How to Build Tree-Trunk Legs Like Tom Platz

Quad Sweep

The "quad sweep" is one of the best features of great leg development. This is where the outside of your quadriceps "sweeps" outwards from the knee and curves back inwards at the top - near the groin. This shape is a sign of great mass, and is the opposite to straight-looking quads, often resembling "chicken legs"!

Best Exercises for Developing the Quad Sweep

Front Squats

Standard front squats are one of the most powerful exercises for legs in general, and for the quad sweep in particular. At the top of the movement, when your quads are contracting, be sure to squeeze during this moment to increase the mind-muscle connection, recruiting more muscle fibres and essentially sparking further growth.

Lunges

Lunges, when performed with weights added (holding dumbbells) are another great exercise. These can be introduced at the end of your leg workouts to maximize muscle fatigue. The greater you fatigue your legs, the bigger they will grow. Heavy lunges with slow repetitions will no doubt give you a curvy quad sweep.

Teardrop

The muscle detail sitting right above your knee (before it branches off into the quad sweep), is called the teardrop. The best way to build the tear drop and increase muscularity in this region is to perform leg extensions.

Cardio, such as running, is also great for developing defined tear drops. If you look at football/soccer players for example, many will have exceptional tear drop muscles.

Thick Hamstrings

Tom Platz's legs not only looked HUGE from the front, but also were equally as thick from the back. Making your hamstrings proportionate to your quads is an absolute-must if you are striving for well-rounded and balanced legs like the great himself.

Best Exercises for Thick Hamstrings

Squats

Squats are thought to primarily work the glutes, quads and your core. However, when squatting heavy your hamstrings have to work hard as stabilizing muscles. This stabilizing principle can result in big mass in the hamstrings. A real life example of how stabilizing muscles can result in huge muscles is to look at gymnast's biceps. There are no movements resembling a curling motion, yet they are heavily relied on for stabilising their bodies when performing on the rings and pommel horse.

Leg Curls

A must-have exercise if you are to develop jacked hamstrings. Leg curls, will solely work your hamstrings, contrary to compound exercises like squats, where multiple muscles are worked. Although you will release more testosterone with big lifts like squats, leg curls are great in their own right as you can target your hamstrings to be fatigued and none others.

Romanian Deadlifts

Romanian deadlifts are one of the best multi-joint/compound exercises in the gym. They not only help produce incredibly thick lats, but also play a role in attaining BIG hamstrings. If you cannot feel your hamstrings working during the movement, try positioning your glutes further back at the start of the exercise, helping engage your hamstrings more.

Deep Cuts and Striations

To achieve ripped cuts and striations, this will require a very low body fat %. Defined cuts will appear most at 6% body fat and lower. For deeper cuts and striations it is a case of reaching around 4% body fat and removing subcutaneous water.

Water that collects inbetween the skin and the muscles is referred to as subcutaneous water. This hides muscle definition, so to achieve vascular and ripped quads like Platz, you will need to reduce fluid retention in this area. To do this you can increase your water intake. This will cause your body to flush out more water than usual, because the body doesn't want water levels to get too high. The opposite is also true, if you refrain from drinking water, after 24 hours your body will start to retain as much water as possible.

The idea for appearing "dry" and removing subcutaneous water is to increase your water intake significantly for several days, then cut all water consumption 24 hours before when you want to look your best (i.e. photo shoot, competition, beach etc). As your body will be resembling a water fountain and flushing out water, when you cut out all water, your body will continue to remove excess water for only 24 hours more. After this time your body will start to retain due to a lack of water consumption.

To remove maximum water, it is important not to train your legs in the days prior to your set date. When some people train legs close to competition, they won't achieve that dry look in their legs and won't display as many cuts and striations as their counterparts. The reason for this is because after you train a muscle, you will naturally accumulate fluids around the muscle which take a few days to clear out. Leave at least 5 days after training a muscle for resting, ensuring you look your absolute best.

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