SAY THE PHRASE ‘Leg Day’ to a certain type of fitness enthusiast and their eyes will light up. Say it to another, probably less seasoned gym-goer and you’ll either be met with looks of horror or with a shrug.
Yes, leg day is polarising. Those who’ve never really targeted their pins before will likely struggle to see the point in a session dedicated to muscles that are often buried underneath jeans or chinos.
Others might have tried a leg day session and found themselves barely able to walk the next day due to DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). That might have put them off for life.
But those who persevere know there are rewards to be had from a well-executed leg day. These sadists come to crave the dull ache of DOMS, as their calves begin to swell and their hammies and quads take on the visual properties of tree trunks. A commensurate uptick in athletic performance and injury prevention seals the deal. For these folk, leg day is something they think about all week and bask in the afterglow of torn muscle fibres for days afterward.
But this isn’t just bro science talking. Working on your legs has solid scientific backing. As the biggest muscles in your body leg workouts can produce a surge in valuable hormones, such as cortisol, testosterone, and human growth hormone (HGH). Cortisol helps your body to respond to stress and increases fat metabolism. Testosterone helps your body to repair damaged muscle proteins and build skeletal muscle. HGH, meanwhile, promotes muscle growth, boosts immunity, and spikes fat metabolism.
Leg workouts can also help prevent muscle imbalances, reduce your injury risk, strengthen your core, reduce joint pain, burn more calories and improve mobility, stability and your range of motion. By building up your legs you’re strengthening your body’s foundations, with benefits, both functional and aesthetic, radiating from that solid base. Bonus: no one will ever call you ‘chicken legs’ again.
Here are the exercises you need to ace leg day and build wheels of steel.
What are the major muscle groups in your legs?
- Quadriceps:
Your quads consist of four muscles: rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius, and vastus medialis that extend the knee.
- Hamstrings:
Hammies comprise your biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus. These are located on the back of the thigh and are responsible for flexing the knee.
- Adductors:
These muscles (adductor longus, adductor magnus, adductor brevis, gracilis, and obturator externus) pull the thigh towards the body, located on the inner thigh.
- Calf Muscles:
The main calf muscles are the gastrocnemius and soleus, which are responsible for plantar flexion of the foot (pointing the toes).
- Shins:
The shin muscles, including the tibialis anterior, play a role in dorsiflexion of the foot (pulling the toes up towards the shin).
How many leg workouts should I do a week?
Two to three lower-body sessions per week, comprised of three to five exercises, will promote muscle development in your lower body. Aim for 3–6 sets per exercise, training close to failure.
What are the best exercises to build muscular legs?
1 Barbell front squat
This allrounder targets your quads, glutes, hips, and hammies. Go low for best results.
How to do it:
- In the squat rack, grip the bar outside of your shoulders. Un-rack the bar and take some small steps back.
- Lock your core and keep your chest upright with your elbows in line with your shoulders. Keep the barbell over your mid foot and sink your hips into a squat with your thighs hitting parallel or lower.
- Explosively drive through the floor to push yourself back to standing.
2 Deadlift
The gym-floor classic and mother of all compound moves, the deadlift is defined by its simplicity and effectiveness. Not only does it target your glutes, hamstrings and quads, it also hits upper body muscles like the erector spinae and traps. Heck, even your forearms get a working over from gripping that bar.
How to do it:
- Start with your feet about shoulder-width apart, under the bar.
- Push your butt back and hinge at the waist to bend down to grab the bar on either side of your legs. Grasp it in both hands using an overhand grip.
- Squeeze your shoulder blades together to set your lats, then engage your core. Keep your neck in a neutral position; don’t look up.
- Push your feet through the floor and pull the weight up, keeping the bar close to your body.
3 Barbell Bulgarian Split Squat
Targeting your quads, hammies and glutes this unilateral exercise is great for improving balance and coordination, as well as correcting muscle imbalances between the legs.
How to do it:
- Stand facing away from the bench, holding a barbell across your upper back. Have one leg resting on the bench behind you.
- Squat with your standing leg until the knee of your trailing leg almost touches the floor.
- Push up through your front foot to return to the start position.
4 Dumbbell calf raise
Calf anxiety is a real thing, seeing many guys forgo ankle socks and even shorts for fear of revealing their spindly lower limbs. For those guys, this exercise is your salvation.
How to do it:
- Stand upright holding two dumbbells by your sides on an exercise step or a weight plate on the balls of your feet.
- Raise your heels off the floor to the highest possible position.
- Slowly lower the heels to the bottom position, ready to repeat.
5 Reverse lunge
Targeting your quads, glutes, hamstrings, adductors, calves, and core, the reverse lunge boasts all the benefits of regular lunges, but they’re much easier on the knees.
How to do it:
- Stand tall with your dumbbells in each hand.
- Keeping your chest up at all times, take a step backward with one leg, bending your front knee until the back knee touches the ground.
- Stand up explosively, pause and repeat with the other leg.
6 Single leg curl
The purpose of doing this old-school move is to strengthen your hammies and thus bulletproof your knees.
How to do it:
- Lie face down on the leg curl machine with your heels against the lower pad and the bench against your thighs.
- Bend one knee to pull the pad up towards your backside as far as possible, then return to the start position and repeat on the other side.
7 Leg extension
You want CR7 quads that explode out of your shorts? This exercise zaps your quads. Try eccentric-focused reps – both legs perform the extension, one leg lowers the weight back – for a more pronounced burn.
How to do it:
- Sit in a leg extension machine with your ankles against the lower pad.
- Use your quads to push forwards and straighten your legs in front of you, then slowly return to the start position.
8 Dumbbell box step-ups
A good quad builder that does double duty as a conditioning exercise by elevating your heart rate.
How to do it:
- Stand in front of a box, with your feet hip-width apart, heavy dumbbells at your sides.
- Step one foot up on top and drive your foot into the box.
- Stand up fully by extending your knees and hips. Slowly step backwards off the box and repeat with the opposite leg.
9 Pistol squat
Perhaps the most advanced of all unilateral leg exercises, the pistol squat will light up your glutes, quads, hammies and calves but perhaps the key to pulling it off is hip mobility.
How to do it:
- Stand with your arms extended in front of you. Balance on one leg with your other leg in front of you as high as possible. Keep your torso upright.
- Shift your body weight over to the opposite side of your bent leg. Squat as low as possible while keeping your leg elevated off the floor and your supporting knee pointed in the same direction as your foot on the floor.
- Push through your supporting leg to raise your body to the starting position.
10 Sled push
A great full-body movement, the sled or prowler push, engages your glutes, hips, back, hamstrings, calves, core, triceps, and shoulders. It’s another move that doubles as a conditioning exercise, particularly if you increase the tempo.
How to do it:
- Standing behind a sled, keep your arms, neck and back in a straight line. Drive forward with your legs.
- To pull, grip the sled handles, bend at the knees while keeping your back straight and upright, and walk backwards.
Related:
These 11 chest exercises will help you build massive pecs
13 biceps exercises that will help you build bigger arms
