The Squat may be the most revered exercise for lower body development, and for good reason – it just freaking works.
Athletes from Bodybuilder Tom Platz, to powerlifter Kirk Karwoski, have built mammoth legs with a diet of heavy, brutal squats. The question is not if squats will build big legs, but rather how to use them most effectively.
That’s what I’ll be addressing.
Depth
If your goal is to build huge legs, the squat cannot be an ego lift.
Your quads work progressively harder in the squat as depth increases, with peak activation and maximal torque occurring at full depth. If you can squat deeper without putting your back in a bad position, you should.
Cutting a lift “high” means not training your quads has hard as you could be, and for you, cutting a squat “high” doesn’t just mean above parallel. It means anything above full depth. If you can squat 4 inches below parallel, but only squat one inch above parallel, you’re cutting the squat high.
Full depth means different things for different people, based on their hip anatomy and unique body proportions. For some it may just be closer to parallel, and for others it may be a true ass-to-grass squat. The takeaway here is this: If you can go deeper without rounding your back, you should do so.
Squatting a little shallower just so you can get some more weight on the bar may be good for your ego, but it’s not best for your wheels.
Equipment
Wear a belt.
People are weird about belts sometimes. They see it as “cheating” or getting some sort of artificial assistance in lifting the weight. If you like squatting beltless because it makes you feel more primal and whatnot, I’m not stopping you.
However, if your intention is to build some monster legs, belts are your friend. Obviously, they help you lift more weight (without having to compromise squat depth), which means more mechanical tension for the muscles. That’s a plus in and of itself.
There’s also evidence that when you lift the same weight with a belt vs. without, your quads will fire harder when you’re wearing a belt. The theory is that your body’s primary concern isn’t squatting a house, but rather ensuring that your spine doesn’t snap in two. With a belt, you can create more intraabdominal pressure to push back against, and stabilize, your spine. Once your nervous system can tell that your spine is safer, it’ll give your thigh muscles a little more “juice” to lift the weight. Once priority #1 (protecting your spine) is taken care of, your nervous system can focus more on priority #2 (recruiting muscle fibers to lift the weight).
Volume
Repeat after me: Volume is the #1 driver of hypertrophy.
Do you like going to the gym to do a few sets of heavy triples? I don’t blame you at all – I do too.
But that’s not the best route for moving up a pants size. It’s not that weight on the bar is totally unimportant, but it’s secondary to volume. A workout with 40 reps at 60% of your max will do more for your leg size than a workout with 5 reps at 90% of your max.
Most of your training should be done with weights between 60 and 80% of your 1rm. That’s plenty of weight to induce appropriate mechanical tension, but little enough that you can still get enough volume in.
If you’re relatively new to hypertrophy-based training, 3-4 hard sets of 6-12 squats is a good starting point. If you’re a little more experienced, 6-8 sets of leg exercises (3-4 sets of squats and 3-4 sets of leg press or some other accessory exercise) is probably more appropriate, in addition to accessory work.
As far as programming goes, you don’t need anything fancy. If you’re not already a pro bodybuilder, I guarantee you this will work as well as any fancy, super periodized program if your main goal is just leg growth.
On week 1, start with 60% of your max, and do 3 hard sets, stopping about 2 reps from failure on each set. Record how many reps you got. Next week, put 10 more pounds on the bar and try your hardest to match how many reps you got on week 1. Keep going, doing your best to lose as few reps as possible week to week.
When you can’t get at least 25 reps across 3 sets, add another set. Keep going with the same setup. When you can’t get 25 reps across 4 sets anymore, start over and try to beat your old rep records with each weight.
Like Greg Nuckols, Paul Anderson knew a thing or two about squatting.
Other exercises
The reason the squat is so hallowed is that it’s good for building just about every muscle from the waist down. However (and I’m sure some will cry “heretic” for me saying this), it’s not the best at building anything. The strength curve for the squat is such that your muscles are really only challenged substantially for the bottom half of the range of motion. No muscle is having to give it 100% through the full range. So while it is a great overall developer of the lower body, it’s not the holy grail all by itself.
Hamstrings:
These are what need the most work if you’ve just been living off a diet of heavy squats. Contrary to what you may have been led to believe, squats aren’t a particularly good hamstring exercise. People harp on the fact that hamstring recruitment increases with depth to stabilize the knee, but that doesn’t make squats a great hamstring exercise – it takes them from the realm of “almost worthless” to the realm of “meh” in terms of hamstring development. For your hamstrings, 3-4 hard sets apiece of hip hinges of some sort. RDLs are my personal favorite, but other great options are:
- Good Mornings
- Back Raises
- Heavy Kettlebell Swings
Also, adding leg curls will help do the job that the squats couldn’t do by themselves.
Glutes:
Deep squats are a great glute developer, with glute activation increasing with squat depth. However, as previously alluded to, they don’t train your glutes and other hip extensors effectively through a full range of motion (the muscles do go through an almost-full range of motion, but most of the tension dissipates through the top half of the movement). Something that challenges your glutes at full hip extension will supplement your squats nicely. Great options include:
- Back raises
- Hip Thrusts
- Glute Bridges
- These two exercises from my friend Chris Duffin (860 squatter and 900 deadlifter) –
Quads:
Their situation is similar to your glutes.
The bottom range of motion really clobbers your quads, but tension dissipates as you go up. Obviously you can build massive quads with nothing but squats (refer to Platz, Kirk, and just about every weightlifter on the planet), but some extra quad work stressing the muscles closer to full extension is still a worthy addition.
If you have the equipment to set this up in your gym, my personal favorite is leg press with a lot of band tension.
The bands pull harder and harder as you press the weight, so your quads don’t get a break at the top like they’re used to. These are absolutely brutal and – in my humble opinion – the best overall movement for quad development out there (yes, even better than squats – and this is coming from someone who LOVES squats).
Although they’re much-maligned as of late, leg extensions can also have a place in your training. Some people may decry them as “not functional” or say they put too much shear stress on your knee, but if you’re interested in the purely aesthetic goal of massive legs and you’re using reasonable weights for sets of 10 or more, leg extensions are perfectly safe and can be a worthwhile tool in your quest for mammoth quads.
Just as an addendum: although this is an article about squatting, if you can’t squat for some reason – old injuries or poor leverages so your back always fatigues before you can really challenge your legs – you don’t HAVE to squat unless you’re a powerlifter and squatting is your sport. Leg press, hack squats, lunges, and split squats are all great quad developers as well. I think squats should be the cornerstone of most peoples’ lower body training, but there’s no Commandment saying they are necessary (or dare I say it, even beneficial) for everyone.
Wrap Up
Squat as deep as you safely can. Wear a belt. Place a priority on volume – if you’re not doing more than 25 reps in your workout, odds are you’re ego lifting. Pick some smart accessory lifts to “fill in the gaps.” When the DOMS comes, just remember that Platz and Kirk are smiling upon you.
About the Author
Greg Nuckols is a strength coach in Orange County, CA. He's pursuing his Masters Degree in Exercise and Nutrition Science, and holds the all-time drug free world record in the squat for his weight class.
We value your privacy and would never spam you