Leg day — it’s dreaded by some and cherished by others. Regardless of how you feel about it, it is one of the most important parts of your gym life. Leg workouts target several major muscle groups in the body: your quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and glutes.
However, you may wonder where to begin when it comes to devising an excellent leg day routine and maximizing your gains. Look no further than this article, which contains a simple, tried and true leg workout, along with some suggestions on how to create others.
Getting started with leg day workouts
Before you get started, be sure to do some dynamic stretching to lower your risk of injury. In addition, it’s important to look up the correct technique for all of these exercises, since not doing so could result in a serious injury.
This leg workout routine consists mostly of compound exercises, which work many different muscle groups at once. It includes front squats, Romanian deadlifts, standing lunges, and standing calf raises. These exercises all target the major muscle groups mentioned earlier, making them the most efficient way to work your legs.
Front squats are considered to be a staple in all lower body workouts, since they work your quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes, among other muscles. Romanian deadlifts target both your glutes and hamstrings, with a larger emphasis on the latter. Standing lunges work your quadriceps. Finally, while calf raises are not inherently a compound exercise and mainly target your calves, they’re still quite effective for leg day. For all of these exercises, you want to aim for eight repetitions and three groups of repetitions, or sets, three to five days a week.
Make things interesting
If you want to step up your workout, consider throwing in some intense sprinting. This may allow you to tackle muscle growth training from a different angle. Alternatively, although it won’t help you with building muscle, you could try long distance running to improve your endurance. Either way, you should aim to practice sprinting or running a few times a week, giving your body some time to rest in between, for optimal results.
You could also add some variations to the movements discussed in the beginner workout. For example, you can try jump squats, seated calf raises, and walking lunges, to name a few. Adding variation means that your muscles will have to work harder, keeping your body on its toes — both metaphorically and physically.
Finally, you can incorporate isolation exercises in addition to the compound ones mentioned earlier. Isolation exercises emphasize one muscle group over the others, which makes them especially helpful if you are looking to push your gains even higher. Some isolation exercises include leg curls and leg extensions.
All in all, there are plenty of effective leg workouts to help you increase your gains, whether you are a beginner or an advanced lifter. Choose your routine and get started!
