Not every gym selfie involves someone flexing their biceps anymore! Plenty of our favorite fitspo focuses squarely on the lower body—you know, that half of your being that you’re supposed to train sometime between chest on Monday and arms on Friday.
To show off your leg muscles, you need a combination of the best leg exercises, heavy weight, and just enough pump work. This workout has both. Quads, hams, glutes, calves—no matter what you want to feature, it will help create legs that will be the star in any photo they show up in this summer.
Hit it once a week for 4-6 weeks, preferably after taking your favorite pre-workout, and your hard work will get noticed.
Leg Day to Get Lean?
Some people like full-body training to lean out for summer, but a split-based workout like this can absolutely do the trick! Lower-body lifting puts a significant amount of muscle mass to work, keeping your metabolism high so you can stay lean all summer.
Upping your training volume is a classic way to boost muscle definition, but it doesn’t have to be terrifying triple-digit volume like German volume training. The sweet spot for building shredded legs is right between strength and endurance—think 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps per set. It also happens to be the best way to increase the pump.
High-volume training done with heavy weight also helps build muscle and boosts your excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), which broadly speaking is the number of calories your body continues to burn after your workout is over. That means you’ll be building muscle and burning body fat long after you set down the bar.
If there’s one workout suited for a pre-workout, it’s high-volume leg training. Find the perfect pre for your leg-day pump.
Key tips for this workout:
- Do as many warm-ups as you need, but never take them to muscle failure.
- Choose a weight that allows you to come close to muscle failure within the target rep range.
- Keep your rest periods around 1-2 minutes.
Eat Up to Pump Up
This workout will likely push an hour, depending on whether or not you skip the squats (we see you over there!). When that kind of training is on the menu, it’s essential to have at least one solid meal in your stomach, says registered dietician Paul Salter. In his article, “Your Guide to Intra-Workout Carbohydrates,” he also recommends sipping on intra-workout carbs for any intense workout lasting close to or over an hour.
Looking to make this the summer of legs? Then follow one of these popular programs for leg growth: