Are you hitting the weights today? It certainly won’t be leg day as we can’t see those muscles in the mirror, and what we can’t see doesn’t count….right?

Wrong! By the end of this article we hope to not only have given you some insight into the importance of having a leg day, but also provide some easy solutions if you still can’t bring yourself to dedicating time to a leg session.

Don't Forget the Legs

Apart from looking like you have matchstick legs, there are many reasons to include leg sessions.

Calories and Hormones

Some of our largest muscles are found in the legs. The larger the muscle the more calories required to fuel muscle movement. This results in a bigger calorie deficit, which ultimately leads to a reduction in body fat.

The hormonal system also plays a big role in muscle protein content through hormones such as Testosterone and Growth Hormone. To increase protein synthesis a certain training threshold has to be reached. To reach this threshold, you have to activate large muscle groups, with a heavy resistance and short recovery time between sets. The only muscles large enough to do this are the leg muscles.

Sports Performance

Your legs provide a base of support whether you are running, jumping, tackling or throwing. The legs generate the forces against the ground and transfer them to the upper body. Your upper body rarely works in isolation on the sports field unless you are lying on your back which hopefully you are not spending too much time doing. To increase sprinting speed or running economy you will need to increase leg strength to increase the ground contact forces.

Bone Strength

For the best example of how muscle and bone strength is interlinked we need to look to the Long Bowmen of Agincourt. Studies have shown that these bowmen had abnormally high bone mass on the right side of their bodies This is from years of pulling on the equivalent 80lbs of tension. Basically, as the muscle gets stronger in response to the load, the harder that muscle pulls on the bone. The bone responds by increasing the amount of calcification at the site of stress and gets stronger. By skipping leg day exercises, the bones in the leg such as the femur and tibia are not exposed to muscular stress.

Training Solutions

If you still can’t tear yourself away from those mirror muscles then we suggest trying one of our solutions below.

Push and Pull Days

When it comes to training legs we can broadly categorise the leg muscles into two movements.

• Knee dominant (push) movements

These muscles are responsible for the straightening of the leg at the knee joint, such as a squat movement, and includes the four large quadriceps muscles in the front of the leg and the largest muscle, the gluteus maximus, at the back of the leg.

• Hip dominant (pull) movements

The three hamstring muscles and the gluteus maximus are found at the back of the leg and work to straighten the trunk from a bent position such as the deadlift.

By including one exercise for each of these movements you are able to get a full leg workout. If you split your training into push and pull days and train three or more times per week that means you only need to include one leg exercise per session. Below are examples of knee dominant and hip dominant exercises that you can include in your routine.

Kettlebell Front Squat

A great knee dominant exercise to develop the squat is the kettlebell front squat. If you lean too far forward, the Kettlebell will pull you off balance so it forces you into a better squat pattern.

Single Leg Sandbag Deadlift

This hip dominant exercise uses a Sandbag and requires both stability and strength so you get the best of both worlds.

Complex Movements

Complex exercises are when you combine two different movements together into a single exercise. This not only saves time but you can get the benefit of a leg exercise combined with an upper body exercise. It is a win-win situation. The two best complex movements to include are the Deadlift Row Combo and the Squat-to-Press Combo.

Dumbbell Deadlift Row Combo

Start in a standing position holding the Adjustable Dumbbells with the dumbbells resting against your thigh and your feet hip width apart. With your shoulder blades pull down your back and a neutral spine, lean forward from the hips until your chest is parallel with the floor. Now pull the dumbbells into your stomach and then lower them back to the starting position. Then return to the upright position by driving through your heels and hips.

Squat-to-Press Combo

Hold a Weighted Plate with both hands in front of your chest with your elbows tucked in and feet slightly wider than hip width apart and the toes pointing slightly outwards. Perform a squat by lowering your hips backwards and down while keeping your eyes looking forward. Return to the start position by driving into the ground with the hips and up through your glutes. At the top of the movement extend the weight over your head and then slowly lower it back to the chest.

If you have access to gym machines, learn more about how to use a leg press machine.

Written by guest author Brendan McBirnie.

For more content, follow us on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and on our official Mirafit Facebook page.

Tags: Exercise Type > Strength ; Target Area > Legs