Leg workout tips 🏋️‍♂️

Strong legs do more than look good. Even the simplest daily movements like walking require leg strength. This means that incorporating leg workouts into your routine is integral to your health.

But you may wonder where to begin.

Whether you’re working out at home pandemic-style or back at the gym sweating it out, creating an effective leg workout doesn’t have to be complicated. Let’s dive in.

Movement patterns in a good leg workout

When it comes to designing an effective leg workout, simpler is better. The basic lower body movements — squats, hip hinges (deadlifts), and lunges — should comprise the majority of your programming.

These movements inherently focus on the major muscle groups of the legs: the glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves.

Once you master these movements, there are plenty of variations and ways to progress that will keep you challenged.

When designing your leg workout, here’s an easy way to break it down: Start with a squat movement, then move to a hip-hinge movement, then add in your single-leg movements.
How many sets and reps should you do in your leg workout?
As a beginner looking to increase general fitness — and following the theme of keeping things simple — choose 3–5 exercises per leg workout. Then complete 3 sets of 8–12 reps of each exercise, ensuring that you’re working your muscles to fatigue but not failure (1).

Why no more than 5 exercises? You’ll be able to focus on those integral movements, performing at your peak. If your workouts get too long, they can be unproductive.

How many times per week should you work legs?

Recent research suggests that when trying to maximize muscle growth, there’s not much difference between training the major muscle groups one time per week versus three times per week (3).

What makes the most difference in muscle growth is resistance training volume, meaning how many sets and reps you’re completing. Higher volume sessions (say, 3 sets of 12 reps, or even 4 sets of 8 reps) tend to produce better results than working the same muscle group multiple times in a week (4).

How to warm up and cool down properly.

An effective workout isn’t complete without a proper warmup and cooldown.

For your warmup, aim to start with 5 minutes of light cardio to get your heart rate up and blood flowing. If you have time, hop on the foam roller for 5 minutes of soft-tissue release.

Then, dive into a dynamic stretching routine, with movements like leg swings, hip openers, bodyweight squats, and lunges.

After your workout is a good time to complete a more in-depth stretching routine.