Weird Question

[Brian DeGennaro]

It was only by senior year did my legs seem to balloon up and this was the year I actually started to squat on a regular basis (3x a week compared to 1x). Getting my squat up wasn't easy at all and I never really measured any increases in mass. And actually my BW only went up a few pounds my senior year, topping the scales off at 152lbs, 154 on heavy days. However, my legs did get disproportionate as a result of squatting.

Maybe I do have a genetic predisposition towards strength/size but it'd never been present in anyone in my family where diabetes, heart disease, and other problems are there. I was a scrawny little kid growing up so I'd like to say that I did work hard (120lbs my freshman year). I worked smart more than hard which resulted in any of my gains I feel. I never got into any of the BB crap out there: I went from bodyweight skills to deadlifts and presses, sets of 5 at heavy weights, I sprinted and I jumped. The people I know who were genetically gifted in this manner never did anything but were still freakishly muscular just as muscular as I was after I started training.

I still attribute it to training smartly rather than genetics. I've seen people add some nice mass to their legs when they train squats smartly for that purpose. I've seen people not train smartly and go nowhere. If you know how to train for size then you can add some nice mass.

It's a bold statement to say that you cannot get big, proportionate legs through smart training and that big legs are a genetic trait. I don't think it is so black and white.

[sollo rick]

A very bold statement
And not one I made or believe
What I said is very simple and true
I am only responsible for my own statements
And I stand by what I said
Please repeat that and not something else
What you have is some awesome muscle growth
Good on you
Please share with us some smart training ideas

[Brian DeGennaro]

Yes, you're right I may have overlooked your statement or somply tried to remember it off the top of my head while writing my post. So let me clarify for myself. Your statement is: unless you are genetically gifted (or getting outside "help") it is extremely difficult to get big legs (or disproportionate), that something like this requires damn hard work and quite a commitment?

Is that the statement you are pretty much getting at?

[Kevin Perry]

Wait, so the only way to get big is by juicing is what your trying to get at? Sometimes it's best just to be blunt and say it.

I don't know dude, my legs get pretty big when I actually commit towards eating good and big and lifting heavy alternating higher rep weeks with lower rep ones. A couple of friends thought I was juicing at one point a year or so back because of it.

[sollo rick]

Brian you are giving me hope for humanity. Yup that is what I am saying. People who worry about getting too big should not be worried. It is darn hard to get big particularly in the legs. Now some people work hard and work smart for a long time and get fantastic results. That is to be admired and this board is to share such information. I would put squatting three times a week while running and doing crossfit in that damn hard work category.
Everybody who works out seriously has at some point been told or asked if they are on roids, and if you haven’t you should work harder, smarter or eat better. If anyone knows how to get “big” with out hard work, commitment and smarts, please write a book on how to do it and make a million dollars. Than you can take Brian and me for a ride in your Ferrari. Please post a picture of the Ferrari.

[glennpendlay]

I think the take home message here should be, anyone can get their legs bigger through training, how much bigger depends on your genetics and your training style. And, there are extremes, a few of them at least, people who train their butts off and have a really hard time adding size, and others with legs that respond really well and look very "big and muscular" even with limited training.

simple as that, really.

glenn

[Gant Grimes]

Missed this one the first time. Glenn put it best. Brian, you are genetically predisposed to have superhero legs, provided you put the work in.

I'm not like that. I've done numerous sports and lifting programs over the last 20 years and never had big legs (the most mass I ever carried in my thighs was when I was doing endurance mountain biking...go figure). I can squat and deadlift weekly and my legs won't grow that much larger. On the other hand, I could do nothing but drink beer and flip ribs over on the smoker and build a large upper body.

So that's that. To get large legs you have to be predisposed for that and put the work in. If you're not, you'll never get there, even if you do steroids.

[Garrett Smith]

From what Brandon was saying originally, I think it would be pretty dang hard to develop leg mass that is out of proportion to the upper body, both due to the fact that he would still be training his upper body and the systemic hormonal effects that leg training would have on benefiting whole-body musculature.

I haven't done any BBing in years, just the type of gymnastics strength training that Steven talks about in his above post, with mainly OL for weight training, and I've stayed very proportionate. Genetically, I did have a tendency for that previously as well. I often get comments asking what I do for my "shoulder" or my "arms", so something is happening.

Hope that helps.

For those debating Rick, he merely said, in my interpretation, that building significant leg mass is not easy (leg training is never easy if done right) especially if one is lacking genetic propensity for it.