Legs workout (Gaining Mode)
What is a gaining mode or a gaining period?
This word has a big meaning for athletes who are in to Professional bodybuilding. When they are not going to participate in any competition any sooner and they start training to “Gain” muscle size and Strength they call it a “Gaining Period or Gaining Mode”.
In gaining Period, They can train really heavy to push their body to the next level, resulting into better size and shape of their whole physique.
Why do you need gaining period?
Gaining period is required to force the muscles to grow further. Muscles grow bigger when they are exposed to heavy training with proper form and technique along with good amounts of Macros and Micros (the right food for proper recovery).
You cannot keep lifting 5kg dumbbell and expect having an arm size to 20 inches. You need to do some Progressive Resistance training, where you gradually increase the poundage you lift, for reps between 6 to 12. This period of 3 to 6 months, so called “Gaining Period” will enable better strength and muscle size. Later when you will decrease you fat and water, you will find yourself in better size, hardness, conditioning, and shape than the previous year or previous contests.
Why can’t we train heavy when we are on low carbs diet or when we are planning for a contest?
Firstly, it is important to understand what exactly a heavy weight is. Let us keep it very simple and easy to understand. If a person can do 12-15 reps easily on his own, with a particular weight, under proper technique and focus, that’s a “LIGHT WEIGHT”. If a person can do reps between 5 to 8, with a particular weight, on his own (or may take help in last rep or two) it is a “HEAVY WEIGHT”. Now, if you are doing 4 reps with someone’s help, trust me you are doing nothing.
Let us get back to the question, YES!!! You can train heavy, but that would be risky for your muscles and joints. Nobody would take such a risk when the hard work of many years and lot of money spent on the body, is at stake. Do not boost your ego by lifting heavy weight all the time, be a smart bodybuilder and understand where, when and what you need.
When you are around competition/shows, you try to get into your best shape possible by cutting the carbohydrates down from the diet and focusing on body conditioning where you can train with moderate to light weight. When you try to go heavy it increases the risk of injury. To stay safe, one has to train with moderate to light weight only focusing more on muscle pump, squeeze and stretch.
Around competitions, you train to achieve the best possible sharpness, hardness and to maintain muscle mass but in this condition, with such a low carb diet and different type of stress on the body you don’t grow your muscles any further, and you just hardly maintain them. Once this duration of contests and shows passes away, your whole idea starts revolving around gaining better size and strength for the contest of next year and you once again plan a “Gaining Period”.
Legs workout
We recommend only 3 exercises in the gaining period for legs.
- Squat
- Leg Press
- Stiff Leg Dead Lift
Reason behind ONLY these 3 exercises
- You have to train really heavy, your energy will be drained in every set you do. So you will not be able to do so many different exercises EFFECTIVELY. Even if you think you can do like 5-6 different exercises, you will not gain much out of it. It is good to do 3 exercises with full attention. Covering Quads and Hamstrings.
- You need 2-4 minutes of break between sets. If you plan doing many different exercises, your workout session time would increase. Putting you in a state where you can hardly gain what you were supposed to gain.
- We are doing 2 exercises for Quads and 1 for Hams, they are good enough to create growth, if they are done nicely. Other muscles like lower back, Gluteus, Sartorius, Adductor Magnus, Adductor Longus, and Gracilis get trained along with these 3 exercises. One doesn’t have to do a different exercise for each muscle. Calves can be trained every other day, before you start your session after a warm-up, so it has not been added in this program.
- Because this is an off season or gaining period workout, details are not being considered here. When a person is in his cutting phase or when he is getting ready for a contest, then he would look into each and every detail and works on it by adding many different exercises.
Points to remember while performing these exercises
- Start with a warm-up: use a cycle or a jogger or any other cardio gadget in the gym for 10 minutes before you begin.
- Do some stretching exercises but never “OVER STRETCH”. When you stretch too much, you tend your joints to increase the gap between them, which can lead to serious injury when lifting heavy. So never over stretch.
- Use belt, knee wraps, and ask a spotter to be with you so you are safe while doing any heavy workout.
- Take break between sets. If you are going to attempt your heaviest set, take more break (3-5 minutes) if you are doing a light one take a short break between sets (1 or 2 minutes)
- Sip water with 15-20 grams of BCAAs added with 20 grams of Glucon-D in between sets.
- Start with free squat – Body weight 20 reps
- Set 1 – Warm-up – light weight 15 reps
- Set 2 – Warm-up – increase the weight 12 reps
- Set 3 – Working set – increase the weight 8-10 reps
- Set 4 – Heaviest set – increase the weight to maximum 6-8 reps
- When you are not doing your heaviest set, try to complete your set fast. Quickly finish your reps and try to keep the Full Range Of Motion.
- In the Final Set, Keep your range of motion short and keep the movement slow. You should have full control over the weight. Some people try to go deep in the first 2-3 reps, which is good but later they decrease their Range of Motion and try to do more reps. It is just like doing some partial reps in the end of your set with Full Range Of Motion.
- Take a deep breath before you go down in squat. Hold the breath inside and exhale when you are back at the starting point.
- Inhale through your nose and exhale from mouth.
- In leg press, keep the movement perfect and if you are confident enough, go fast. If you are not confident, go slow.
- Increase the weight, but decide reps when you are actually doing it. That is the time when you should say to yourself “I will do 2 more” no matter if they are just partial reps.
- Always do more, more weight and more reps.
- In Stiff Leg Dead Lift, some people say they can feel the HAMSTRING muscle when they reach their knees or little below knees. We would recommend that you should not go beyond that phase. Some others feel when they go too deep down, so they should keep doing that while performing this exercise.
- One has to 100% sure about the movement in Stiff Leg Dead Lift to increase anymore weight.
- You can place plates beneath the toes while performing Stiff Leg Dead Lift for extra stretch.
- Keep your lower back straight, do not lock your knees, and push your hips outwards while you are in your eccentric phase of Stiff Leg Dead Lift.
- Do not go too heavy unless you are too sure about it. Stop taking risks in the gym, be a smart bodybuilder, play safe.
There are some extra tips you might need to know about effective workout of legs in your gaining season. Go through the video presented in the article and keep a close watch to learn the best out of it. One might have a different opinion about this entire article but remember everybody is different and everybody cannot follow same workout routine or program to gain result.
Consult your Physician or Personal Trainer before following this workout plan.
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