Need some leg help NOW please

[MilVetBro]

Background - 48yo, lifting about 10 years, more seriously about the last 2 - 3. I'm not getting any younger and want to compete at least once. I was looking at a show in OCT, which gives me about 10-12 weeks of more bulking before I start cutting. Genetically speaking, I've never had any quads, always had big calves. I hit legs once a week and hit them hard, to the point of nausea and barely walking out of the gym(very heavy squats, presses, moderate to heavy ham curls & extensions)but they just aren't coming up as fast as everything else, which is the norm for me. I have a few questions for the pros based on the pics below in which I'm holding a TON of water as you can see and probably about 17-20% bf.

1. What training would you recommend for the biggest impact on my quads/hams in the next 12 weeks?

2. Based on what I look like in the pics...........would you even do the show? I've been following the masters NPC results pretty extensively, and haven't really been impressed with what I see in the winners in my age range, but you know you never see yourself as others do, so I need an objective viewpoint from experienced strangers here please.

Bring it! let me have the real deal please........no holding back!

[MilVetBro]

Forgot to mention, I'm 5'9" 213.5lbs as of this am, no idea what I'll diet down to as I've never done it. The pics are not flexed, I thought it would show the real deal better than me not flexing it all at the same time, which I'm still learning to do.

[sassy69]

Most of the guys I know who are 5'9" compete around 185-202 (depending on how thick they are). If you need to drop a lot of bodyfat, then you'll be on the lower end of that range.

For legs, you might consider splitting up hams & quads on 2 different days.

[MilVetBro]

Thanks Sassy, I just caught your recent youtube vid post and you are looking GOOD girl! I figured I would be about 190 - 195 if I ever get to 3 - 5%. Would you recommend hitting legs more than once a week if I keep quads/hams on the same day? I'm worried about recoup time since I'm killing them as it is but I see that some guys do hit them twice a week. Based on the pics do you think I could be competitive in the pervy old man class(45+)? I value your opinion, thanks again.

[sassy69]

Thanks Sassy, I just caught your recent youtube vid post and you are looking GOOD girl! I figured I would be about 190 - 195 if I ever get to 3 - 5%. Would you recommend hitting legs more than once a week if I keep quads/hams on the same day? I'm worried about recoup time since I'm killing them as it is but I see that some guys do hit them twice a week. Based on the pics do you think I could be competitive in the pervy old man class(45+)? I value your opinion, thanks again.

Which youtube? One of the photoshoot ones or posing routine?

I break up my hams & quads and I kill every day in the gym. Obviously spread them apart enough for reasonable recovery. You can also go w/ a heavy quad day, light ham day, the next week light quad day, heavy ham day to allow more recovery. Both myself and another friend (also competitor) who tore his tricep last year, have gotten some good growth focusing on legs when we were injured on upper body - so yes I believe you can train legs more frequently. The worst you do is try it for a few weeks and see what happens. Look at it this way - the way you've been doing it has produced the body you have to date. I'd change it up & see what happens. At the very least, the change may spurt some new results. I think you'd be surprised what your body can do. If its only been the last 2-3 years you've been training, if this is the way you've trained over those 3 yrs, I think you've got room for some variety.

Its really hard to call where you're going to end up weight-wise - I'm saying you might end up on the smaller side of that range as you cut down. Even if you're on all the juice in the world. you're going to lose muscle mass when you cut for competition. If you're legs are small right now, you may end up smaller. The first time around will generally show you what you have to work with - i.e. when you're stripped down in bodyfat, this is where you have solid lean muscle mass & muscle maturity, and this is where you don't. Usually the weaker or lagging areas are exaggerated when you're cut all the way down. Also even if you gain some mass in the next 12 weeks, has it been there long enough to become part of "your mass" and how much it will survive the cut? These are things that can only be answered by doing it. No point worrying about where you end up until you actually do it.

