THERE ARE CERTAIN days on the calendar of life that everyone seems to dread. Monday, Tax Day, rent day—all of these somber occasions can ruin a week. For many exercisers, leg day is no different. Dedicated lower body training sessions are filled with some of the biggest, heaviest, most challenging lifts you’ll perform each week, and thus understandably inspire a certain degree of apprehension.
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. Plus, who wants chicken legs?
If you’re a fan of split training, there’s also no getting around a lower body-focused training session at some point in the week. But understanding why leg day is so important to your long-term goals and how to incorporate it into your program effectively is key to maximizing its benefits. You should also understand when you should ignore the decades-old admonition about never skipping leg day and actually do just that for your long-term benefit.
Why You Shouldn't Skip Leg Day Workouts
Leg day has been a staple of strength training programs ever since bodybuilders first realized that structuring their weekly workouts by body parts (i.e., split training) can fast-track muscle growth. But there’s also a reason why it continues to be regarded with more reverence than just about any other training split: This represents one of the best opportunities to pack on lean mass.
The reason is that some of your largest muscle groups are located below your waist, including your quads, glutes, and hamstrings. And as almost any trainer will tell you, “The more muscle you work, the more muscle you’ll build.”
Science agrees. Research shows that hammering your large, lower body muscles with heavy weights is one of the best ways to boost production of testosterone and growth hormone, both of which are key to maximizing muscular gains. But the benefits don’t stop there.
As trainers are also wont to say, “The more muscle you work, the more calories you’ll burn.” Repeatedly engaging those large, lower body muscles doing compound exercises requires an enormous amount of energy, forcing your body to dial up its calorie burning to get the job done. That benefit extends beyond your workout as your muscles not only chew through energy to repair the micro-damage that’s a natural consequence of lifting weights, but also adapt to the training stresses imposed on them, growing larger and stronger to better handle those stresses next time.
As if that weren’t enough, hammering your legs in targeted workouts will pay performance dividends in every other workout you do, including those that focus on your upper body. That’s because building strength from the ground up helps increase total body stability—and the more stable you are, the more force you can generate and put into each rep, regardless of whether you’re standing in a squat cage or lying on a bench. What’s more, increased stability translates into greater injury resistance, making leg day a win-win proposition no matter how you slice it.
How to Do Your Leg Day Workouts
It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about your chest, arms, shoulders, back, core, or legs—to optimize muscle growth and strength gains in a particular muscle group, you need to challenge it at least twice a week, so keep that in mind when planning your split training.
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. You can also alternate push and pull workouts or upper and lower body workouts, for example.
And if you’re just beginning your strength training journey, you’d be smart to skip split training entirely in favor of total-body workouts for a few months to establish a strong foundation.
When You Should Skip Leg Day
Once you begin incorporating split training into your periodized training plan, it’s important to realize that there are exceptions to the seemingly ironclad rule about never skipping leg day.
Like many rules, that one is a bit flexible, particularly when you’re sick, injured, or feeling overly fatigued. The key is to listen to your body, and if you feel that it’s telling you that it’s not up for a workout that involves heavy loads and big, compound lifts (as is typical of leg day), skip it and perform active recovery instead. Not only will your body thank you, but your long-term results will reflect the wisdom of making the right decision.
FAQs
You are able to move more weight, use more joints, and use more muscles to burn more calories. Not to mention, your leg muscles are some of the biggest in your body.
Why do they say not to skip leg day? ›
Leg Day Has Growth Carryover
This means not only will training legs help build bigger and stronger legs, but this release of growth hormone will also impact growth rates of other muscles in your body. Skipping leg day literally means leaving gains on the table for your entire body.
Why is leg day very important? ›
On leg day, you (1) build strength and (2) improve mobility. Both are important in preventing injury. Strong muscles and bones mean that you have a more stable foundation. Leg day will build some of the biggest muscles in your body, along with your entire posterior chain.
Why don't people do leg day? ›
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.
Should I skip leg day if my legs are big? ›
While having big muscles is great, you want to keep both your upper and lower body proportionate. By adding leg day you, can focus on your type II muscle fibers and tone your legs, allowing for a balanced body.
Is 3 leg days too much? ›
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.
Can I skip leg day if I run? ›
Why you shouldn't skip leg day. Leg workouts are an important aspect of a balanced, whole-body fitness routine that builds strength, speed, and stability. It's important to stay consistent with your leg workouts since these large muscles are an integral part of your overall fitness.
Why do girls like leg day? ›
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!
Why is leg day so painful? ›
This means that when we are working hard on a set of leg extensions, the muscles essentially have to “hold their breath” because the pressures involved limit blood flow. As a result, the denial of oxygen greatly enhances the metabolic stress of the exercise, and can result in that painful burning sensation.
Does leg day increase height? ›
A common height myth is that certain exercises or stretching techniques can make you taller. Many people believe that activities like barbell training, rock climbing, and swimming can increase height. However, there is no evidence or research on the effects of these exercises on height growth after adulthood.
1/ You'll Build More Muscle
Testosterone is a steroid hormone that is naturally produced in your body and plays a key role in the health of men, helping increase the growth of muscle mass and strength. Compound moves, such as squats and deadlifts, which use large muscle groups, help elevate your T-levels.
Do men need leg day? ›
All men should train their legs – as the largest muscle group in the body, there are a lot of secondary benefits to leg training that many people just don't realise.
Is leg day enough? ›
Yes. Training legs once a week is good for a 3 day or even a 5 day split. However, if you are targeting your legs specifically, adding a second day will help you with that goal.
Why you never skip leg day? ›
When you skip leg days, you make it harder for yourself to burn fat. Same thing as building muscle. Since your lower body makes up the most muscles in your body, you can burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time just by training your legs.
Are big quads genetic? ›
Is Quad Dominance Genetic? Yes, your genetics may make you more or less susceptible to quad dominance. Your genes play a role in how easily you're able to build muscle in general, notes Heather Milton, M.S., senior exercise physiologist at NYU Langone's Sports Performance Center.
Why is leg day so hard? ›
Leg day is hard
As we'll get into below, training your legs is tough. It requires a lot more energy compared to training your arms. This means leg workouts really get your heart-rate up and cause more work on your body than traditional upper-body workouts.
Does running count as leg day? ›
While running is effective for building endurance, it doesn't target muscle building in the same way that specific leg workouts, like squats or deadlifts, do.
Does leg day burn more calories? ›
Studies have shown that working your legs increase your caloric burn, as well as forces your glands to produce the muscle developing hormones called the growth hormone (GH) and testosterone.
Do squats increase testosterone? ›
Squats are a great way to build muscle, increase athleticism, and boost your testosterone levels. One of the most effective exercises for boosting testosterone levels is deadlifts. Deadlifts work multiple muscle groups, including your core and lower back muscles, as well as your glutes and hamstrings.
