Opinions on leg hypertrophy - STS Meso 2 vs. BFFM

[workoutaholic]

In BFFM, Tom Venuto says that, for an advanced bodybuilder, all you need to do for hypertrophy is work the quads/hamstrings once every 6 or 7 days, and he suggests on leg day to do something like the following:

Barbell squats
Leg extension machine
Walking lunges
Seated leg curl machine
Low back extension/hyperextension

He suggests about 3 sets per exercise, with 8-12 reps per set, and of course training to failure at the end of every set.

Now I know we may not all agree on his nutrition advice, but I am thinking he has a lot of experience as far as getting your muscles to grow. So I was just wondering how this fits with STS Meso 2 leg workouts.

If you were to break down the STS workouts, we're really doing 9 different exercises, and not a lot of rest between them. I realize trisets are a different way to work the muscles, but is 3 of them per Meso 2 leg workout more than enough?

Or is doing more exercises required here because we are not using quite as heavy a weight as we would be to hit failure at the end of each set?

 

[kariev]

I have great respect for Tom Venuto as he has loads of knowledge for nutrition and diet. However, i don't think that one way is the only way to train. While there is some merrit to what he is saying, it doesn't completely override meso 2 leg work. The trisets that are done in meso 2 are a way to reach failure when you don't have access to or can't physically lift the amount of weight needed to reach complete failure during leg work; that being said i don't believe that one has to go to complete muscle failure to make hypertrophy gains. Anyway, there are many who say that leg ext. and leg curls are a waste of time which Tom promotes. I'm not sure if this explains things for you or not but i hope it helps some. Just b/c one person says to do something one way doesn't mean its the only way which is one of the joys of fitness.

 

[workoutaholic]

Thanks for the response!

I should have clarified...I was mostly just wanting to know if 9 exercises was more than is necessary and I could get away with doing less.

But that's what I was thinking...that the Meso 2 workouts use somewhat lighter weights than what you might use in the Venuto workout, and therefore use the trisets and less rest to make up for it. And I found a Cathe TV segment a little while ago that kinda explained the trisets that way, too.

Thanks again, think I'm straight now.

 

[kariev]

if you want you could prbably split the leg workout in half and do half one day and half later in the week. it would be the same total volume you've been getting for the week but just broken down into 2 days. you might see nice results doing it like this.