Full-body routines are great and all, but there’s just something special about leg day. A solid leg workout plan gives you a chance to challenge some of your biggest and strongest muscles. After all, the very nature of most leg exercises means you’re bound to hit your glutes—the largest muscles of them all—in addition to your lower parts, making for a perfect chance to show your entire lower body (and even your core) the love it deserves.
So what’s the best program to get it done? This isn’t a case where more equals better. But with smart exercise selection and evidence-backed training, you can build an amazing leg workout plan that will help you reach your goals in the gym and feel better outside of it.
Below, your guide to building a leg workout routine that’s smart, effective, and doesn’t require you to waste a ton of extra time.
What muscles should you work during leg day?
“On leg day, it’s important to hit all of the major muscle groups of your lower body—the glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings—in some capacity, while also making sure to hit the smaller muscle groups that may not receive as much outright love or acknowledgement, like the hip flexors, abductors, adductors, and calves,” Jowan Ortega, MS, CSCS, partner at Form Fitness Brooklyn, tells SELF. Those muscles all play a role in the function and strength of your legs, and ultimately your entire body.
According to Or Artzi, CPT, founder of the Orriors App and Equinox group fitness instructor, here’s a quick breakdown on what each does:
- Quadriceps (front of the thighs): Responsible for knee extension, or straightening your knee
- Hamstrings (back of the thighs): Control knee flexion (bending it) and assist with hip extension (like if you were to bring your leg back behind you before kicking a soccer ball)
- Glutes (butt): Crucial for hip stability, strength, and power
- Calves (lower legs): Support ankle stability and movement
- Adductors and abductors (inner and outer thighs): Aid hip stability and control movement in multiple planes of motion
As a bonus, most exercises that hit the leg muscles will also involve some sneaky core work. “The core stabilizes and supports all lower-body movements,” Artzi tells SELF.
What kind of exercises should you include in a leg workout?
On leg day, you want to hit all of the major movement patterns that your lower body can do, Christine Torde, CPT, strength coach at Bodyspace Fitness in New York City, tells SELF. That includes the squat, hinge, and both bilateral (engaging body sides of the body at once) and unilateral (single-side) exercises. Basically, a squat involves bending the knees and moving the hips downward, while a hinge keeps the bending movement at the hips and focuses on pushing them back.