High Rep Squating Leads To Huge Legs
Thursday, December 06, 2007
It was May of 1997. I walked into a bar in New York City with my brother and our friend Todd. Standing right in front of us was none other than "Stone Cold" Steve Austin who had just begun what would turn out to be the biggest and most successful run in the history of professional wrestling. Since I was at Wrestlemania I and had been a huge fan since 1982 I was star struck and excited by the sight of "Stone Cold."
Inexplicably, he was standing alone so we went right up to him and started talking. Before we knew it an hour had passed and we hadn't had a drink. Steve suggested that we head down the street to another bar and we were on our way.
"Am I really talking to Stone Cold Steve Austin like he's an old friend I've known for years?" I wondered. As a lifelong wrestling fan it seemed like a dream. Before I could ponder the situation any further, I felt a huge hand slap me on the back. "Ready, Jay?" Stone Cold asked.
Indeed, I was.
When we got to the next bar we grabbed a few bottles of Guiness and went over to a corner of the room where we continued our discussion which soon turned to training. While you are usually disappointed when you talk training with professional athletes or other famous big dudes after you learn that they built all their size on 50 sets of leg extensions and flyes, the conversation with Steve was actually quite surprising.
His favorite exercise was squats. "If you do a lot of heavy squatting, you're gonna get big; I don't give a sh*t what anyone says. I used to squat all the time. Loved to squat. It's the best exercise there is. My favorite squat workouts and the ones that really got my legs to grow were real high reps. I used to do 20-40 rep sets and my legs blew up."
"Yeah, high rep squatting is definitely one of the best things you can do to build huge legs." I said. "I first learned about that from reading Super Squats and some stuff about how Tom Platz used to train. You can't argue with the greatest legs in the history or bodybuilding."
***As a side note, my good friend recently moved next to former Olympic gold medal wrestler and former WWF world champion, Kurt Angle. While they were taking the kids out trick or treating the other night they started to talk training. Kurt said that he, too, loved high rep squats and had done something like 405 for 20 and 315 for 50 reps. More proof of the value of high rep squatting. (High rep leg presses or hack squats also work quite well).***
Steve told me that some of his other favorite mass building exercises were the big, old school basic compound movements. What a relief this was to hear. Although his training had evolved because of how beat up he was from years of wrestling he swore by the basics for getting big and strong.
No training talk with Stone Cold Steve Austin would be complete without asking him how he got such an enormous neck.
"Oh man, I had a neck harness and just did this sh*t all damn day," he said as he mimicked the motion of doing an extension with a harness around his head. "Everyday, that's all I did. Ya gotta have a big neck."
"I couldn't agree more," I replied.
Later that night, Steve hopped in my truck for the ride back to his hotel in Jersey where he was staying. We exchanged handshakes, hugs and phone numbers and planned to meet up again soon.
We did so a month later when he invited me back to the locker room after a show in Boston where I met Bret Hart, Vader, Mick Foley and quite a few others. We discussed many things that night including conditioning and nutrition, but that's another story for another day.
Until then, remember what Stone Cold said and make sure you're squatting heavy and, at least some of the time, for high reps (12-25). Keep making consistent progress and upping your weights and you will be buying new jeans before you know it.
Article written by Jason Ferruggia
**********
For the real truth about building massive muscle without steroids in less time than you ever thought possible, visit http://www.gainmusclesecrets.com
Inexplicably, he was standing alone so we went right up to him and started talking. Before we knew it an hour had passed and we hadn't had a drink. Steve suggested that we head down the street to another bar and we were on our way.
"Am I really talking to Stone Cold Steve Austin like he's an old friend I've known for years?" I wondered. As a lifelong wrestling fan it seemed like a dream. Before I could ponder the situation any further, I felt a huge hand slap me on the back. "Ready, Jay?" Stone Cold asked.
Indeed, I was.
When we got to the next bar we grabbed a few bottles of Guiness and went over to a corner of the room where we continued our discussion which soon turned to training. While you are usually disappointed when you talk training with professional athletes or other famous big dudes after you learn that they built all their size on 50 sets of leg extensions and flyes, the conversation with Steve was actually quite surprising.
His favorite exercise was squats. "If you do a lot of heavy squatting, you're gonna get big; I don't give a sh*t what anyone says. I used to squat all the time. Loved to squat. It's the best exercise there is. My favorite squat workouts and the ones that really got my legs to grow were real high reps. I used to do 20-40 rep sets and my legs blew up."
"Yeah, high rep squatting is definitely one of the best things you can do to build huge legs." I said. "I first learned about that from reading Super Squats and some stuff about how Tom Platz used to train. You can't argue with the greatest legs in the history or bodybuilding."
***As a side note, my good friend recently moved next to former Olympic gold medal wrestler and former WWF world champion, Kurt Angle. While they were taking the kids out trick or treating the other night they started to talk training. Kurt said that he, too, loved high rep squats and had done something like 405 for 20 and 315 for 50 reps. More proof of the value of high rep squatting. (High rep leg presses or hack squats also work quite well).***
Steve told me that some of his other favorite mass building exercises were the big, old school basic compound movements. What a relief this was to hear. Although his training had evolved because of how beat up he was from years of wrestling he swore by the basics for getting big and strong.
No training talk with Stone Cold Steve Austin would be complete without asking him how he got such an enormous neck.
