Having a hard time building bigger upper legs.

[MuscleGainer]

I'm having a hard time getting my upper legs bigger than 21 inches. They are currently 21 inches right now. What makes them even look more ridiculous is that my tear drops really stand out, and make the rest of my legs look too small for the size of my tear drop muscles. My upper legs look thin for my upper body and I want to change that. I'd like at least 24 inch upper legs. I never gained any size in my upper legs for the past 1.5 years. They were 23 inches 12 years ago and overpowered my upper body and I didn't do leg exercises at the time except riding my bike alot when I was a child and a teen. I also didn't get stronger in leg exercises for the past 2 years. Here is my current leg workout:

V-Squat machine (last set was 8 reps @ 230 lbs)
Leg Press (heaviest set was 12 reps @ 5 plates each side, then 2 sets @ 4 plates each side)
Cable Deadlifts on a Freemotion machine (last set was 2 reps easily at 180 lbs)
Leg extension (1 set of 75 lbs for 15 reps)
Leg curls (2 sets of 50 lbs for 15 reps)
calve raises (1 set of 25 reps with 190 lbs, then I try to do as many sets to get to a total of 100 reps on this exercise)
5 minute cool down on a stationary bike

I sometimes do high weight and low reps and low weight and high reps.

[sly_106]

Hmmm, most of those upper leg exercises tend to hit your teardrop more than the other muscles.

Should be doing BB squats rather than machine. Sumo stance squats hit the inner thigh really well. Also, seated leg curls hit the inner ham and prone hit outer so do both versions.

[Big Arm Big Pay]

use the stair master

[buffgrk]

you should be doing bb squats
db lunges are very effective too.

[wala]

Take a look at my last couple of workouts for legs in my workout journal (lots of vids too)

You may benefit from doing more basic movements, but switching up rep range, super setting, slow reps etc.. as I said, you may get some ideas from my routine.

Also - working out is only a SMALL part of building good legs or any muscle for that matter, EATING good food is a much bigger part... perhaps you're looking in the wrong place for a solution?

[forklift]

i feel the back of the leg is helped by free-weight deadlifts.

is this what you use?
http://www.freemotionfitness.com/web...category=10009

or this:
http://www.freemotionfitness.com/web...category=10009

[jackfast1]

i agreee with the other guys who recommended SQUATS!!!
start squatting and junk all that other crap!
squats and romanian deadlifts FTW!!!

[Tainted]

Here's my workout for my leg day (legs should have their own day)

hack squats (great for quads)
leg press (great for hamstrings)
leg extensions (for quads)
leg curls (for hamstrings)
sitting calf raises (for calves)

i do 4 sets for all, but i always vary the # of reps

[MuscleGainer]

Originally Posted by forklift

i feel the back of the leg is helped by free-weight deadlifts.

is this what you use?
http://www.freemotionfitness.com/web...category=10009

or this:
http://www.freemotionfitness.com/web...category=10009

I used none of those. This is the one I used for deadlifts and I stand on the lower platform when doing the deadlifts.

[MuscleGainer]

Oops I forget the link. Here it is:

http://www.freemotionfitness.com/web...category=10009

[MuscleGainer]

Originally Posted by jackfast1

i agreee with the other guys who recommended SQUATS!!!
start squatting and junk all that other crap!
squats and romanian deadlifts FTW!!!

I get pain on my left knee while barbell squatting sometimes, even while warming up with 95 lbs sometimes. I rarely squat below parrallel because it gives me left knee pain. Quarter squats don't give me knee pain and I can compensate less range of motion with more weight to make it intense but I keep hearing that quarter squats are not very effective for adding size to legs and so I might as well not do them and just do stationary bike. Today I was going slightly below parrallel with 95lb (easy weight) and had pain on my left knee on the 8th rep. I had to stop squats for today after that. In fact I had cut my leg workout short today after I heard like cracking tendons just below my left knee during a moderate weight warmup on the leg press on the upward motion and so I worked on my upper body for the rest of the time at the gym today. I just can't train my legs with heavy weights for more than one month straight as my left knee starts to act up. The pain is random, as some leg days I don't experience any pain on my left knee. I did talk to a doctor about my knee pain and he told me to stop squatting, squats are bad for the knees, and just do leg extensions for legs and avoid any pressing movement for legs. He said that I had patellofemor (sp?) syndrome. This is really depressing me because I have skinny upper legs, skinny ankles, and skinny calves and my upper body is starting to look too big compared to my lower body and I'm not saying that I don't want a bigger upper body.

