The Workout Everyone Skips

This is the third in a series of articles where I break down the best exercises for each muscle group.

This is to help beginners get the most out of their workouts. You’ll learn which exercises to do, how to structure them, and the correct form to use.

Today, we’re covering the one workout everybody loves to skip: legs.

I have a love-hate relationship with leg day.

The exercises are strenuous. I wind up sweating profusely.

The DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) over the next few days is a killer, and just as they’re starting to subside, it’s time for another leg workout.

But, they also provides the biggest gains, in terms of both strength and muscle mass.

What are the benefits of training legs?

Foundational Strength and Power - The muscles you train with compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, and lunges carry over to all other exercises you perform.

Balance and Stability - Strong legs help to stabilize your hips and spine. This reduces your risk of falls, injuries, and bad posture.

Hormone Regulation - Heavy compound leg exercises temporarily spike testosterone and growth hormone. This supports overall muscle growth and fat loss.

Improved Athletic Performance - Running, jumping, hitting all depend on leg strength. Having well trained leg muscles will give you an edge in any sport you play.

Carry-over to the Rest of Your Body - Leg exercises also train your core, upper body, and improves endurance.

Aesthetics - Those guys who only train upper body look like meat popsicles. Having well-defined legs adds balance to your body. Strong glutes and quads fill out your jeans and make your V-taper physique look that much more impressive.

Health and Longevity - Working your leg muscles helps with joint stability, improves insulin sensitivity and metabolism, keeping you functional as you age.

Overall, leg workouts have the biggest return on investment because you’re training the largest muscle group in your entire body.

How do I train legs?

Leg day is my shortest workout, but it’s also the hardest. For this reason, legs get their own day.

Some people train legs alongside smaller muscle groups, like biceps, however I find that I’m pretty spent after my leg workout, so I don’t do that.

It’s important to rest between heavy compound exercises, but it’s also important to watch the clock.

When I first started lifting, I would sometimes take 5-10 minutes in between sets. Most of that was fatigue, but a lot of it was procrastination.

Now, I time my rest breaks. If I’m wiped from the previous set, I might wait another 30 seconds, but I’d rather reduce the weight than spend more time recovering.

I haven’t touched on stretching yet.

I don’t normally do any stretching before upper body workouts, but I do a couple of quick stretches before my leg workout.

I’ll do ten standing hip openers on each side followed by ten leg swings for each leg. The purpose of this is to loosen up my hips to make squatting movements easier.

As with my other workouts, I usually have one main lift followed by a few accessory lifts.

A few reminders about training legs:

• You can get away with training legs once per week, although twice is better. Be sure to give yourself enough recovery time between workouts.
• Proper form is more important than lifting heavy. You can lift some pretty heavy weight with exercises like squats or deadlifts, but your risk of injury also increases. It’s better to work your way up gradually.
• You can lift until failure, but exercise more caution with legs than other muscle groups. You don’t want to injure your back, hips, or knees. If you feel your form slipping, consider stopping the set and lowering the weight.
• Supersets are great for accessory lifts (for example: leg extensions and seated leg curls). They are not good for heavy compound movements like squats or deadlifts.

What exercises should I do?

There are four main muscle groups that you want to target in a leg workout:

• Quadriceps
• Hamstrings
• Glutes
• Calves

There are also supporting muscles like adductors, abductors, and hip flexors, but I tend to focus on the main four.

There are many leg exercises, and several variations. However, my leg workouts are built around these core exercises.

Any one of these compound lifts will make an excellent foundation for a proper leg workout.

1. Squats - Squats are the king of leg exercises and the foundation of almost every lower-body program.
   
   They train your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and core all at once, and the strength you build carries over to nearly every other lift.
   
   The standard version is the back squat, where the barbell rests across your upper back and shoulders. It’s the one I recommend the most.
   
   There are also several useful variations:
   
   Back Squat – The classic squat. Best for overall leg development and strength.
   
