5 Reasons why you should never skip leg day!

Exercise & FitnessLifestyleMuscle Growth

Mar 26

So, you're thinking about skipping leg day, eh? Well, you better think again! Legs have the biggest muscle groups in the body, so it's not wise to neglect your lower body workouts.

Developing your leg muscles will make you a stronger person mentally and physically and help you better function in daily activities. In this post, we'll talk about the five major benefits of leg workouts. Then, we'll cover the major muscle groups of the legs and some of the best exercises to target them.

5 Major Benefits of Leg Workouts

Leg workouts are vital to your overall health and physique. Although we could go on and on about why this is the case, we've narrowed it down to the top five reasons why you should never skip leg day.

1. You're Working the Largest Muscles in Your Body

The "big three lifts" are the squat, deadlift, and bench press; two out of three are lower body exercises! When it comes to building muscle, you can’t neglect the biggest muscles in your body. The gluteus maximus aka your butt and quadriceps are the largest in terms of mass, while the sartorius (reaching from the hip to the inside of the knee) is the longest muscle in the body.

Working legs regularly helps you develop more total muscle mass and increase your strength. And not just lower body strength – strong legs will give you more stability and power for all the strength moves you do. Plus they engage your core, back, and other stabilizing muscles along the way.

In addition, a study on 468 men and women between the ages of 18 and 88 years old showed that a decrease in absolute skeletal muscle over time is mainly explained by a decline in lower body skeletal muscle. So keep working those legs at every age.

2. You're Tackling the Biggest Challenge

One reason people fear leg day is that it hurts (let’s just be honest). Leg day exercises can be extremely challenging in the moment, and you’ll likely also feel soreness and stiffness in the hours and days following a tough leg workout.

Make a mind shift to keep a positive perspective on this: significant challenges lead to significant gains.

Although leg workouts are tough, you'll see visible results. Not just in your lower body and when you're able to push through temporary pain and fatigue, you'll feel more accomplished and motivated to pursue other goals.

Whether you're just starting to work out or have been lifting weights for years, your leg exercises should always provide a challenge. The strongest muscles in your body can handle more weight than other muscle groups, so don't skimp. Instead, use weights that are heavy enough to progressively overload your muscles.

3. You'll Function Better in Daily Activities and Sports

When you have strong legs, everyday activities become more enjoyable and easier to perform. Things like walking, running, and climbing stairs won't get you out of breath or cause aches and pains.

When it comes to sports, leg strength is essential. Strong legs are the necessary foundation for better athleticism, power, and agility movements such as running, jumping, lunging, and squatting. Leg strength also helps reduce your risk of injury.

A study with junior soccer players published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research showed that back squat training improved leg power, jump, and sprint performances. Players trained with heavy loads twice weekly for two months.

Getting strong also means you’ll have more energy for recreational activities.

4. You'll Achieve Better Balance

When it comes to balance, everyone loves to make fun of the guy who only works out his upper body while his legs look like twigs.

It's true that it's not a good aesthetic! But in addition to a balanced look, your body also needs to be strong in all areas to avoid overuse injuries and imbalances that cause physical damage.

Some guys have the mindset that the upper body is the top priority. Once it gets built up, then they can move on to legs. But you shouldn't wait, a comprehensive workout routine is vital from the get-go.

When you exercise your body disproportionately, the underutilized muscle groups become weaker and less coordinated. This can lead to falls and joint pain down the road, and from a looks perspective, you can develop drastically disproportionate muscles that take longer to balance out.

5. You'll Fire Up Your Fat Burning

One of the biggest benefits of leg workouts is that they fire up your metabolism and can help burn more calories from fat. Leg workouts also help boost levels of testosterone and human growth hormone (HGH) that promote muscle growth. And as you may know, more muscle helps improve your overall body composition over time.

Your larger muscle groups require more energy to work than smaller ones.

