Get more out of your leg-day training, and Craig’s surprise pick as his No. 1 move to build big quads
[Q]
Craig, I don’t consider myself a crazy lifter but even with my basic
leg routine – squats, romanians, curls and extensions – I leave the gym
feeling sick on leg day. What gives?
[A]
Legs are the biggest muscle group we have. In order to fill them up
with blood, that blood has to come from somewhere else and that means up
top. It takes a lot of blood to fill up the leg area; it takes so much
that it can literally make you nauseous. I’m nauseous after every leg
workout. Don’t be afraid of it; you’ll get past it. It usually takes
about a month or two for you to become accustomed to it, but it’ll never
fully go away. It’s also a matter of food. With hard leg training,
you’re burning through your energy stores (glycogen) faster, so your
blood sugar can get low rather fast. I get lightheaded no matter what
I’m eating, so I always try to make sure that I have enough fuel in the
tank to make it a bit easier. You might try eating a bit more complex
carbohydrates the day before training legs to see if that helps.
[Q] Everyone says that the squat is the king of all lower-body lifts. Even people who don’t squat say that! Do you agree?
[A]
I believe that if you squat correctly, yes, you can build some good
size. That being said, I think that leg pressing is the key to greater
leg size. With that exercise, you can lock yourself into the machine and
not worry about balancing the weight and just focus on pressing the
weight up and down. When you squat you’re using your hips, quads and
lower back and you have to concentrate so much because it’s such a tough
exercise. In leg pressing, if you keep your back flat and your butt
close to the machine you can train as heavy as you’d like without the
worry of balancing the weight. So for me, the leg press is the big daddy
of all lower-body exercises. The most I’ve ever pressed was about 1,600
pounds (equivalent to 35 45-pound plates) for reps. The machine itself
held about 1,200 and we had a 300-pound guy up there holding one plate,
then we wedged another one in there somewhere. I got 8–10 reps.
[Q]
Is it important to incorporate a big mass builder for hamstrings like
romanian deadlifts into my workout or are leg curls enough?
[A]
I think it’s a good idea to add one of those mass builders in there.
For one, with a romanian deadlift the hamstrings get worked from the
hips, not the knees. This means you’re working them in a completely
different manner than with leg-curl movements, even though both target
the hams. It helps with shaping the hamstrings and your glute-ham tie-in
as well. I don’t think RDLs add too much mass to the bodypart but it
gives the illusion, which is important in this sport. Sometimes, the
tape measure doesn’t matter. It’s all about appearance.
[Q] What’s your overall philosophy about leg training if you don’t compete?
[A]
The gym that I started training in during my amateur career was Body
Works Hardcore in Paterson, NJ, where everyone took great pride in leg
work. Even guys who didn’t compete took pride in being able to do legs
harder than anyone in the gym. It’s very important for the ego to be
able to train them heavier and harder than everyone else around. Not
everyone can do it. We believed that gym separated the men from the
boys. A true warrior works the legs knowing that he’ll be sick after the
workout. It’s not that some guys don’t want great legs, it’s just that
they don’t want to go through the pain it takes to get them! And that’s
how you can tell who’s really serious about putting in the work
necessary to build a complete physique.
CRAIG’S QUAD ROUTINE
Try Craig’s leg routine, designed to build new size, strength and detail into your quads.
Leg Extension superset with Bodyweight Walking Lunge – 4 Sets x 30, 25, 20, 15 Reps
Leg Press superset with Bodyweight Sissy Squat – 4 Sets x 20, 12, 10, 8 Reps
Hack Squat superset with Bodyweight Squat* – 4 Sets x 15, 20, 20, 20
*Craig rests 1–2 minutes after each superset grouping.
*Craig
takes these squats to about parallel and then comes up to a point just
short of full lockout to keep constant tension in his quads.
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