A couple questions have come in about building legs for enhancing the Adonis Index ratio.
The point is to develop your legs so they’re impressive but not the dominant feature of your body, kinda like soccer players bodies are dominated by their legs and their upper bodies look smaller in comparison. This is a similar visual effect cyclist, hockey players, skiers and other lower body dominant sport athletes end up with. They end up with a bulkier looking lower body that takes away from the look of their upper body and in some cases it makes them look slightly overweight in clothes (if they’re butt and legs get too big they end up with big pants and a kind of well, wide ass!)
The workout is designed to develop legs but not quite at the same rate or degree as the upper body. The best way I can describe it is with this picture comparison of Arnold vs Ronnie.
I designed the workout to try and mimic Arnolds upper-to-lower body proportions and avoid ronnies look.
Arnolds proportions from upper to lower body look better than ronnie
John
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Great comparison. His legs are way too big. His waist/ stomach is too bulky, too.
Waist and stomach are like this because of growth hormone. Bodybuilders of today are just bigger because of drugs becoming more and more performant. What’s funny is they maybe have used the same workout regiment. Genetic and drugs matter.
I hear you on this one. I used to be a competitive cyclist myself. What hurt my proportions even more were my skinny upper body from lack of use. Perhaps I had the reverse of the adonis index… looking more ^ shape than V.
Now that you compare Arnold’s body next to other body builders you can see why he won. His body proportions look so much neater and clean cut. Ronnie looks like a muscle smoothie fresh from the blender. As much as i hate the squats and reverse lunges Im glad theres some leg work in there. my calves actually look pretty good now
.
Good article. I am also glad there is leg work, even though I hate doing some of it! The large V shape torso with little chicken legs looks pretty weird I have to say.
Great article, photo & logic of choice of the exercises !)
seeing this photo, What about a special article about flat abs ?
I’ve got my visible six pack following your advice but it is a bit protruding, and it’s NOT fat. May be overdeveloped ab muscles?
Any exercise to deepen the grooves and cuts, and maybe accentuate the inguinal crease (money lines) would be welcome !)
Arnold and it’s not even close.
The way Ronnie’s quads bulk out like that make it look like he has some kind of disease. You end up staring at those legs and ignore the other parts of him because they look so strange.
Arnold of course, but I still prefer Frank Zane who was the big winner before Arnold hit the sceen. Put up a pic of the two of them side by side and you will see what the AI is all about.
Props for Zane mentionage. That guy is awesome, pic: http://www.hardcorebodybuildingontheweb.com/mrolympia/frankzane/1.jpg
Well, IMO, calves can never be too big, on men or women. Soccer players tend to have bulky calves and it usually looks good. So I say work your calves and don’t worry about how big they get.
I’m with you on not bulking up your thighs and butt. Vince Gironda had this figured out awhile ago, which is why he didn’t like traditional squats. All of Vince’s athletes had really great proportions, unlike today’s pro bodybuilders, where size is all that counts. It seems to me that one’s shoulder to hip ratio is almost as important as one’s shoulder to waist ratio.
Ben P,
Pro Bodybuilders obviously do think about size, but of course they have to think about proportions as well! Maybe not all pro bodybuilders think much about proportions as much as others, but they still look pretty good.
Yes Indeed, Arnold had classic lines and even though Mentzer would have one in his last contest, Arnold physique in it’s prime is an icon and truly legendary. Frank Zane, and of course from the 50 Steve Reeves are some other legendary symetrical physiques. The ability to create an illusion based on the principles of symetry is 100% spot on.
They both look horrible! Like a pair of side-show freaks.
Interesting comparison. Muscle mass isn’t the only factor in judging a quality physique. Arnold wins this one (and any other) hands down. Even though Arnold’s thighs could have had a bit more mass. That chest and massive arm and proper posing technique just shatters other bodybuilders.
I also liked Frank Zane’s build. But when I met him some years ago at a seminar, he was so tiny that it kinda ruined my image of him.
You can’t really change your look either. Other than getting rid of fat. Arnold can and has always thanked his superior genetics.
Yep!! get you on this one. Arnie has it.
I want to stay fit all the time not just for the time when Arnold was working out. He looks disgusting now, which is something i don’t get. Why did he let it happen.
I personally like the bigger legs look. Soccer players look great in my eyes, and so do cyclist. Has anyone ever seen Lance Armstrong’s physique? It looks amazing IMO. It looks like a true athletic body.
here we go:
http://www.treehugger.com/galleries/2008/12/11/guys-bikes/lance-armstrong-bike.jpg
The Austrian Oak can’t be beaten, he valued a symmetrical body like no one else, if you watch Pumping Iron when he’s training, you can see that he was aiming for proportion, rather than size all over the place, which made him the best.
Probably one of the most successful human being living.
More like this:
http://theorytopractice.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/lance_armstrong_opt.jpg
No need to see a naked guy. I’m straight.
Ronnie is a lot shorter than Arnold so it gives an illusion of size as well. The photo doesn’t show the height difference of the two. Having said that Ronnie does have a lot more mass than Arnold.
The thing with the Adonis workout is that the leg stuff is all dumbell work? I could lift a lot more using a barbell for the squats and deadlifts. I find the dumbells burn out my arms and grip before the legs really get working.
Yup. I have experienced the same with using dumbells. So I do agree with your point in using a barbell instead.
I dont think there is a chance for Ronnie to look proportional with those legs, not even if he had a superduper huge upper body. He would just look completely unproportional and not like a bodybuilder should look like, since bodybuilders are supposed to build their bodies like a sculptor would.
You know what’s hilarious? If you go to “Cool-Guy Supreme” sites like T-Nation and bring up names like Steve Reeves and Schwarzenegger the first thing they do is rip on how tiny and puny their legs are (you call them “wheels” if you’re a cool-guy supreme). I mean seriously, look at that picture of Arnold posing and try and tell me that if you had legs like that you wouldn’t go grocery shopping in speedos just to show everyone how much you dominated. I’ve been to the pool and the beach quite a few times in my life and I can’t remember EVER seeing someone with “puny” legs like Arnold’s.
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