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noob gains

jzpowahz

jzpowahz

Well-known member
I have a question regarding noob gains in relation to hypertrophy (not necessarily strength)

If a person decided say never to train their legs at all and just did upper body for say 5 years. He/she then decided one day to start training legs.

Are the legs going to respond in hypertrophy in a similar way to a true beginner as they have never been trained? Or are the noobs gains also in part because of hormonal changes and because of this, he/she may not have quite the same response?

Thanks :)
 
I tore my left quad, 9cmx4cm and to the bone, had a year of no legs, then a year of running etc..
When I started squatting they went boom... Didn't get massive, but I'm not big, they caught up to my upper body in about a year
 
There has bee a belief, like the "ripple effect" that there is and will be some degree of strength increase.

Like, while curling exclusively with one arm, strength in the other follows.

but i think over time just working the upper body only, strength progression over time will slow down pretty quickly as opposed to traing the whole body..
 
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Swervyn-Ervyn said:
I tore my left quad, 9cmx4cm and to the bone, had a year of no legs, then a year of running etc..
When I started squatting they went boom... Didn't get massive, but I'm not big, they caught up to my upper body in about a year
Click to expand...

Could this me more a case of muscle memory rather then noob gains, or are you saying prior to the tear you didn't train legs either?
 
Interesting so far :)

What about lagging body parts: say someone only focused on compound movements. Bench press as one for example and was a very shoulder and chest dominant presser with minimal tricep involvement. If they then included tricep isolation exercises are the likely to experience more hypertrophy than someone who has done bench plus tricep isolation for a similar duration?
 
jzpowahz said:
Interesting so far :)

What about lagging body parts: say someone only focused on compound movements. Bench press as one for example and was a very shoulder and chest dominant presser with minimal tricep involvement. If they then included tricep isolation exercises are the likely to experience more hypertrophy than someone who has done bench plus tricep isolation for a similar duration?
Click to expand...

Using the bench press as an example.

Firstly, it will be very difficult to compare one person to another for many reasons, even using identical twins doing the same exercise, diet and frequency will more often than not produce differant results.

All i can add is, and still use the bench press as the example, within the exercise all muscles (shoulder, tricep, pecs and friends) are moving the weight.

within those muscles the fibre types will differ, just through genetics - and will respond differently, so, the pecs in one person will like very heavy movement for a limeted time under load, while their triceps will perform better with minimal load for a much longer period of time under load.

So logically that person would supplement their training with a movement that isolates (to a degree) the tricep and work that with a lighter load in a higher rep range as well as a heaveir load for a shorter period of time.

but this sort of extra training should not be be done for a long time, no longer than a three month period.
 
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Having said that J, I think the best way to measure strength is to measure the size of a cold relaxed muscle and continue measuring over time (for a seasoned trainer)
not so much a noob.
Although there should be also some gain in muscle tissue, but mostly neurological adaption initially.
 
Most of the noob gains will be waiting for you. An untrained muscle is still an untrained muscle. I don't put much faith in this 'squats make everything grow' bullshit.
 
I didnt do legs for ages cause I just couldnt squat right or deadlift right. I finally got my form down and have been doing legs for 2-3 months. My squats gone up heaps and my legs are bigger though still small.

One deadlift workout 3 months ago went 90x3, 60x3. One a week ago was 90x10x4, 90x8. I also deadlifted 180x1 with allright form. Squat workouts now look like 80x5x5, 3 months ago it was more like 40kg.

So yes I think you get noob gains.
 
jj80 said:
I didnt do legs for ages cause I just couldnt squat right or deadlift right. I finally got my form down and have been doing legs for 2-3 months. My squats gone up heaps and my legs are bigger though still small.

One deadlift workout 3 months ago went 90x3, 60x3. One a week ago was 90x10x4, 90x8. I also deadlifted 180x1 with allright form. Squat workouts now look like 80x5x5, 3 months ago it was more like 40kg.

So yes I think you get noob gains.
Click to expand...

Why didnt you do legs simply because your squat and deadlift form was bad?

Squats are not the be all and end all of leg development and deadlifts are not really going to bring any great increase in leg development anyway.

What about exercises such as -

Leg press
Stiff legged deads
Leg extensions
Hamstring curl
Lunges

You'll get just as much hamstring and quad development smashing those exercises as you will doing squads and deadlifts....
 
Rugby88 said:
Why didnt you do legs simply because your squat and deadlift form was bad?

Squats are not the be all and end all of leg development and deadlifts are not really going to bring any great increase in leg development anyway.

What about exercises such as -

Leg press
Stiff legged deads
Leg extensions
Hamstring curl
Lunges

You'll get just as much hamstring and quad development smashing those exercises as you will doing squads and deadlifts....
Click to expand...

Totes.
 
No access to machines and I was getting sharp back pains for days after any leg workouts picking up coffee cups.
 
bull said:
Most of the noob gains will be waiting for you. An untrained muscle is still an untrained muscle. I don't put much faith in this 'squats make everything grow' bullshit.
Click to expand...


'squats make everything grow'

Where did you read this?

Don't reply, somewhere.
unless you're 12.
 
Silverback said:
'squats make everything grow'

Where did you read this?

Don't reply, somewhere.
unless you're 12.
Click to expand...

Have read it a thousand times on web forums. It is very popular among the gurus that claim training small muscles is a waste of time. The same ones that yell shit like "bro science" at everything that isn't squats or deads.
 
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