   Goblet Squat – Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell at your chest. Great for beginners learning squat form.
   
   Bodyweight Squat – Simple and effective for warm-ups, mobility, or high-rep conditioning.
   
   Bulgarian Split Squat – Keep your rear foot elevated, working one leg at a time. Excellent for balance, stability, and unilateral leg strength. Brutal on quads and glutes.
   
   Box Squat – Squatting to a box or bench to reinforce depth and good form.
   
   Form Tips:
   

• Keep the bar path straight - the bar should travel up and down, not forward.
  
• Distribute weight through your heels and middle foot. If you can’t wiggle your toes, you’re leaning too far forward.
  
• Keep your feet about shoulder-width apart, but experiment with wider or narrower stances to see what feels natural.
  
• Use safety pins/guards in the rack when going heavy.
  
  Squats let you lift big weight, but they also carry a higher injury risk if your form breaks down. Start light, master the movement, and gradually load the bar over time.

2. Front Squats - Front squats shift the barbell onto the front of your shoulders, tight to your throat.

This forces a more upright torso, engages your core, and puts greater emphasis on your quads compared to the back squat.

They’re tough on mobility. You’ll need good ankle, wrist, and shoulder flexibility.

You won’t be able to lift as heavy as with back squats, but they’re excellent for building strength with safer posture.

I recommend alternating between front and back squats in your leg training to get the best of both worlds.

Deadlifts - This is one of those lifts you either love or hate. There isn’t much in between.

For some people, there’s nothing more satisfying than pulling a loaded barbell off the ground and feeling that raw strength for a second before lowering (or slamming) it back down.

I’ll be honest, deadlifts aren’t part of my regular rotation. I’ve cycled them in here and there, but I generally prefer squats as my main leg builder.

That said, deadlifts are still one of the best exercises you can do for overall strength.

They don’t just hit your legs - they work your glutes, hamstrings, lower back, traps, and even your grip.

There are also plenty of variations:

• Conventional Deadlift – The classic version. Wide grip, feet about shoulder-width. Great all-around strength builder.
  
• Sumo Deadlift – Wider stance with hands inside the knees. Reduces the range of motion and can be easier on the lower back. It puts more emphasis on hips and quads.
  
• Romanian Deadlift (RDL) – Start from a standing position, lower the bar by pushing your hips back, keeping a slight bend in your knees, then drive back up. RDLs keep constant tension on the hamstrings and glutes and are one of the best hamstring-builders you can do.
  
• Stiff-Leg Deadlift – Similar to the RDL, but with straighter legs. Hits hamstrings harder but can be riskier on the lower back if form slips.
  
• Rack Pulls / Block Pulls – The bar starts elevated (on pins or blocks), so you work the top half of the movement. Good for overload and lockout strength.
  
  If you’re worried about knee issues, deadlifts might be a more comfortable alternative to squats since they emphasize the posterior chain more than the quads.
  
  Just remember: form is everything. A rounded back or jerky pull is a fast way to injure yourself. Start light, master the movement, then build up the weight gradually.

While you can squat and deadlift in the same workout, I recommend making one or the other your main heavy lift for the day. Both are taxing, and you’ll get the best results when you’re fresh.

Now that we have our heavy compound exercise completed, what other lifts should be included in a leg workout? Here are some additional options:

• Leg Press - This is a good option for people who aren’t ready for squats. They don’t activate the muscles quite the same, but the motion is similar.
  
  The only time I perform this exercise is when I’ve strained the muscles in my legs and can’t perform squats, but it doesn’t just have to be for injury fallback. Leg presses are a good way to overload the quad muscles.
  
  It’s easy to move a lot of weight with this exercise, but I have to warn you - don’t over-extend your legs. There are many videos of people’s knees bending the wrong way after performing this exercise incorrectly. Stay safe.
  
  Your foot placement also changes the muscle groups being targeted. Going wider does more to target the hamstrings while having a narrow stance does more to target your quads.

