Your leg day workout is crucial in achieving a symmetrical, good looking physique.
Ready to grow? Here’s your mass-building leg workout!

It’s all too common for people to skip a leg day. Because… well… leg workouts are hard, and then there’s the all too familiar “waddle” that comes in the days to follow. But here’s the thing… when you hit your legs hard enough to make them grow, the rest of you usually gets bigger, leaner, and more muscular, too!

This all-around muscle-building leg workout is built around the best exercises for quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. Hit it with everything you’ve got once a week, and it will be enough! Ready to build and toughen up those chicken legs? Let’s get to work!

Just remember: if you are looking to build your dream physique, you have pay some attention to ALL muscle groups! You can dial in your entire training week with Vince’s other Ultimate workouts:

Monday: Ultimate Chest & Triceps
Tuesday: Ultimate Back & Biceps
Wednesday: Rest and/or steady-state cardio
Thursday: Ultimate Leg Day
Friday: Ultimate Shoulders
Saturday: Ultimate Arms
Sunday: Rest, play, and meal prep

Ultimate Lower Body Workout for Big Legs

Warm Up:
You should never hit the weights without a proper warm up and warm up sets – especially on leg day!

Exercises:
A. Barbell squat 4 sets, 6-10 reps (rest 2 min. between sets. Lighten the load after the first two sets)
B. Hip thrust 4 sets, 8-12 reps (rest 2 min.)
C. Weighted walking lunge 3 sets, 10-14 per side (rest 90 sec.)
D. Lying leg curl 3 sets 8-12 reps (rest 1 min.)
E. Calf raise 4 sets, 15-20 reps (rest 1 min.)

Successful leg mass building relies on a 4-point rule. First, you must start the workout with the most strenuous exercises and the heaviest weights. Second, you have to hit the thighs from different angles. Third and fourth, you need to keep every routine’s volume high and train at least some of the movements to muscle failure.

Leg Workout Exercises

1. Barbell Squat

(4 sets, 6-10 reps)

Make a hip-width stance with your toes facing slightly outward. Support the barbell on the top of your trap muscles, chest up, and head facing forward.

Bend your knees slowly, while driving them outward and keeping your back straightened. Hinge your hips and your knees will move forward. Make sure the bar moves in a straight line up and down.

Slowly keep the weight on your heels and push up to go back to your initial position.

2. Hip Thrust

(4 sets of 8-12 reps)

Lie with your upper back supported on a bench, and your feet planted firmly on the floor. Hold a barbell across your hips. Slowly lower your hips down to the floor. Only low enough that your glutes and hamstrings remain in constant tension. Power back up while pressing through your heels and squeezing your glutes at the top.

3. Weighted Walking Lunge

(3 sets 10-14 reps per side)

Begin with a hip-width stance holding a dumbbell in each hand.

Put one leg forward, bending your knees to lower your hips. Dip until your back knee nearly meets the floor. Keep an upright posture, and avoid moving your front knee past your toes to avoid injury.

Put your weight on your front foot’s heel and ascend from the lunge. Switch sides and repeat.

As you exhale, extend your legs fully using your quads. Keep your back flat on the padded seat during the movement. Pause and squeeze for a moment and then slowly retreat to your original position.

Repeat until you finish the set.

4. Lying Leg Curls

(3 sets, 8-12 reps)

Lie face down on the machine and place your feet under the foot pad — a few inches below the calves. Grab the machine’s handle, keep your torso flat, and stretch your legs fully.

Keeping your upper legs on the pad, curl your legs as far as you can while you exhale. Pause for a second after fully curling your legs. Go back to the original position as you inhale.

5. Calf Raises

(4 sets, 15-20 reps)

You can do these seated or standing. Plant the balls of your feet firmly on the step with your heels extending over the edge. As you exhale, raise your heels as high as you can, feeling your calves flex. Pause for a second and lower your heels to return to your initial position.

To make the most out of this leg day workout routine — choose loads that let you hit muscle failure within the repetitions you set. If you want to cut the workout short, you can leave out the hamstrings or calves exercises (or both) and train them on another day.

Want to Grow? Eat Like You Mean It

A well-structured leg day like this one can–and will And don’t forget about NUTRITION! You can train like a beast and give your workout 110% — but if you aren’t fueling your body, you won’t see the best results from your hard work!

In addition to a nutrition plan catered to your specific body type and mass building goals, we suggest an inta-workout supplement like Sculpt Nation BCAAs and a fast acting post workout formula like Sculpt nation POST WORKOUT.

If you are serious about putting on size and are looking for a new full body program, check out Vince’s best-selling ready to download CLEAN BULK program.

Do you have any leg day tip you might want to share? We’d love to know them in the comments section below!

Up Next: How To Do Squats With More Weight | Exercises For Knee Pain

The post Ultimate Leg Day Workout | No Chicken Legs! appeared first on V Shred.

We noticed that we seem to do a lot more articles and videos for the upper body, so we are switching gears today and giving you a FULL LEG WORKOUT.

