Reassessing My Training Strategy: Focusing on Upper Body Growth First, Then Quads & Hamstrings During Bulk

[MedZak]

Hey everyone!
I'm a 23 years old male i currently weigh 80 kg(176lbs), and I've been training consistently for the past two years, my quads and hamstrings were trained mostly using exercises like leg curls and leg extensions to limit glute activation. However, I’m not completely satisfied with the progress so far. I think the lack of squats, deadlifts SDLs and RDLs is holding me back.

For my next bulking phase, I'm planning to prioritize building my upper chest, upper back, and shoulders to help add size to my upper body. Once I’ve made progress there, I’ll shift my focus back in the successive bulking phase to improving my quads and hamstrings, especially with squats. The reason for this approach is that when I bulk, my glutes tend to grow a lot, which creates an imbalance between my upper and lower body (even though I’ve naturally got wide shoulders) i dislike the lack of a balanced "thickness" between my glutes and upper body.

Does anyone have thoughts on this approach? Does it sound like a solid plan? Would love some feedback from you all!

 

[tommyguns2]

Just curious what you mean by "focus" on upper body? Can't you do both upper and lower body at the same time? Or are you concerned that busting on both areas will be tough on your CNS? I'd work on both concurrently, as I don't want to lose that time opportunity to grow overall.

 

[genetic freak]

Unless you are a physique competitor, I would advise against it. Train everything and train hard, but smart.

If you notice your glutes are growing disproportionate to the rest of your body during a bulk, it doesn't necessarily mean you are gaining more muscle in your glutes than everywhere else. Glutes will be one of the areas you hold more fat than others. There is a good chance your glutes are just getting fatter and when you cut, you will notice they didn't grow as much as you thought they did. It is the same as the waist. It is the reason your legs, arms, shoulders, chest, etc... might grow an inch or two during a bulk, but your waist grows two to three times that much.

If you are actually growing glutes quicker than other body parts, you have over active glutes and weak quads. Your glutes are taking over in compound leg movements. This is likely a form issue. You are setting up to use your hips over your quads. This could be genetic, learned or ego. Either way, you need to fix it to put the pressure back on the quads.

Set up the movement so that your quads should be the prime mover. Yes, you can still fuck this up even after you set it up with elevated heels, narrow stance, etc... People will still seem to shift the resistance to their hips by pushing out with their feet or posture. I will have clients close their eyes and slowly lower themselves in the eccentric portion of the movement, pause at the bottom, focus on the quads and drive through the knees. This typically works until I walk away then they go right back to what they were doing before. Haha. It takes time to unlearn.

 

[MedZak]

Just curious what you mean by "focus" on upper body? Can't you do both upper and lower body at the same time? Or are you concerned that busting on both areas will be tough on your CNS? I'd work on both concurrently, as I don't want to lose that time opportunity to grow overall.

When I say I'll focus on the upper body, I mean that during the next bulking phase, I'll be targeting muscles like the chest, upper chest, delts, and upper back. My goal is to build up enough size and thickness in my upper body so that any gains in glute size will look more balanced and proportionate. I’m not completely ignoring other muscle groups, though—I just think this approach makes sense. That why i have posted, so to hear more experience bodybuilders on this approach since it might carry some risks i'm not aware of. thank you for reaching out tho

 

[MedZak]

Unless you are a physique competitor, I would advise against it. Train everything and train hard, but smart.

If you notice your glutes are growing disproportionate to the rest of your body during a bulk, it doesn't necessarily mean you are gaining more muscle in your glutes than everywhere else. Glutes will be one of the areas you hold more fat than others. There is a good chance your glutes are just getting fatter and when you cut, you will notice they didn't grow as much as you thought they did. It is the same as the waist. It is the reason your legs, arms, shoulders, chest, etc... might grow an inch or two during a bulk, but your waist grows two to three times that much.

If you are actually growing glutes quicker than other body parts, you have over active glutes and weak quads. Your glutes are taking over in compound leg movements. This is likely a form issue. You are setting up to use your hips over your quads. This could be genetic, learned or ego. Either way, you need to fix it to put the pressure back on the quads.

Set up the movement so that your quads should be the prime mover. Yes, you can still fuck this up even after you set it up with elevated heels, narrow stance, etc... People will still seem to shift the resistance to their hips by pushing out with their feet or posture. I will have clients close their eyes and slowly lower themselves in the eccentric portion of the movement, pause at the bottom, focus on the quads and drive through the knees. This typically works until I walk away then they go right back to what they were doing before. Haha. It takes time to unlearn.

I used to do squats once a week, 3 sets of 8 reps, with the last set taken to failure. I'd elevate my heels and place the bar on my traps to focus more on my quads and knee flexion. The rest of my quad workout was leg extensions—6 sets of 10 reps. Also hit hamstrings and calves, of course.

Based on your suggestion, I kind of overdid it by completely eliminating hip flexion movements. The reason? During my last bulk, my glutes grew a bit, and when I wore regular jeans, I could actually notice it. Some friends and family pointed it out, which honestly made me feel a bit self-conscious. So, that's why I’ve planned my current approach.

Right now I’m in a cut (after my first bulk focused on my upper body). Then, I'll do a second cut, followed by a second bulk with a more balanced focus on my whole body, so by then I’ll have enough upper body size to balance things out.

 

[genetic freak]

The fact you are only doing squats once a week, I wouldn't even worry about it.

I was training legs 2x a week up until recently with 12-16 sets to failure/near failure and decided to make some changes. However, I am a national level bodybuilder taking a shot a pro card and feedback from the judges is that my upper body needs to catch up to my legs. Now I am training legs once a week, chest/back/shoulders 3x a week and arms 4x a week.

Until you are getting feedback from those who do this for a living just train everything as hard as you can, as much as you can recover from.