To squat for big legs

I will refer you to a great quote from a man you should take heed to, and then answer your question as sincerely as possible;

“There are few things graven in stone, except that you have to squat or you’re a pussy.”

It’s likely the reason you’re asking this is because squats, are simply too hard. You don’t like the feeling they give you; you have poor mobility; you use the Dorian Yates classic excuse of “my body mechanics aren’t suited to it”; you don’t like intensity; you’re psychologically weak. All are not valid excuses, and all will be infectious to other parts of your life.

How about that? Squats, are important to every facet of life. They are the very definition of masculinity. Squats are the reason I wake up in the morning with a smile on my face and fire in my belly. I’ve never felt so alive – or dead – as when I’m squatting heavy weight. I love squats, because they tell me a lot about my character. Just how strong am I?

“The only way to find out the limits of what’s possible, is to go beyond them into the impossible.”

Ok, Ok. I’m sorry for the philosophical rambling. I’ll answer your question now.

Yes, you can build good leg development / achieve hypertrophy without squatting. However, you’ll still have to apply the same principles of a barbell squat to other leg movements, and that’s no fun either. Leg training, as any experienced trainee will attest to, is horrible. It hurts, it makes you feel sick, and the soreness days after can be horrible. Many men have decided to shun leg training as “women don’t see them”. If this is another feable excuse in your vocabulary, I’d like to know how you’re having sex with your pants on.

Here’s my “squat replacement” (cringes) leg workout. Follow this, and you’ll get very good leg development. It’s no replacement for barbell squats and the progressive load they allow you to apply, but it’ll work, never the less.

Pyramid down in reps for each set. Work your way up until you’re comfortable, and then go for a heavy weight (your heaviest), and reduce the load by 5-10% for each set, increasing the reps. Every workout, challenge yourself to life more weight. If you don’t do this, you won’t grow.

45 Degree Leg Press – 3 sets of 8-15 reps

Walking Lunges – 2-3 sets of 8-15 reps (use dumbbells or barbells)

Leg Extentions – 3-4 sets of 15-20 reps

Romanian Deadlifts – 3 sets of 5-10 reps

Make no mistake, this is still a very tough leg workout. It’s simple, and will shred every segment of your legs. You’ll be sore (if you do it properly), and possibly nauseous if you train correctly. There’s no necessity to go to failure on each rep, but I’ll reiterate that it’s important to increase the weights across the board on a weekly basis.

If you want to include things like drop-sets, supersets etc with other leg exercises, feel free to. I’d use these technique sparingly though.