Light resistance- high reps ineffective for muscle growth ...

[Dreamliner]

... r-i-g-h-t. Tell that to this German cyclist:

http://conditioningresearch.blogspot.com/2012/07/freaky-legs.html

[LeafUF]

You probably should have checked out the link of him squatting 260kg before saying he uses light resistance to build those freakish quads.

[Dreamliner]

You probably should have checked out the link of him squatting 260kg before saying he uses light resistance to build those freakish quads.

Well, since nobody else in the history of the world has achieved such massive quads from heavy squatting, I strongly suspect that his quads are highly responsive to the tens of thousands of reps he gets every day on a bike.

Couple this with the observation that even recreational cyclists tend to have large quads.

[LeafUF]

OK

[Dreamliner]

Hehe.

[ATL_Gator]

IMO, it provably has more to do with his particular genetics combined with his exercises instead of the exercises themselves, in particular the 100 gazillion reps he has on the bike.

Look at pictures of Lance Armstrong and Bradley Wiggins (current TdF winner and gold medalist who was 26 spots ahead of quad-freak). Both look to be in proportion relative to everything else, at best. Maybe they simply don't have as many reps in yet though. /shrug

Would link pics, but on phone.

[Dreamliner]

Sure, he's a genetic freak. The point I'm smuggling in is that the notion you have to lift heavy weights for hypertrophy is obviously nonsense. For proof, just compare the quads of a recreational cyclist to the average person.

[mastoidbone]

small point---he is a SPRINT cyclist---which is really a very different sport then road cyclist---he needs to develop short bursts of power which allow him to hit 45 MPH---so he trains with great resistance on bike pushing a MONSTER gear.
http://spotmebro.com/spotmebrotest/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/robert-forsteman-Quads-comparison.jpg

[kalaniocc]

Tom platz had bigger legs.

[Chirogator]

I think heavy squats, deadlifts, etc. are definitely important for thigh development but only because they raise the relative load that you can use for higher repetitions (ie. someone who can squat 500 lb can do a lot more reps at 225 lb than someone who maxes at 275 lb). I almost exclusively do low rep high load training for my legs and even though I can move around some good weight you wouldn't think so by looking at my baby quads. Definitely takes a lot of volume for most people to see significant hypertrophy.

[Dreamliner]

I'm a hypocrite myself. I'm a low rep junkie. Although I suppose I get my volume with my static holds via 'Time Under Tension.'

But I rarely do more than five reps of anything. And if I can do ten of anything, in my mind, I've got to figure out a way to make it harder.

Aside: I scoff at the notion that bodyweight exercises are safer than barbells. I suspect one reason that more people don't injure themselves doing them is because they don't know how to progress bodyweight exercises. If they only knew how then they could hurt themselves like I do.

[LeafUF]

Interesting article from Layne Norton that might be relevant to this.

http://www.biolayne.com/contest-prep/best-form-of-cardio-for-bodybuilding/

Endurance running or walking caused significantly more decrements in the development of optimal hypertrophy compared with cycling (1). This is also in accordance with a study that compared cycling with incline walking on a treadmill (a very common cardio practice in bodybuilding community) and found that cycling was significantly better for achieving hypertrophy when combined with resistance training compared to incline treadmill walking (2). The researchers concluded that the differences observed here were likely due to the fact cycling requires more hip flexion and multi-joint activation of muscles involved in exercises like squats and leg presses compared to endurance running and walking which are not similar movements to any leg exercises that produce muscular hypertrophy.

[Dreamliner]

I'm telling you, every cyclist I know has great quads. I'm talking recreational cyclists.

[LeafUF]

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/correlation.png

[Dreamliner]

Maybe it's just survivor bias. Maybe the cyclists with small quads bail early!

[Zendra]

I'm a girl so I always go for tone. As such, I always go for light with more reps. It has never failed me yet. I don't know about muscle bulk ups though. As for cycling, have you guys heard of Laura Trott? She's the olympic gold medalist for cycling. She doesn't have huge quads.