The men's masters classes in 40 - 50 yrs old are, IMO, extremely competitive because you've got a lot of guys who have been competing for years and have incredibly muscle maturity, but haven't started dealing w/ the point where their test / estro levels are starting to shift - its dramatic if you look at the guys in the 40s group and then the guys in the 50s groups - the 50s guys look great on upper body but on legs, you start to see more smoothing out because now they are dealing w/ higher estrogen ratio (to lower test ) that they never had to deal w/ before.

You gotta go for it and just focus on what YOU are bringing to the stage. Everyone has to start somewhere, so there's no point worrying about what weight you come in at or how the other guys in the class are going to look. You can get an idea of what your target class looks like in your target show by looking at the pix from last yrs or the year before's show of that target competition. You can usually find pix on RXmuscle.com or MuscularDevelopment.com, click to the "Contest Photos" links to find photos from previous shows.



Personally I've gotten some growt

[MilVetBro]

Sassy, want to thank you again for taking the time to share your knowledge. It was the photoshoot in the parking garage......smoking! I think the one thing you said that really resonates with me is "You gotta go for it and just focus on what YOU are bringing to the stage." That's pretty much all I need to focus on. I've checked three years of winners in that age group and they all had visible weak areas, so maybe I'll get lucky with my chicken legs. My GF is doing the same show and she follows you on RX and sayid you've always been just as congenial with her. Thanks again, you've done a lot for keeping my motivation where it needs to be.

[sassy69]

Sassy, want to thank you again for taking the time to share your knowledge. It was the photoshoot in the parking garage......smoking! I think the one thing you said that really resonates with me is "You gotta go for it and just focus on what YOU are bringing to the stage." That's pretty much all I need to focus on. I've checked three years of winners in that age group and they all had visible weak areas, so maybe I'll get lucky with my chicken legs. My GF is doing the same show and she follows you on RX and sayid you've always been just as congenial with her. Thanks again, you've done a lot for keeping my motivation where it needs to be.


Ah yes, the parking lot - who knew a parking lot would be a popular shoot site? It was funny because there were several other people shooting in there that day too.

How did you arrive at the bodyfat % you guessed? Unless you're hiding a big gut under your shirt, I don't get the sense that you've got a high bodyfat %. The thing about doing your first show is that you have probably never cut all the way down before, so you kinda just have to do it once and see what you have to work with. Most people, unless they've got several years of solid lifting and have been around people who compete to help dial them in w/ enough time to hit a show in top form, usually come in smaller than they expected because they probably weren't originally lifting w/ the intent of building in the off season for a major cut during prep time. So it is what it is. That's why I'm saying you have to go in w/o any expectations other than "bring the best package you can". This is why I often say you can't set yourself up to live or die by one show. I've only done 6 over the last 10 yrs (but w/ about 10 total attempted preps) and I'm still working in dialing in. It often takes more than 1 cutting cycle to figure out how you personally dial in, and often just to get your body "trained" to be better conditioned in your trouble areas - as I said - 10 yrs later I'm still working on getting my ass conditioned the right way. Some things you can't make change in just 12-16 weeks. But if you find you are hooked on competition, then you now have something to focus on in your next off-season and THEN you can go into a show w/ bigger expectations.

Who is your gf on RX?

[MilVetBro]

I'm also an amateur photographer but mostly do fetish or BDSM type shoots for friends(you would kill in that market of course). I completely guessed at the BF%, I'll be tracking actual numbers closely when I start cutting in June/July but I'm holdng far to much water to be accurate about it now. No gut under there(now 7 months ago......yes) just those annoying 1" love handles that seem to be mostly lower back and sides. My GF is Cococat on RX, she doesn't post that much but lurks & learns. She's 5'2", 147lbs & solid as a rock. She's also never cut, it'll be her first contest,, so it will be interesting to see what she turns out like as well. She's the first woman I can actually have a great deal of fun working out with and she puts 110% into every lift. We'll post pics on one of the sites as we start cutting & get closer to the OCT contest. Thanks again.

[silver_shadow]

looking at your pics and what you describe, your bf% would probably be nearer 12-15%.

anyway, best of luck bro... just concentrate on having a good time i guess, since it's your first time.

[MilVetBro]

Thanks for the inspiration!