5 min readIN THE HIERARCHY of a typical weekly workout split, leg day likely looms the largest. Sure, it’s the one that many guys love to hate the most, thanks to its quad-quaking combination of heavy lifts, compound exercises, and even DOMS if you push too hard. But at the same time, few other strength sessions possess as much muscle-building potential or offer as many total-body benefits. It’s no exaggeration to say that crushing leg day is one of the secrets to unlocking just about any fitness goal.
“Whether your objective is fat loss, longevity, or just looking awesome in shorts, leg training is key,” says MH Fitness Director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. “And to get the most out of that training, you need to put in serious work—and avoid these five common mistakes.”
You can learn even more with the MH New Rules of Leg Day program, which is designed to teach you how to train and eat for stronger glutes, quads, and more this summer.
Don’t Only Train in One Plane of Motion
MOST GUYS’ WORKOUTS occur largely in the sagittal plane, which encompasses exercises that involve forward and backward movement, such as the squat, chin-up, curl, deadlift, row, and lunge. At the same time, their workouts often also exclude more dynamic exercises such as the kettlebell swing and box jump.
Sticking almost exclusively to the sagittal plane and neglecting fast, powerful movements has two main consequences. “You’re not working stabilizing muscles, such as the adductors on the insides of your thighs, sufficiently, and you’re not building explosive power,” says Samuel. And that’s too bad, because both can increase your performance in and out of the weight room.
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Train in Other Planes of Motion
At least once a week, do two to three sets of an exercise that is not in the sagittal plane, such as the lateral lunge (side-to-side movement, frontal plane) or woodchop (rotational movement, transverse plane). “Also do two to three sets of something that trains lower body power, such as the jump deadlift, kettlebell swing, or box jump,” says Samuel. “You don’t need to do a lot of these moves—one or two at the end of a workout at least once a week is all it takes.”
Don’t Short-Change Your Leg Training
GUYS OFTEN THINK about their legs as a single muscle group, which is probably why “leg day” is singular instead of plural. But the truth is that one workout per week isn’t enough to maximize lower-body hypertrophy.
“Your legs contain four key muscle groups—quads, glutes, hams, and calves—and they all require individual attention and have different recovery times,” says Samuel, explaining that if you try to train them all equally and adequately in one workout, your session will be way too long. “High-level bodybuilders do it, but their leg days span 20 to 25 sets—most guys can’t spare that kind of time in one workout, so don’t try.”
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Train Your Legs Twice a Week
Doubling up on your leg training will give you the volume you need to maximize your gains. There are two ways to go about it. The first is to focus on different muscle groups each time—glutes and hams one day, quads and calves the next, for example. The second is to concentrate on hypertrophy in the first workout, performing three to four sets of eight to 12 reps of big, compound lifts, and stack the second workout with explosive moves and non-sagittal exercises such as the kettlebell swing and lateral lunge.
“Either way, you’ll get two leg days in,” says Samuel, “and that is going to lead to a lot more growth.”
Don’t Limit Calf Exercises to Leg Day
IT MIGHT SEEM like common sense to top-load your leg day with moves that prioritize your largest lower-body muscles (e.g., quads, hams), and then throw in a few exercises for your calves at the end. But here’s the problem with that: Treating your calves like an afterthought almost guarantees you won’t hit them with enough volume (sets and reps) to maximize their growth.
“Your calves are just like any other muscle group, and they deserve the same amount of time and attention,” says Samuel, adding that they’re also incredibly durable. “Think about it—you’re using them with every step you take; they’re meant to take a pounding.”
That means they can be trained with greater volume and frequency than many other muscles. “They are simply not going to grow optimally if you only do a few lazy sets at the end of a leg day when you’re already fatigued,” explains Samuel.
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Train Your Calves Multiple Times a Week
Aim for three to four sets of calf raises in three different workouts per week. Each of those sets should include 12 to 20 super-slow reps in which you maximize the stretch, pause at the bottom, and explode up as high as you can. “And if you’re really serious about developing your calves, take the advice Arnold Schwarzenegger gave me and start your workouts with your calves,” says Samuel. “That way, you can be fresh and focused when you hit them. That is what’s going to make them grow.”
Don’t Skip Hip Thrust
SOME GUYS CONSIDER hip thrusts a “girl move.” Others believe they hit their glutes often enough with compound exercises like the deadlift, squat, and lunge to make more targeted work unnecessary. Both misconceptions have the same result: An underdeveloped backside.
“Just like your calves, your glutes can handle serious volume, and they are meant to be pushed,” says Samuel, adding that you’ll never work them hard enough to maximize their growth if you only hit them in compound lifts that focus on other muscles like the quads and hamstrings. “That’s because the rest of your body will fatigue before your glutes do, preventing you from pushing them to the edge of failure, which is key for hypertrophy.”
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Program Hip Thrusts Twice a Week
One of those times can be leg day. “But choose at least one other day to get in three to five sets of heavy, high-rep hip thrust work,” says Samuel, explaining that typically translates to 12 to 20 reps per set. “That’s going to help your glutes really grow, because they can take more of a pounding if you isolate them.”
Don’t Avoid Machines
BIG COMPOUND MOVES such as the squat, deadlift, and lunge should always be the backbone of your leg workouts. But focusing on them exclusively can create two issues. First, you won’t work all the muscles below your waist evenly—some will naturally be hammered harder than others in those compound lifts. “Second, they don’t hit everyone’s legs the same way,” says Samuel, explaining that if you have long legs, you might feel the squat more in your glutes than your quads, for example. “Machines help fix those lever issues and allow you to target specific muscles more effectively.”
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Include Machines in Leg Day
Machines are useful, but the trick is to save them for the end of your workout. “And, truth be told, you don’t have to limit yourself to the machines,” says Samuel. Isolation work is the goal here. “As such, you could do a reverse Nordic curl for your quads or a Nordic curl for your hamstrings, for example,” he adds. “And the best part is you can take your muscles to complete fatigue, which helps boost growth.”
Check out all of our the videos in our New Rules of Leg Day program, available exclusively for MH MVP subscribers, here.
Trevor Thieme is a Los Angeles-based writer and strength coach, and a former fitness editor at Men’s Health. When not helping others get in shape, he splits his time between surfing, skiing, hiking, mountain biking, and trying to keep up with his 10-year-old daughter.
