Skinny Legs

[dontxhide]

I dont have these. Im just saying.

 

A coworker who has a pretty strong upper body (his tri's are pretty impressivem, as well as just looking overall big) just came into the office on relaxed wear day wearing shorts. His legs are SKINNY. There is like no calf muscles, almost no tone, and what looks like very thing thighs.

 

I dont feel so bad anymore being skinny up top now haha. I dont have the most toned legs, but my calves are huge and my thighs are pretty big also (for being so tall).

 

I always wonder why people dont work out there legs. As brutal as squats, lunges, and dead lifts are, they are my favorite exercies of ALL TIME.

 

My old martial arts master used to call them bar bodies. LOL. Look good for the girls at the bar with your big arm muscles, but when the pants come off its like looking at a three foot chicken leg.

[Zack]

It takes the most effort to work legs. If you push hard, it's something the average "I want to impress the ladies" guy won't want to do. It takes a dedicated person to work legs.

 

 

Can't have a strong house without a strong foundation.

Edited May 24, 2008 by Zack

[VeganEssentials]

I second what Zack said.

 

When people start asking "How much can you squat?" instead of the usual bench inquiry, then perhaps people will finally start working their legs. For a long time, it's simply been that showy "beach muscles" are what most people want, but in my opinion, it looks silly to develop a big upper body and neglect the lower part. Doesn't make sense.

[Marcina]

I have skinny legs. They're toned, but they're skinny. I used to have these awful chicken legs before though.

they're pretty strong though. I can leg press the maximum at She's Fit (only 210 lbs max) but lunges and squats are the best, definitely.

[hilary wright]

I can't remember how many times I've heard people at the gym say, " I don't need to work my legs, I run" or take step class, or bike, or walk, or take the stairs. If you lift for your upper body, you need to do resistance for the legs as well to maintain balance. Out of balance bodies not only look funny, but break and get injured much more easily. The foundation analogy is spot on . . . it always cracks me up to see giant lats, pecs, and delts precariously perched upon spindly thighs and pipe cleaner calves.

[cubby2112]

Lots of the frat guys at my gym look like this. I rarely see them squatting or deadlifting.

[hilary wright]

ah yes, the 12 oz pump?

[cubby2112]

ah yes, the 12 oz pump?

 

Indeed. Several days a week. They just can't seem to get enough of that exercise.

[xjohanx]

my legs are really strong acctually. i can leg press a whole lot and do pretty good stiff deadlifts but they don't grow much at all. same thing with my calves.

and i also wanna second what zack said. you can probably measure a lot of peoples dedication by looking at their legs.

[Robb]

I agree with you guys strong, powerful, big legs are a good foundation for overall strength. But to me a lot of big lifters have relatively small legs and it's not because they can't squat super heavy. I met Jon Paul Sigmarrson years ago, when he was worlds strongest man. He was a big guy, great upper body, but his legs were just toned, no massive development, and the guy was demonstrating the squat with 500lbs on the bar, just warming up!

Great leg development takes time, unless you're genetically gifted. It's painful too, most people ignore it because it's hard.

Big legs to me can be achieved with or without big weights. But not without committment. Lots of soccer players have massive legs. Lots of rugby boys have even better development. There are a couple of the current all black team with massive legs, Luke McAllister for one is a centre, he's about 90kg and his legs are huge.

Rugby players and soccer players use a variety of training systems, lots of rugby players can squat big but they also do dynamic movements, spring jumps etc, walking lunges, things like that.

I like combining heavy progressive lifting with other, dynamic movements, I know look stupid lunge walking 20kg dumbells around the park, but I don't care. And I normally have to crawl home!

Is anyone else doing more than just traditional gym movements for their legs, I love to know.

All the best

[hilary wright]

my legs are really strong acctually. i can leg press a whole lot and do pretty good stiff deadlifts but they don't grow much at all. same thing with my calves.

and i also wanna second what zack said. you can probably measure a lot of peoples dedication by looking at their legs.

 

Do you do regular squats?

