Leg day: the complete guide to exploding your legs at the gym

Loved by some, hated by others, the leg day is an essential part of your bodybuilding program. In fact, leg work at the gym offers a host of benefits for your body's overall health. muscular growth and improved performance. But how do you build the perfect session? Which exercises should you focus on? And how often should you train them each week? That's what I invite you to discover in this comprehensive guide.

Why shouldn't you skip leg training?

Before we begin, let's answer the question " What is leg day? ".

In French, the translation of " Leg day "is: " Leg day ". In other words, this expression refers to the training session devoted to the lower body in your sports program.

As you are no doubt aware, many bodybuilders tend all too often to ". skip le leg day ". In other words, never to include leg session in their training and to focus on the upper body.

Whether from a weight gain muscle or weight loss, this is a major mistake. Whether you're a beginner or an athlete with years of experience.

Overall, the leg strength training is an excellent way to improve your overall performance. Here are the main benefits of leg day: 

• Better fat loss Thigh work: demanding and difficult, thigh work in the weight room is ideal for burning calories and losing fat over the long term.
• Increased testosterone production leg exercises promote the production of testosterone andnatural growth hormone2 essential substances for building muscle.
• A balanced, harmonious silhouette Working the legs will help you avoid disproportionate rendering between the different parts of the body (the famous "rooster legs").
• Improved agility and balance By strengthening your legs, you develop your physical qualities and reduce the risk of injury.
• Better back health if you suffer from back painBy strengthening the quadriceps and ischial muscles, you can relieve tension in this area of the body.

How to build your leg day?

There are four elements to consider when building a legs day parfait : 

• Warm-up
• Choice of exercises
• Number of sets and repetitions
• Progress monitoring

Warm-up

As before every workout, it is essential to warm up well.

A good warming up of the legs will prepare the body for exertion and considerably reduce the risk of injury. To do this, start by exercising your joints (hips, knees and ankles), moving them in all directions.

You can also do a little work cardio to gently mobilize muscles, on a treadmill or bike.

To finish this step, perform a few strength exercises with bodyweight or very light loads: squat, press, leg extension or Romanian deadlift.

Choice of exercises

To obtain muscular legs and well-proportioned, your lower-body sessions should be based on a perfect balance between basic exercises and isolation movements.

All your workouts should include 2 or 3 basic movements such as the squatlunges or deadlifts, because they involve several different muscle groups lower body. If you suffer from back pain, you can of course opt for alternatives such as the belt squat or hack squat.

You can then isolate muscle work more precisely (hamstrings, glutes, calves, etc.), with the aim of optimizing the performance of your muscles.hypertrophy or to make up for a weak point. In this sense, working unilaterally is also interesting.

I'd also like to say a few words about strengthening the hamstrings. Like the calves, they tend to be neglected by beginners. Nonetheless, it's vital to exercise them to avoid creating a "muscle strain". imbalance muscular with the quadriceps, leading to a major risk of knee injuries including. 

You will find a selection of the best leg exercises later in this article.

Number of sets and repetitions

To put on weight, your legs need a high volume of work. You can perform between 3 and 5 sets per exercise.

Bring a recovery times between each series, so you can tackle the next one with energy.

With regard to the number of repetitionsIt all depends, of course, on your goal. Overall, count between 6 and 10 repetitions for basic movements, and between 8 and 15 for isolation exercises.

Progress monitoring

To gain muscle and strength in your legs, it's essential to monitor your performance and put in place a principle of progressive overloading.

On the other hand, never sacrifice execution technique movements in favor of weights. To recruit your muscle fibres, it's much better to lift less, but to do each repetition with good technique and full amplitude.

The best exercises for strengthening lower-body muscles

Let's take a look at the most effective exercises you can reproduce at the gym.

To target quadriceps : 

• The squat (and its variants: belt squat, pendulum squat, hack squat, etc.)
• Bulgarian lunges with dumbbells
• Leg extension
• La presse

To target hamstrings and glutes : 

• Straight leg deadlift
• Leg curl (lying or sitting)
• The nordic curl
• The hip thrust

To target calves : 

• Standing calf extensions
• Seated calf extensions

To gain in explosiveness : 

• The squat jump
• Climbing on a weight bench or box
• Jumping on a jump box

Keep in mind that, especially on basic exercisesIf you're going to be doing any kind of exercise, you'll need to keep your abdominal muscles contracted throughout. This will help you keep your back straight, remain stable and maximize your effort. 

How many times a week should I work my legs?

How many leg sessions per week ? It's a question that comes up regularly.

As you can see, 1 lower-body workout a week is the bare minimum.

But the ideal is still to program 2 sessions per weekThe machine can be used as a "training aid", allowing sufficient rest time to recover from aches and pains.

In this case, I advise you to concentrate your first training session on the front of the leg (quadriceps), and target the back (buttocks and hamstrings) during the second. Include 1 or 2 calf exercises in each session.

Conclusion

Whatever your level, leg day is a great way to training of your planning. So there's no question of skipping this session! You now know the different parameters to take into account when building your lower-body workouts. Don't hesitate to vary the exercises and angles of work to develop your lower body muscles. muscles quickly.