legs while continuing to eat slightly above maintenance on other days? Would that help to build my legs? I figured that I need about 1700 cals to maintain and I'm eating 2000 cals to build. My stats are 5'1 105lbs. Ideally, I'd like to be around 112lbs - BF% <17% . I'm not shooting for that lean petite look. I want to be buff like Amanda

All you can do is try it and see how your body reacts. I think you're going to find that you need to eat more.