So when you engage in high-intensity exercises like squats or lunges, your heart rate increases and your body continues to burn calories at an elevated rate even after you've left the gym.

Over time, building more muscle mass can boost your metabolism at rest and help you improve your overall lean mass to fat mass ratio.

See: The 5 Best Stimulant-Free Fat Burners for Men and Women 2022

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Keys to a Killer Leg Day Workout

Ok, so knowing how crucial leg day is and how much it will benefit you, let's talk about how to make leg day your favorite workout of the week. Keep the following points in mind:

Work unilaterally regularly. Everyone should do unilateral (one side at a time) exercises regularly, but if you have greater imbalance due to injury, repetitive motions, or natural body structure then you should focus on incorporating unilateral moves every workout. And research shows that both unilateral and bilateral exercises increase testosterone levels to build muscle and increase strength.

Balance out your quads. Most people have naturally stronger quads and weaker hamstrings and glutes. In addition, most lower body moves naturally work the quads (squats, lunges, leg presses, to name a few). If you notice that your quads are overcompensating, be sure to focus on exercises that target hamstrings and glutes to stay balanced.
Heavier loads are key. To see progress in leg strength, you'll need to use heavier weights and progressively overload your muscles over time. This will help build muscle and improve your overall strength.
Recover well. Because leg days incorporate big muscle groups, heavy loads, and greater challenge, proper recovery is vital. Make sure to get enough sleep and properly fuel your body before and after your workout.

See: Do you need a rest day or are you just being Lazy? Signs and symptoms of overtraining

Lower Body Muscles and Exercises

To help you build a well-rounded leg day workout, we've listed the muscles of the major lower body muscle groups and exercises to work each.

Lower Body Muscles

Glute Muscles

Gluteus maximus - the largest and most superficial of the gluteal muscles
Gluteus medius - lies under the gluteus maximus
Gluteus minimus - smallest of the three gluteal muscles

Quadriceps (Quads) Muscles

Rectus femoris - the only muscle that attaches to hip AND knee joint
Vastus lateralis - located on the outer portion of the thigh
Vastus medialis - located on the inner portion of the thigh
Vastus intermedius - deepest of the quad muscles

Hamstring Muscles

Biceps femoris - long head is the most superficial and attaches to the Ischial tuberosity (sitting bone)
Semitendinosus - located in the middle of the hamstrings
Semimembranosus - the deepest of the hamstring muscles

Calves Muscles

Gastrocnemius - two heads (medial and lateral) that make up the bulkiest part of the calf
Soleus - located underneath the gastrocnemius muscle
Plantaris - a long, thin muscle responsible for ankle plantarflexion

Lower Body Exercises

Here's a sample of lower body exercises to incorporate into your leg day routine. Remember that including a combination of compound, isolation, and unilateral moves are key for balance.

Compound exercises are multi-joint moves that work multiple muscle groups at the same time while isolation exercises focus on one muscle group and joint movement.

Compound Exercises

Squats - glutes, quads, and hamstrings
Lunges - quads, hamstrings, and glutes
Leg press - quads, hamstrings, and glutes
Deadlift - glutes, hamstrings, and back
Hip thrusts - Glutes, hamstrings, core

Unilateral Exercises

Pistol squats - quads, hamstrings, and glutes
Bulgarian split squats -quads, hamstrings, and glutes
Single-leg leg press - quads, hamstrings, and glutes

Isolation Exercises

Glute kickbacks - glutes
Glute bridges - glutes
Clamshells/leg abduction - gluteus medius
Inner thigh raise/leg Adduction - adductors
Donkey calf raises - gastrocnemius and soleus
Seated calf raise - gastrocnemius
Quadriceps extensions - quads
Hamstring curls - hamstrings
Calf raises - calves

Now that you know all the benefits of leg day, there's no excuse to skip it! Incorporate a variety of moves into your leg day workout routine and you’re guaranteed to see great results.

5 Reasons why you should never skip leg day!

5 Major Benefits of Leg Workouts