"Oh man, I had a neck harness and just did this sh*t all damn day," he said as he mimicked the motion of doing an extension with a harness around his head. "Everyday, that's all I did. Ya gotta have a big neck."
"I couldn't agree more," I replied.
Later that night, Steve hopped in my truck for the ride back to his hotel in Jersey where he was staying. We exchanged handshakes, hugs and phone numbers and planned to meet up again soon.
We did so a month later when he invited me back to the locker room after a show in Boston where I met Bret Hart, Vader, Mick Foley and quite a few others. We discussed many things that night including conditioning and nutrition, but that's another story for another day.
Until then, remember what Stone Cold said and make sure you're squatting heavy and, at least some of the time, for high reps (12-25). Keep making consistent progress and upping your weights and you will be buying new jeans before you know it.
Article written by Jason Ferruggia
**********
For the real truth about building massive muscle without steroids in less time than you ever thought possible, visit http://www.gainmusclesecrets.com
Labels: high rep training, huge legs, leg training, legs growth, muscle growth, squat, squatting, tighs, weight training
posted by Frank Mori, 6.12.07
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THANKSGIVING = MASS BUILDING SEASON?
Monday, November 19, 2007
This Thursday officially kicks off the holiday season here in the US. To muscle heads, that also signifies the beginning of the mass building season. Starting three days from today and continuing all the way up until January 1st, you will eat more calories than you do during any other time of year. You can try to fight it but it's inevitable. So why not embrace it?
This is not the time to be trying to get lean. On the contrary, my friends, it's time to get huge! You will spend a large majority of the next six weeks in a caloric surplus which means you had better be training accordingly and asking for some bigger clothes for Christmas.
While you want to take advantage of all the extra calories and use them to build some new muscle you also don't want to end up a fat slob come New Years Day. You can avoid this by planning your workouts accordingly and using strategically planned cardio workouts to keep your waistline in control.
If you can do it, I always recommend planning your workouts so that they fall on the days when you are going to be eating the most. It's always a good idea to follow up the weight training workout with cardio that day as well. This will help ensure that a large portion of the calories you are going to consume after the workout are sucked up by the muscles and stored as glycogen and will be used to build muscle instead of stored as bodyfat.
Another way to counteract all of the overeating that could lead to bodyfat accumulation is to try to never consume massive amounts of calories more than two days in a row. You can get away with two days of chowing down like a ravenous animal but anymore than that will definitely lead to fat gain.
If you plan accordingly and eat a lower calorie, lower carb diet for a few days before a big feast like Thanksgiving Day, (basically depleting your glycogen stores) you will be even less likely to get fat from all of the excess calories. This is similar to carb depleting and loading that bodybuilders do before a big show (although less extreme and nowhere near as scientific). When you are in a depleted state like that you will be even more likely to use the excess calories to build muscle and less likely to store bodyfat.
My advice would be to lift weights on Thanksgiving morning followed by 30 minutes of cardio before the big feast. If your gym is closed and you have no other options, I would definitely recommend going out and doing some sprints, sled drags, car pushes or even a bodyweight circuit. Just as long as you do something to prepare your body to use the excess calories more effectively that day.
Remember, the next six weeks could be the time when you build more muscle than you will at any other time this year. Make sure you are well prepared and have it all planned out so that you enter the new year bigger and better than ever before.
Train hard,
This article was written by the muscle gain expert Jason Ferruggia.
This is not the time to be trying to get lean. On the contrary, my friends, it's time to get huge! You will spend a large majority of the next six weeks in a caloric surplus which means you had better be training accordingly and asking for some bigger clothes for Christmas.
While you want to take advantage of all the extra calories and use them to build some new muscle you also don't want to end up a fat slob come New Years Day. You can avoid this by planning your workouts accordingly and using strategically planned cardio workouts to keep your waistline in control.
If you can do it, I always recommend planning your workouts so that they fall on the days when you are going to be eating the most. It's always a good idea to follow up the weight training workout with cardio that day as well. This will help ensure that a large portion of the calories you are going to consume after the workout are sucked up by the muscles and stored as glycogen and will be used to build muscle instead of stored as bodyfat.
Another way to counteract all of the overeating that could lead to bodyfat accumulation is to try to never consume massive amounts of calories more than two days in a row. You can get away with two days of chowing down like a ravenous animal but anymore than that will definitely lead to fat gain.
If you plan accordingly and eat a lower calorie, lower carb diet for a few days before a big feast like Thanksgiving Day, (basically depleting your glycogen stores) you will be even less likely to get fat from all of the excess calories. This is similar to carb depleting and loading that bodybuilders do before a big show (although less extreme and nowhere near as scientific). When you are in a depleted state like that you will be even more likely to use the excess calories to build muscle and less likely to store bodyfat.
My advice would be to lift weights on Thanksgiving morning followed by 30 minutes of cardio before the big feast. If your gym is closed and you have no other options, I would definitely recommend going out and doing some sprints, sled drags, car pushes or even a bodyweight circuit. Just as long as you do something to prepare your body to use the excess calories more effectively that day.
Remember, the next six weeks could be the time when you build more muscle than you will at any other time this year. Make sure you are well prepared and have it all planned out so that you enter the new year bigger and better than ever before.
Train hard,
This article was written by the muscle gain expert Jason Ferruggia.
Labels: mass building season, Thanksgiving
posted by Frank Mori, 19.11.07
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