Leg Curl best slow, normal or fast

[jenningsj]

I used the leg curling machine last week in the gym to help develop my quads. Last night when I went in the gym I explained to a new member (he switched gyms) how painful it was doing this exercise relatively slowly because you can really feel the burn when your legs are fully extended. He gave me some wash about doing it slowly was a waste of time and that I was better off doing it a quicker pace with more weight. Any thoughts on this? I'll just say I tried his way yesterday and my legs feel midly fatigued today. Last week they were strobgly fatigued for four or five days!! (query 1)

I did some back training last night and for lower back I did some Romanian Dead Lifts. Today my Calves feel really fatigued. I'm 6ft 3" with long legs and find the calves a most stubborn muscle to train. May consider doing calf training after back training in future. Any thoughts? (query 2)

Any advice or assistance would be great.

[Dia-Tribe]

Hard to cheat when your doin' it slow....
I mix it up a little, normal to slow.... get the burns and the weight up

[geoffsherman]

It depends on what you are doding it for. I do leg curls to build my hamstrings for speed. (I do deadlifts to build muscle). As such, I do my leg curls fast on the way up, and slow on the negative. That builds the explosive power that I need for speed. If you are doing them primarily for muscle development, then you would want to do them nice and slow....

[DUILEE]

FYI, leg curls don't work your quads, they hit your hamstrings. Leg extensions hit your quads. Second, going fast and heavy on leg curls or leg extensions is bad. You always want to go slow on both of these to protect your knees. Also, you don't want to go very heavy with these for the same reason. Slow controlled reps will net more results anyways. Tell the new guy at the gym that he's an idiot and should stop spreading bad advice.

[E46]

i do mine slow got to love the burn.

[BackInTheJox]

It depends on what you are doding it for. I do leg curls to build my hamstrings for speed. (I do deadlifts to build muscle). As such, I do my leg curls fast on the way up, and slow on the negative. That builds the explosive power that I need for speed. If you are doing them primarily for muscle development, then you would want to do them nice and slow....

Doing leg curls fast will do nothing for your "speed", particularly if you're talking about speed translating into fast running times.

Even the fastest speeds you can perform the leg curl in pale IMMENSELY in comparison to the actual speed your leg moves at when running/sprinting, so it's pretty much pointless.

To put it in a better perspective by using arbitrary numbers, let's say that an all out sprint gets a "speed value" of 100, and a slow leg curl is at the other end of the spectrum at 1. A "fast leg curl" would be about a 9 or so. Not going to do anything for your overall speed.

You mention "explosive power", but you really won't get much explosive power at all out of doing tiny isolation movements like leg curls.

My apologies if you were not talking about this, and you in fact are involved in some sort of bizarre lifting competition where speedy leg curls are rewarded with high point values.

[Dark Phoenix]

You mention "explosive power", but you really won't get much explosive power at all out of doing tiny isolation movements like leg curls.

I was going to disagree with you, till I saw this. Now I know what you mean and I aagree.

[$AJ]

for bodybuilding purposes, slowing down the negative portion of the lift to increase TUT can be very beneficial if applied properly.

[PuRE_FiBER]

if youre just going for shear size go very slow, and dont allow the muscle to rest at any point (or only very briefly). This is what will fatigue and break down the muscle the best, since it ensures momentum is completely eliminated and the muscle is being worked to its capacity.

[The Bigcheese]

I used the leg curling machine last week in the gym to help develop my quads. Last night when I went in the gym I explained to a new member (he switched gyms) how painful it was doing this exercise relatively slowly because you can really feel the burn when your legs are fully extended. He gave me some wash about doing it slowly was a waste of time and that I was better off doing it a quicker pace with more weight. Any thoughts on this? I'll just say I tried his way yesterday and my legs feel midly fatigued today. Last week they were strobgly fatigued for four or five days!! (query 1)

I did some back training last night and for lower back I did some Romanian Dead Lifts. Today my Calves feel really fatigued. I'm 6ft 3" with long legs and find the calves a most stubborn muscle to train. May consider doing calf training after back training in future. Any thoughts? (query 2)

Any advice or assistance would be great.

This is to your second part.
Your calves my be sore from doing the dead lifts because they were stretched. Also the gastrocneimus(spl) assist in leg flexion, so this might be why they were sore. That is only if you did leg curls though.

[DRod]

so heavy weight on leg curl is bad? I'm doing 245 for 6...should I lower the weight?

[BackInTheJox]

so heavy weight on leg curl is bad? I'm doing 245 for 6...should I lower the weight?

I don't know. Is that heavy for you? Weight is all relative. No one can really decide what feels right but you.