After a year off from a back injury(still aggravated but manageable), I am back in the gym for a month now.

I weight roughly 165lbs at 5'11. Came down from 180lbs.

My focus now is to build/beef up my legs in size. Not worried about how much I lift, going with what is comfortable and easing into the process so I can prevent injury.

Currently I play hockey twice a week, Wednesdays (beer league/work harder) and Sundays (shinny pickup/lighter work)

I have also incorporated two leg days into the week.

Tuesday Hamstrings:

Single leg deadlift: 20lbs dumbbells x 15 reps x 4 sets
Squats: warm up 135, 155x12 185x10 205x8 x 2
Bridges: 65lbs x 15 x 4
Single leg laying leg curl: ??x15x4
Sitting calf raises

Friday or Saturday Quads
Bulgarian split squat/lunge 20lbs x 15 x 4
Deadlift: 135x 10 185x10x3 ------- slowly working into these, dont wanna hurt anything and focussing on good form
single leg press: increase weight ??x15 ??x12 ??x10 ??x8
kick backs: 100lbsx15x4
Standing calf raises


I do some hips and groin work on the mat after but nothing too strenuous. ps I squat on and deadlift on opposite days of the muscle groups to avoid taxing just one part of the leg.

My question is, what should I be doing differently to progress better? Hockey will always be the same days. Should I switch my training days or programs? Any advice is welcomed. Thanks for reading.

Do you do any kind of Cardio aside from playing hockey?

10min of stairmaster to warm up on most days. And Wednesdays I do 20min stair 20min elliptical and abs work in the morning before hockey.

I did a leg day today.

single leg deads 25 dumbbells 15 x 4
squats 135 x 10 185x8x2 205x6x2
single leg hamstring curls ??x15x4
hack squats ?? x 12 x 4 super setting with straight leg deads and a single 45 plate
standing calf raises ?? x 15 x 4

The reason I ask is because if you're trying to build up some power/size in the legs, I would try taking some of the regular Cardio out of your program in favor of Sprints. Obviously you will want to make sure with a medical professional that these are safe for you to do.. but sprints in particular used in conjunction with normal leg days in the gym can yield some pretty nice results.

I'm actually a big fan of sprints. Unfortunately, I currently do not have a proper pair of running shoes hence why my cardio is limited to impact free cardio.

How are the workouts?

Anyone have some training tips on splitting up the exercises or anything?

Back in cavemen times, the cavemen never sprinted to avoid dinosaurs because unfortunately they didn't have running shoes.

buy me shoes