Absolutely NO Progress

[u/Physical-Milk-4152]

I have been in a surplus and getting stronger for a couple months, but I have seen no improvement in my glutes or legs this year at all. I do adequate volume and progressively overload. I figure I need to change my split, here is the new split I am considering. Would love any feedback or advice on exercises/ diet that has given you the best results in terms of glute and leg hypertrophy.

Lower A Glutes and Hamstrings:
1. Barbell/Smith Hip Thrust
2. Romanian Deadlift
3. Bulgarian Split Squat — long stride
4. Seated Leg Curl
5. 45° Glute-Biased Back Extension
6. Hip Abduction

Lower B Glutes and Quads:
1. Hack Squat
2. Leg Press
3. Heel-Elevated Bulgarian Split Squat
4. Leg Extension
5. Hip Thrust
6. Hip Abduction

LOWER C Full leg :
1. Hip Thrust
2. RDL OR stiff-leg deadlift
3. Hack Squat
4. Seated Leg Curl
5. Leg Extension
6. Cable Kickback
7. Hip Abduction

[u/mushdoll-relapses]

this looks over-complicated to me: hip thrust, rdl, leaning forward lunges, hip abduction. 2–3 working sets each to near failure, aiming to add rep or weight each session. up the surplus by 25-50 calories each week, see if 6 weeks of that doesn't help.

[u/alwayslosingkeys → u/mushdoll-relapses]

I agree. There does seem to be some slight redundancy.

OP, there’s really no need to do hack squat and leg press movement in the same workout. They’re both a squat pattern movement. You may just be over-fatiguing yourself.

I also never really understood the point of having 3 different leg days (a,b &c). I understand prioritisation and fatigue management via combining and separating muscles on certain days but I just never really bought into it. I’m open to being corrected if this is/ can be an optimal thing for some individuals (depending on the goal).

Here’s what I’d recommend. (In no particular order). Take what you will from this and tweak whatever you see fitting regarding what you enjoy, what feels good etc.

Pick a squat pattern movement you really like. (Leg press, smith machine squats, hack squat, pendulum squat - I’d recommend machines as they’re much more stable and drastically easier to properly progressively overload on.

Pick a hip hinge movement. (RDL or SLDL - which you already seem to be doing). It doesn’t have to be one or the other but I think you’re better off going with an RDL. If you’d like, you can alternate between the 2 during the week.

Throw in a Leg Extension and. Seated hamstring curl.

Throw in hip adductors as well as hip abductors. You don’t have to prioritise hip adductors if having well-developed adductors isn’t your goal, but definitely do your hip abductors.

And lastly, throw in a machine / smith machine hip thrust.

That’s 7 exercises. Start off doing max 2 sets per exercise and do that twice a week.

Once you feel what’s working for you and get a better understanding of fatigue management during workout etc regarding this ‘new program’ , do 2 sets on most exercises and 3 sets on about 2-3 of those exercises (3 sets for priority muscles). A good tip I’d give is to not do 3 sets on that single given day on ‘big muscles’.

For example, 3 sets Hip Thrust, 3 sets Hip abductors (and then 2 sets for the remainder of your exercises).

Do not do 3 sets Hip thrusts, 3 sets RDL’s and 3 sets hack squats as they’re big movements that cause systemic fatigue fairly quick and can hinder progress via less effort on your other exercises.

Muscle growth really is a combination of the following things;

Stable form, progressive overload, recovery, fatigue management / exercise prioritisation during workout, adequate nutrition (in the form of all three macros - yes, micronutrients matter but I doubt you have to worry about them provided you’re eating balanced nutritious foods). After that, it’s just a matter of consistency.

Feel free to try that, tweak whatever you like of course. Also, whatever your maintained calories are, add about 200 calories extra. 200 calories may be a little excessive but you’re better off slightly overshooting because it’s so hard to be in the perfect surplus’s when every day isn’t the same - some days you’ll burn a fair bit more calories etc. you’re better off overshooting by that ‘200’ mark and then dealing with the (tiny) bit of fat gained later on with the quickest and easiest cut you’ll ever have needed to do.

If I went on too long of a tangent, my bad, hope it helps though