• Hack Squats - A lot of people recommend this exercise. You perform your squats with the assistance of a hack squat machine. It allows you to go through the motion while the weight is less taxing on your back.
  
  To be honest, I’m not a fan of this exercise either. You don’t get the same range of motion on hack squats that you do on barbell squats or front squats.
  
  It’s nice to have if you want to mix up your workout, but I wouldn’t make it a foundational exercise for training legs.

• Lunges - I’m going to be truthful. I hate lunges. I hate them so much. They hurt.
  
  In spite of my opinion, they’re one of the most functional exercises you can do.
  
  They contribute to stability and balance. They carry over to athletic performance in areas like running and sprinting, and they do a better job targeting your hip flexors and glutes.
  
  You can do them stationary. They can be done walking across the room. There’s reverse lunges, side lunges, crossover lunges, jumping lunges. So many variations.
  
  That said, I don’t currently have lunges as part of my leg workout. Did I mention how much I hate them?

• Leg Extension - These target the quad muscles at the top of your thighs. The leg extension machine is found in almost all commercial gyms and very easy to use. Just adjust the seat so your knees line up with the pivot points, add some weight and start lifting.

• Leg Curl - This exercise targets the hamstrings and is a great counterpoint to the leg extension. If both machines are available, I like to superset the two of them.
  
  You can do seated leg curls or you can do them from your stomach in a prone position.
  
  I used to alternate the two types, but now I solely do the seated leg curl. I found the other machine put unnecessary strain on my back and didn’t do as good a job of targeting the desired muscles.

• Calf Raises - One of the biggest issues most people have when it comes to building legs is getting their calves to grow.
  
  This problem even extends to professional bodybuilders like Arnold - who would eventually start training calves every day.
  
  There are a few ways to do calf raises. There are standing calf raises, seated calf raises, or bodyweight calf raises which can be done on a step.I like to alternate between standing calf raises and seated calf raises.
  
  With standing calf raises, I can ego lift the entire stack on most machines and feel like a strong guy.
  
  With seated calf raises, I’m struggling with much lower weight just to complete my set.
  
  Both can be fun and challenging.

I’ll just mention here that when I’m between sets of leg extensions, leg curls, or calf raises, I tend to stand up, walk around, or shake my legs out to get the blood flowing.

If you still need more exercises to add to your workout, consider the following:

• Glute Bridges / Hip Thrusts
• Good Mornings
• Step Ups
• Adductor/Abductor Machines
  
  

Sample Workouts

• Exercise: Number of Sets x Number of Reps
• Take 1 minute rest breaks between each set
• 90 seconds of rest between squats, front squats or deadlifts
• Superset leg extensions and leg curls if possible

Quick Workout

• Squats OR Front Squats: 5 x 12
  

Proper Workout

• Squats OR Front Squats: 8 x 8
• Leg Extensions: 5 x 20
• Seated Leg Curls: 5 x 20
• Standing OR Seated Calf Raises: 5 x 25
  

Hardcore Workout

• Squats OR Front Squats: 5 x 8
• Deadlifts (any variation): 3 x 4
• Lunges (any variation): 4 x 10 each side
• Leg Press OR Hack Squat: 3 x 12
• Leg Extensions: 5 x 15
• Seated Leg Curls: 5 x 15
• Standing OR Seated Calf Raises: 10 x 10
  
  

Leg workouts are probably going to be your toughest workout to get through. It’s going to leave you tired and sore, and just as you’re starting to recover, it’s time for another leg workout.

But the longer you work and grow those muscles, the more your entire body is going to get stronger.

With patience and consistency, you’ll find that those twiggy legs you’ve been standing on have grown into full size tree trunks.

Recovery is more important with leg exercises than with your upper body, so get plenty of rest. Focus on proper form to avoid injury.

Stay consistent, push through the burn, and before long, you’ll be shopping for bigger jeans to make room for those hard-earned legs.

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God Bless.