[jackfast1]

Originally Posted by MuscleGainer

I get pain on my left knee while barbell squatting sometimes, even while warming up with 95 lbs sometimes. I rarely squat below parrallel because it gives me left knee pain. Quarter squats don't give me knee pain and I can compensate less range of motion with more weight to make it intense but I keep hearing that quarter squats are not very effective for adding size to legs and so I might as well not do them and just do stationary bike. Today I was going slightly below parrallel with 95lb (easy weight) and had pain on my left knee on the 8th rep. I had to stop squats for today after that. In fact I had cut my leg workout short today after I heard like cracking tendons just below my left knee during a moderate weight warmup on the leg press on the upward motion and so I worked on my upper body for the rest of the time at the gym today. I just can't train my legs with heavy weights for more than one month straight as my left knee starts to act up. The pain is random, as some leg days I don't experience any pain on my left knee. I did talk to a doctor about my knee pain and he told me to stop squatting, squats are bad for the knees, and just do leg extensions for legs and avoid any pressing movement for legs. He said that I had patellofemor (sp?) syndrome. This is really depressing me because I have skinny upper legs, skinny ankles, and skinny calves and my upper body is starting to look too big compared to my lower body and I'm not saying that I don't want a bigger upper body.

that sucks! but definitely stay away from anything that is causing you pain!
if leg extensions dont bother your knee than you will be forced to rely on them...have you tried hack squats?
if you do them slow, and concentrate on that mind-muscle connection they may be the answer for you...but if they hurt your knee then STOP!

[MuscleGainer]

Originally Posted by jackfast1

that sucks! but definitely stay away from anything that is causing you pain!
if leg extensions dont bother your knee than you will be forced to rely on them...have you tried hack squats?
if you do them slow, and concentrate on that mind-muscle connection they may be the answer for you...but if they hurt your knee then STOP!

I tried hack squats but I find them uncomfortable on my shoulders. I think my shoulders are too narrow for the hack squat machine at my gym as only the edges of my collar bone come in contact with the pads. However I don't get knee pain doing the hack squat machine but then I couldn't really use it with any significant amount of weight and only used it a few times just for testing it out and it hurts the ends of my collar bones where the pressure of the pads are resting. Barbell squats give me the worst pain out of all leg exercises, not only in my left knee but on my traps where the bar is resting. I think I'll just do 30 minutes of bike, a few sets light leg extensions, leg curls, and calve raises on leg day.

[Hard Drive]

Originally Posted by jackfast1

i agreee with the other guys who recommended SQUATS!!!
start squatting and junk all that other crap!
squats and romanian deadlifts FTW!!!

I'm sick of the BB.com dogma.

Leg extensions are just as good for the quads as squats are.
So are lunges, leg presses, step ups, or any motion performing knee extension.
Leg curls are just as effective as deadlifts for hamstring development.

All exercises should be incorperated for maximum leg development, even if you can't lift hundreds of pounds on it because it's an isolation.

It makes no sense to do isolation moves for the upper body(bicep curls, skull crushers, flyes, etc) and not do the same thing for the lower body.

So stop spreading around the fuking bull****, yes straight out plain adulterized uneducational BULL-**** that all you have to do is squat and deadlift for the best leg development.

Don't say I don't squat, I squat well over twice my BW and have video evidence. Don't say I'm not educated, I'm double certified and college educated, placing me as higher qualified than most trainers in most gyms. Just shutup and eat something called REALITY.

[jackfast1]

Originally Posted by Kalt

I'm sick of the BB.com dogma.

Leg extensions are just as good for the quads as squats are.
So are lunges, leg presses, step ups, or any motion performing knee extension.
Leg curls are just as effective as deadlifts for hamstring development.

All exercises should be incorperated for maximum leg development, even if you can't lift hundreds of pounds on it because it's an isolation.

It makes no sense to do isolation moves for the upper body(bicep curls, skull crushers, flyes, etc) and not do the same thing for the lower body.

So stop spreading around the fuking bull****, yes straight out plain adulterized uneducational BULL-**** that all you have to do is squat and deadlift for the best leg development.

Don't say I don't squat, I squat well over twice my BW and have video evidence. Don't say I'm not educated, I'm double certified and college educated, placing me as higher qualified than most trainers in most gyms. Just shutup and eat something called REALITY.

the squat, as you should know, as you are a self proclaimed 'transexual powerlifter', is the best single exercise, not only for all around fitness/development, but certainly for lower body!

nothing else combines strength, power, balance and coordination like the squat!
you can tout leg extensions, lunges and presses all you want but NOTHING compares to the squat as a lower body exercise!

sure, there is a place for those other exercises, after one gets proficient at squats OR if injury prevents squatting!

[Hard Drive]

Originally Posted by jackfast1

the squat, as you should know, as you are a self proclaimed 'transexual powerlifter', is the best single exercise, not only for all around fitness/development, but certainly for lower body!

Define, "best exercise," then provide citation of scientific studies proving the squat to promote more growth or strength gains than say, the leg press, or more size in the quads than say, leg extension. Until then, shutup with you childish devotion to the squat like a fa*gs devotion to micheal jackson. Being a powerlifter has nothing to do with the effectiveness of a squat.

nothing else combines strength, power, balance and coordination like the squat!

The squat does not require coordination, balance, or power, just how to learn it and then strength.

you can tout leg extensions, lunges and presses all you want but NOTHING compares to the squat as a lower body exercise!

Negged. Parrots should stay in their cages, not be allowed online.

[ThickAsABrick]

in addition to the basics + time, try leg extensions with the seat far back