Need Advice Concerning Deads/Squats

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nipponbiki

New Member
Whats up everyone.

Love HST. In the 2nd week of my 10s on my first cycle after a year layoff.

Here's my problem. I was in the sports store trying on some swimwear (the tight kind) and noticed that my thighs are huge! Almost disgusting. They have always been naturally big, but I really think my upper body/lower body balance is bad. But deads are my number one favorite exercise!!!

Relevant Stats:
Height: 175 cm
Weight: 72.5 kg
Waist: 80.5 cm
Chest: 96.5 cm
Arms: 31 cm
Thigh: 60 cm!!!
Calf: 36.5

I have been doing a twice a day/3 days a week routine and doing deads in the morning workout and squats in the evening workout (2 sets during the 10s)

To let my upper body catch up with my lower body, I am thinking of just doing both deads and squats only once a week, deads on the first workout day and squats on the last workout day of the week.

What do you think?
 
If you want to actually lose muscle on your legs, I would drop the loads you are using as well as the frequency/volume. If you stick with the same loads that got your legs so big in the first place, you may still maintain the size even when only working them once per week.
 
I think your focus now should be on leeting the rest of your body catch up to those thighs!

Nothin wrong with having them big, just let arms, chest, back, shoulders catch up! So your idea is not too bad, just get the loads and frequency going for the upper body too!
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I have a similar problem. I've cut down to only doing deads for lower body and only once a week. I am not losing strength in deads, I'm actually gaining in them, so I doubt doing only deads once a week will result in muscle loss. If you are like me, they may even grow a little bit doing that... but hopefully the upper body will catch up.

Anyway, if you think that size is bad for thighs, try walking around with thighs closer to 28 inches. I've ruined countless pairs of underwear and even a couple pairs of pants because my thighs rub together, even when I'm under 10% bodyfat.
 
aww... poor babies have giant, muscular thighs.
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I wish I had that problem I have pathetic thighs! So nipponbiki, you say your thighs are TOO BIG and you are doing squats and deadlifts 3 times/week....hmm...I just got an idea, do squats and deadlifts BOTH three times/week and I will someday have the annoying problem of hugantic thighs....sounds good to me!
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Put that lower body strength to good use, do power cleans, pulls (snatch and/or clean) and push presses. The cleans and pulls will really build up your upper back.
 
Thanks for the feedback.

I think maybe some of you guys got the wrong impression. Like I was saying, this is my first cycle after a year layoff. And this is the first time doing the twice a day thing. I never really measured my thighs before, but I guess around 57 cm is my natural size. They did not suddenly explode when I started this cycle a few weeks ago.

And I am trying to give equal treatment to everything else.
For everyone's reference, here is my current routine.

Morning Workout (Saturday, Monday, Wednesday)
In this order:
Dips - 2 sets
Deads - 2 sets (After finishing the set, I stand up and do 5 reps of trap lift)
Pull-ups - 2 sets (Assisted for now)
Crunches - 1 or 2 sets
Hyper Extensions - 1 set
Some kind of oblique/core exercise - 1 set

Evening Workout (Saturday, Monday, Wednesday)
In this order:
Incline Bench Press - 2 sets
Squat - 2 sets
Calf - 1 set (slow and hold at peak contraction)
Rows - 2 sets (on a machine)
Leg Extensions - 1 set
Pullover - 1 set
Skullcrushers/Curl - 1 superset
Bentover Lateral Raises - 1 set

As you can see, I am doing chest first because I want to give it priority. I am doing all the really heavy, hard stuff in the morning, and the isolation stuff in the evening.

Since I did just start this cycle after a year layoff, my current stats are pretty much my natural stats (meaning no physical exercise, just how my body is during normal life).

Plus, I am a little fat, around 14.5%, so this cycle is primarily focused on fat reduction and regaining my lost strength.

One last thing. I have never been able to max out on deads. My grip strength always gives out on me before I ever get close.

I am concerned with how much my overall development would be effected by dropping so many sets of deads/squats, especially deads, cause I know it works my back as well.

Thanks for the advice, liegelord! Never done those before, don't even know what they are, but I will look into them!
 
I have the opposite problem...gorilla syndrome- big upper body, skinny legs, I think it is partly genetics as my dad had the same build, big chest and arms, long, skinny legs. Of course it is partly because I don't have a squat rack yet, ( ok so this is the main reason!).

The only thing I would change in your routine to add more mass to your chest, upper body is.... use dumbells for your incline press, also do standard dumbell overhead presses as this will put more mass on your delts, traps and triceps. And you should consider dropping the machine rows and doing barbell or dumbell rows.

I personally love dumbells and this I believe is partly why my upper body grows so well, I do chin-ups, dumbell rows, dumbell bench presses, dumbell seated presses and a little arm work and that is it! That is all you need for upper body mass. ( maybe shrugs for some people, but my traps get work during the overhead presses and dumbell rows, also I don't like dips, hurts my shoulders, but good for some people).
 
Hi nipponbiki

Have you had any luck by changing your routine? I have the exact same problem as you.

Here are my stats:

Metric British
Arm 36 14.17
Thigh 63 24.80
Chest 96 37.80
Waist 90 35.43
Hips 103 40.55
Weight 78 171.96

Metric cm & kg, British inches and pounds.

That's at a height of 1.75 or 5ft 9

Currently doing a 5x5 program of
Mon & Fri: Squat, Bench, BB Row, Curls
Wed: Deadlifts, Dips, Military Press, Pull-ups.

I'm thinking of dropping the squats and keeping once per week deadlifts.

What does everyone here think?
 
nipponbik why not do one set each on squats and deadlifts using your 10rm untill your laging parts catch up.
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Hey Biou,

Well, yeah it helped a little.

I kept doing the twice a day routine, but did deads on the AM workout for the first and last day of the week, and did squats in the AM workout on the middle day.

As I was still cutting, with the extra bodyfat loss, I was able to get them down to 56 cm.

But I have temporarily stopped the twice a day routine as I am making the transition from going to the gym to creating my home gym (almost done!).

Will start doing the twice a day schedule again next cycle. It really works great for me.
 
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