[xjohanx]

my legs are really strong acctually. i can leg press a whole lot and do pretty good stiff deadlifts but they don't grow much at all. same thing with my calves.

and i also wanna second what zack said. you can probably measure a lot of peoples dedication by looking at their legs.

 

Do you do regular squats?

 

i used to do start all my leg sessions with five sets of high rep squats like 15-20 but i had a lower back injury so now i usually only do them as a warm up. i never got super strong in that excersie because for me it was always about a strcit form and i liked to do them slow and really deep, my ass should always hit my calves. plus when i did them i trained at a gym without a squat rack so i had to do a good morning-lift with the weight to get in the right position.

i have leg day today so i'm gonna try front squats for the first time ever and i'm siked to the bone!

[hilary wright]

front squats, cool! I'm doing legs today as well. I am on my 5th month back to squats after a car accident years ago . . . have a great workout!

[dontxhide]

front squats, cool! I'm doing legs today as well. I am on my 5th month back to squats after a car accident years ago . . . have a great workout!

 

 

Cheers! I just got done with a squat workout not 20 minutes ago.

 

Then later today is martial arts and some overhead squats. Ive never done two a days before, Im afraid.

[hilary wright]

Wow, that sounds great. I try to do double workout days 3 times a week, and single workouts 3 days a week. What martial arts do you do?

[dontxhide]

I trained in Muay Thai for a couple of years until I tore my knee doing a kick So right now I dont have a gym, but I train in Jeet Kune Do by myself and with my friends.

 

The gym I want to train at cost 125 bucks a month. Ugh!

[hilary wright]

Wow, gyms can get expensive! I started Tang Soo Do-Mu Duk Kwon, Aikido, and Jui Jitsu at age 9 . . . . mostly because of my name. My wife grew up doing Chinese martial arts, weapons and dance. Good stuff, and JKD is very cool. Hope your knee stays healthy and you keep training!

[thendanisays]

as a woman i have to say that there are few things less attractive to me personally than someone who trains upper body constantly and does no leg work. i see dozens of these guys every day at my gym...it doesn't help that these guys in particular are just jerks, but they look absolutely ridiculous as a whole.

[hilary wright]

Well I worked my legs today . . . I did a lot of bench press . . . then I worked my calves, I did some bench press . . . then I decided to do some abs, so I did bench press . . . finally I worked my back, I did some curls. I'm building a very balanced body.

[dontxhide]

Inspired by Zach's signature and the poem on Arnold, I found a poem online about squats:

 

Down this road, in a gym far away,

a young man was heard to say,

"no matter what i do, my legs won't grow"

he tried leg extensions, leg curls, and leg presses , too

trying to cheat, these sissy workouts he'd do.

 

from the corner of the gym where the big men train,

through a cloud of chalk and the midst of pain

where the noise is made with big forty fives,

a deep voice bellowed as he wrapped his knees.

a very big man with legs like trees.

 

laughing as he snatched another plate from the stack

chalking his hands and monstrous back,

said, "boy, stop lying and don't say you've forgotten,

the trouble with you is you ain't been SQUATTIN'.

[Lean and Green]

as a woman i have to say that there are few things less attractive to me personally than someone who trains upper body constantly and does no leg work. i see dozens of these guys every day at my gym...it doesn't help that these guys in particular are just jerks, but they look absolutely ridiculous as a whole.

 

Getting back to the thread. Alot of of also in some part has to do with genetics. Here is an example. There is someone in my gym who is around the same bodyfat as me and hits legs just as hard and as often as i do. I took 3006-2007 off from the gym and he did not. He can sling alot more weight than i can around and changes his workouts from heavy to light high to low poundages and the whole nine basically. YET..... My legs are WAYYYY bigger than his and more defined as well. Point is? He was not born with good genetics whereas I was blessed with much better genetics.

 

You can only do so much but there's always someone out there that just may have a better natural build in a certain area than you. Doesn't mean to to get discouraged and not maximize what you have, ya know?

 

Also, people who do not train legs are tools, agreed! The lightbulb look is terrible