Quadricep Muscle Training: Part 1

UNCONVENTIONAL LEG MUSCLE TRAINING TECHNIQUES

Heavy - Light training.

Although most fitness experts agree that the ideal repetition range for developing muscle mass is between 6 and 10, the muscles of the lower body seem to respond very well to a combination of both high and low reps. Why not just train heavy all the time? Because the heavy - light system works every type of muscle fiber to the fullest. The result is not just strong, bulky legs like a powerlifter, but the polished, chiseled legs of a bodybuilder.

Former professional bodybuilder Tom Platz, who is known for having the best leg development of all time and who is unconventional to say the least, used this approach to develop his monstrous thighs and win the Mr. Universe title. Platz has performed squats with 405 for 25 reps, 315 for 50 reps and 225 for 10 minutes nonstop! The king of quads was equally capable of pushing heavy iron as well with a max single of nearly 800 pounds.

There are a variety of ways you can incorporate the heavy-light principle into your training program. One way is to designate a separate high rep and low rep day and alternate every other workout. Another method is to use high rep and low rep training in the same workout. If you choose the latter, you can perform exclusively high reps or low reps on one exercise or you can do both high reps and low reps on the same exercise.

Don't get the mistaken idea that light day means easy day. High rep squats can be the most brutal workout you could ever subject yourself to. After a few high rep squat workouts, you'll probably even find your heavy days feel easier. After you've conquered sets of 30-40 reps in the squat with 225 lbs., then 405 lbs. for sets of 5-6 reps will seem like a piece of cake!

Ascending Sets

Ascending sets are a little known technique I learned from my trainer, former Mr. Eastern America, Richie Smyth of New Jersey. This is an incredibly effective means of quickly taking a muscle to total failure without having to use near-maximal weights. An ascending set is the opposite of a descending set (drop set). Here's how it works: Select a weight that you can perform 10-12 reps with on a particular exercise. Do just six reps, then add 10%-15% to the weight. Now continue with the heavier weight for six more reps. Increase the weight an additional 10%-15% and repeat for a final six reps (That's eighteen reps total.)

Take as little rest as possible between the weight changes. If you've selected the amount of resistance properly, the second six will start to get difficult and the final six will take a supreme effort - you may need a spotter to assist with the last two or three. If you have a training partner, you can increase the intensity by reducing or eliminating the rest periods between weight changes completely; simply have your partner add the weight on the bar without you even racking it.

Continuous tension & partial reps

Conventional wisdom says that you must always perform your exercises through the full range of motion. If you were to cut out a third or a half of the movement that would only develop a half or two thirds of the muscle, right? Wrong! Of all the exercises in the bodybuilder's repertoire, slow, constant tension, non-locking squatting movements have got to be the most difficult - and the most result producing exercises of all

The way to best utilize continuous tension in your quad training is to emphasize the lower range of motion and avoid locking out at the top. Squatting very deeply and coming only one-half or three-quarters of the way up not only increases the amount of time the quads are kept under tension, but also generates greater recruitment of the teardrop-shaped Medialis. There are several variations of the continuous tension - partial reps technique, including bottom half reps, one and a half's, one and a quarters and the popular twenty-one method. Bottom half reps are exactly what the name implies; only do the lower half of the range of motion.

One and a half's and one and a quarter's are techniques where a single repetition consists of lowering yourself to the bottom position, coming up only one-half or one-quarter, lowering yourself back down to the bottom position and then coming up all the way (but never locking out completely). Shoot for sets of 8 -10 repetitions in this fashion. Twenty-one's are another popular variation on partial reps. One set consists of seven reps in the top range of motion, seven in the bottom range of motion and then seven in the full range of motion. To increase the intensity even further, do your continuous tension reps slowly with five seconds on the eccentric movement and five seconds on the concentric movement.

High reps.

We've already touched on high reps in the heavy-light system, but high rep leg training is so result-producing that it bears mention on its own. First of all, let me clarify what I mean when I say high reps. I'm not talking about only 12 or 15 reps; I'm talking a minimum of 20-30 and occasionally upwards of 40, 50 and beyond.

There are a lot of "old-school" lifters who adamantly insist that you must stay in the 4-8 rep range and that in order to develop mass and get stronger, you must always strive to increase the weight. If you are a powerlifter, football player or strength athlete then that's good advice. You'll get strong as an ox training with low reps, but if you want to look like a bodybuilder and not a lineman, then you must use different training systems that work every muscle fiber and engage every energy system: Enter high rep training. I'm not suggesting that you eliminate heavy leg training. What I'm suggesting is that you always include heavy low rep training and lighter high rep training.

There's a trick to doing high rep quad workouts: The secret to hitting reps in the 30-50 range is your breathing. Unless you pause and breathe between reps, you'll find yourself quitting due to a searing lactic acid burn in the muscle at around the 12th - 15th rep. Breathing squats are a form of rest-pause training. Do the first ten reps in a continuous fashion as you normally would. On the second ten, take a breath between each rep. On the third ten, you'll probably need two or three deep breaths at the top to recover between each rep. On the fourth and fifth ten (if you get this far) you'll be gasping for air, taking several deep breaths between every rep. Breathing in this rest-pause fashion will allow you to complete a high number of reps with poundages that you never thought attainable.

If you're used to training exclusively with low reps, you'll need to build up your endurance gradually. Start with 20 reps and work you way up to as many as 40 or even 50. When you hit 40 or 50, increase the weight, drop back to 20 reps and then start working your way up again.

Keep an accurate training journal and try to beat your previous best at every workout. If you train with a partner, make a contest out of it and challenge each other to break your rep records. This type of training is incredibly effective, but brutal. If you're done it right, expect to be lying on your back for several minutes gasping for air after each set. Towards the end of the set, it becomes more a matter of mental toughness than anything.

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