Guys, We Need to Talk About Leg Day

Guys, do you regularly skip leg day and hate the feeling of walking following a hard session in the gym? Do you want to find a way to turn heads like a Hollywood heartthrob with a physique that sets you apart? Read on to find out how

I can’t believe I’m writing this, so please bear with me because it does sound a little crazy, but here goes.

*nervously clears throat* Perhaps training your legs shouldn’t be as much of a priority as we make it out to be?

I know, I know.

It’s well established that the squat is the king of all exercises and the full-body benefits cannot be denied, but perhaps there’s a better way for guys to train, a more complete way that will still help you to look buff, get noticed and feel incredible.

In this article, I am going to explain why a leg day might not be needed after all and what you can do instead.

Why Train Legs?

First off let’s get one thing straight, I’m not saying to give up on training your legs altogether, so before you throw your hands in the air at the thought of no more wonky leg walks following a day of heavy squats and walking lunges, that’s not what I’m saying, instead what I’m proposing is a change of approach, to build a bigger, stronger, more complete physique.

There are a few different reasons why we train legs that are worth addressing first, although we’re not going to expand on the known benefits of exercise, resistance training or how it can support the building of a strong body as those things are well established.

However, from a functionality point of view, so much of what we do comes from the legs, hips, and glutes, so it makes sense that having a strong lower body is something everyone should aim for.

If you’re an athlete or play regular sports, it’s even more important that you have a strong lower body as trying to sprint with weak glutes or hips or an underdeveloped lower body will leave you lacking for performance and taking part in any type of power sport, when you can’t actually generate any power, will have a very similar effect.

From a purely aesthetic viewpoint, no one wants to look unbalanced, with a big chest and tiny legs as it can affect how you look and how you perform, leading to muscular imbalances, causing injuries and if we’re honest, also causing you to look pretty weird.

So with all that being said, why am I talking about cutting out leg day?

Superhero and Leading Man Form

Take a look at any Hollywood leading man or action hero, any superhero film from recent time and you will see a few things in common.

They all have:

Big Shoulders
Strong Traps
A well-rounded chest
A powerful back
And lastly, some decent looking quads

The heartthrob, the hero, the main guy that we all want to be and that is how they look, which begs the question, if that’s the ideal look, why are we spending so much time on our lower body?

At which point you must ask yourself, how exactly do you want to look?

As with most things, the volume and frequency with which you can train will play a huge role in what you do at the gym.

A quick look above tells you that the superhero ‘look’ is heavily geared towards the upper body and therefore if you can only train 3 times a week it’s going to be hard to hit all the required muscle groups and have some left over for legs.

However, once you can start to make the gym 4 or more times per week you do begin to open up your training possibilities and with it, your opportunity to increase your volume, your frequency and the overall amount of work you do on your body but unless you’re consistently workout out 4 or 5 days a week, giving legs their own day doesn’t make sense.

By looking at the muscle groups in question and dividing them equally to ensure sufficient work on each muscle group, you can begin to build a true superhero physique that will turn heads and inspire followers everywhere and you won’t need to spend a day unable to sit down as a by-product.

How Should You Train?

That’s the million-dollar question right there.

Whilst I am saying a full leg day may not be necessary, you do still want to include legs, for the obvious benefits that have already been discussed above but as with most things in fitness, there are many different factors.

How often you can train
The days you can train
The time you have available
Your current physique
How advanced you are

All of these things will determine the correct way for you to train to achieve the coveted Superhero or leading man look, but let’s see if we can get a little clearer and look at some examples.

2 days a week: If you’re training two days a week you 100% do not want to be dedicating a day to legs, instead you should focus on two big heavy full-body sessions where you get the opportunity to truly work the muscles.

Looking back over the list above will tell you which muscles to prioritize, your chest, shoulders, traps and back are all extremely important and are more on show than you quads, so they should make up the bulk of your program, so if you’re only able to train twice a week, adding squats, lunges and split squats to the end of your routine will be a better option than dedicating an entire day to legs.
3 days a week: If you’re training 3 days a week we still wouldn’t advise a full-on leg day, instead, much like for two days a week, prioritize the other muscle groups first, but add lower body onto your workout to ensure you’re still training your lower body.

Having an extra day a week now allows for more sets, more reps and more exercises, so you can now start to work the posterior chain with things like Romanian deadlifts or a leg curl but we still wouldn’t advise a leg day to its self.

Popular wisdom would tell you to follow a push, pull, legs split, but with so much time focused on other muscle groups, this split would be ineffective for you to truly reach your goals.
4 days a week: Most people opt for an upper/lower split once they can commit to four days a week and in all honesty, it’s only now that you should be considering adding a single day for legs, although when we’re talking about reaching the ultimate physique, it does beg the question, is that the right thing to do?

In our opinion, once you can successfully commit to four days a week you should opt for push/pull twice a week instead, incorporating the lower body into your push and pull days in the form of squats (push) or deadlifts (pull). It goes against the current ‘in’ thing, but when you’re trying to build a superhero body, you aren’t trying to be conventional; you’re trying to be different.
5 days plus: If you’re able to consistently work out 5 days a week then a leg day may finally be part of your life, but it’s still important to follow the right type of routine.

A push/pull/push/pull/legs routine could work incredibly well and give you the required stimulus you need for ultimate muscle growth, but as you will see, even then, it's still only one sole leg day, once again showing that there are other ways to build the body you want, without destroying your legs multiple times a week.

Final Thoughts

So much of what you do in the gym will be dictated by other people and social norms, not whether it is right for you, and that must stop.

For too long people have been following a bodybuilder type muscle building split, forgetting that they are not bodybuilders.

Everyone doesn’t need to spend an entire day destroying a muscle group and in many cases, people shouldn’t.

Your levels of tolerance and ability to successfully complete an exercise should come before anything else and before that should come whether or not you actually need to do and what the benefits will be.

The same goes for leg day.

If your goal is to have a proud chest, big shoulders and a strong back, a physique that inspires awe, fear and inspiration all at the same time, then spending a full day, killing your legs, is the wrong move.

By moving away from the old school bodybuilder split mentality, and towards a more effective, goal focused training plan, you can begin to shape your body and finally get the results that you want.

And with it, possibly kiss leg day goodbye.