What Are the Benefits of Leg Workout? 12 Common Benefits (2024)

FAQs

What are the benefits of leg day? ›

If you have, you might want to do between 15 and 20 sets to continue getting results. For beginners, 12 is a good number to aim for. You might want slightly higher on the legs and back because they're larger muscle groups than the chest and shoulders, but you can't go wrong with 12.

You have many different muscles in your upper and lower leg. Together, these muscles help you walk, run, jump, stand on your toes and flex your feet (lift your toes up toward your knee). Your leg muscles work with your bones, tendons and ligaments to stabilize your body, support your weight and help you move.

Leg workouts engage the major muscle groups of your body, which helps to improve overall athletic performance and support healthy movement patterns in your daily life. A strong lower body will also help to prevent injury and manage chronic conditions such as arthritis, heart disease, and diabetes.

Generally, it's recommended to train your legs three times a week, with each workout lasting 15 to 20 minutes and targeting different parts of the legs in each routine. For instance, a good plan would be to work on calves one day, thighs the next and then hips during the final session.

Quad muscles help you straighten your leg, and they help lift your knees towards your chest. They also generate the force to propel your entire body forward. Your quads play a significant role in your body for speed training. The stronger your quads, the faster you will run.

Sets And Reps Necessary for A Leg Workout:

3-to 5 exercises per leg workout are enough.

Now you know how to plan and structure your leg workouts, let's talk about how often you should train your legs. The general rule of thumb is to train your legs two to three times per week. Why? This will give you enough time to recover between workouts and allow your muscles to adapt and grow.

These 2 exercises are the staple of any good leg day, and we highly recommend starting with squats. This is because they engage so many other muscles and really force you to engage your core. 5 sets of 10 to 12 reps is a good amount.

It makes everyday tasks easier. Walking, running, sitting, standing — they all require strong legs! When you focus on lower body workouts, you work all muscles of your lower half so that each of these movements become easier. Translation: every day made better thanks to leg day!

Can I skip leg day if I run? ›

You'll Have a Harder Time Building Muscle

The benefits of leg day aren't just exclusive to your lower body. It can actually help grow your upper body too, which is another reason why you should never skip leg days. When you workout, you increase growth hormone and testosterone levels in your body.

There are lots of reasons for skipping leg day. One of the main excuses? Lower-body lifting can be hard—really, really hard, according to Troy Taylor, Senior Director of Performance at Tonal. For most people, Taylor explains, large, compound lower-body exercises involve lifting more resistance than any other movements.

If you don't train your legs, you'll be stuck walking around on all fours like a dog. Your arms will get strong from all the crawling, but your legs will remain weak. You'll probably end up with a lot of knee problems from all the strain of supporting your body weight on just your arms.

Legs are your biggest muscle group so it's not surprising they're the toughest part to gain size. Partly, it can come down to genetics, some people are naturally gifted with tree trunks, others find it extremely easy to add size to their legs regardless of training or any of the below points in this article.

Does that mean you should devote two workouts a week exclusively to your lower body? Certainly not. There are many ways to structure your training splits, and hitting one to two body parts per workout (e.g., back and bis, chest and tris, legs and shoulders, etc.) is just one of them.

Leg day exercises will help you build strength, yes. But they'll also teach you to improve your power output and explosiveness. They'll improve your mobility. And they can even help improve endurance.

Whether you love it, hate it, or simply endure it, leg day is important to embrace. Including lower body-focused exercises into your periodized training plan can elevate your strength gains, boost your muscle growth, and crank up your calorie burn, helping you reach your goals faster.

When designing your leg workouts, focus on compound exercises and progressive overload. Aim to train your legs two to three times per week, and make sure to warm up and cool down properly.

One recent study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology measured the hormonal response during single bouts of heavy resistance exercise such as squats and variations of the deadlift. They found that the most striking changes in testosterone response occurred when heavier weights were used.