It is made up of six different exercises and puts a lot of emphasis on QUADS. 

We also hit the glutes and hamstrings and give you some form tips if you want to place more emphasis on other parts of your legs instead.

Before giving you the workout, we’ve found that most people need a little more strength, energy, and focus on leg day. 

If this is you, you may want to try taking a scoop of a quality pre-workout on the way to the gym! Just make sure that caffeine isn’t the ONLY ingredient!

This seems to be the case with most pre-workouts on the market, but a quality pre-workout will have more important ingredients than just those that help keep you awake!

Vince’s favorite pre-workout is THIS ONE by Sculpt Nation. It has ingredients that give you a natural energy boost without any jitters or post-workout crash, tons of focus, better recovery between sets, and an insane pump!

Pre-Workout is always optional before a lift. But one thing you should never skip out on before a workout (especially for a large muscle group like legs) is a quick warm-up. 

You need to spend at least 5-10 minutes doing an ACTIVE warm-up that mimics the movements you are about to perform (not static stretching) to get the blood flowing and your muscles warm! 

In addition, it’s always a good idea to do one or two warm-up sets for each exercise below before you actually get into your “working” sets. 

If you need further assistance on how to do any of these exercises, don’t forget to check out this video before you get started! 

FULL LEG WORKOUT FOR MASSIVE QUADS

Exercise 1 – NARROW STANCE LEG PRESS
Sets/Reps: 4x 12, 10, 8, 6
Rest: 90 seconds rest between sets. 

Form Tips: Avoid leaning forward – Don’t let your butt come up off the seat – Keep your back pressed into padding – Do not lock your knees – Do not rush the movement. 

How To:  With leg press, where you place your feet will determine which lower body muscle you are biasing. For quads, keep your feet around shoulder-width apart (maybe slightly wider) and feet slightly lower on the platform. 

Unlock the safety pins and press up until your legs are fully extended. Squeeze your quads but DO NOT lock out your knees (for a visual of this, click here.) 

Slowly lower the weight until your legs are at about a 90-degree angle. Repeat for the prescribed number of repetitions. Rest and repeat. 

With each set, your goal is to increase weight as you lower the reps. The 4th set, you should be at a weight where you reach complete failure by that 6th rep.

Exercise 2 – HEEL ELEVATED SQUATS
Sets/Reps: 4x 12, 10, 8, 6
Rest: 90 seconds rest between sets. 

Form Tips: If you don’t have incline blocks you can put weight plates under your heels – You will likely need to go with lower weight than you are used to with a traditional squat – Make sure you have a slightly more narrow stance – Keep your feet firmly planted throughout the entire movement. 

How To: With a barbell on your shoulders, walk back and place your heels on the blocks (or plates) to elevate your heels. Feet will be slightly more narrow, around shoulder-width apart. Drive your knees forward while keeping your body upright and your core tight! 

With each set, your goal is to increase weight as you lower the reps. The 4th set, you should be at a weight where you reach complete failure by that 6th rep.

** These are great if you are trying to target your quads a little more or if you have any lower back tightness. A regular squat can put pressure on your lower back. With this squat variation, you stay a little more upright, allowing you to go full range of motion a little easier!

Exercise 3 & 4 – WALKING DB LUNGES (superset) LYING LEG CURLS
Sets/Reps: 4x 12, 10, 8, 6 (per leg on lunges)
Rest: 90 seconds rest between sets – NO REST between exercises!

** The goal is usually to increase weight as you lower the reps with each set. However, because this is a superset, you may find that more difficult to do. It is okay if you need to keep the weight the same to get all of the prescribed reps and use proper form! 

WALKING DB LUNGES
Form Tips: Keep time under tension by using a nice fluid motion – Control your tempo on the way down and up – Do not lean forward too much – Keep torso upright – Avoid fully touching your knee to the ground (resting.)

How To: With a DB in each hand, take a big step forward and bend both knees until they form 90 degree angles. Press back up and continue stepping forward (“walking”) with each lunge. 

LYING LEG CURLS
Form Tips: Keep time under tension by using a nice fluid motion – Control your tempo on the way down and up – Do not let your hips come up off the pad if you are doing these lying.

How To: Head to a lying leg curl machine. Set up the machine so that the pad is resting just under your calves. Slowly curl your feet toward your glutes. Pause at the top and squeeze your hamstrings. Slowly lower back to the starting position. 

Exercise 5 & 6 – LEG EXTENSION (superet) SEATED CALF RAISE
Sets/Reps: 4x 12 for leg extensions –  4×15 for seated calf raises 

Rest: 60 seconds rest between sets – NO REST between exercises.

LEG EXTENSION
Form Tips: Go super controlled – Do not jerk – Keep back flat against the pad. 

How To: Set up the leg extension machine so the pad is just above your ankles and you are able to achieve full range of motion without your back coming up off of the pad. Lift the weight without locking your knees. Squeeze your quads hard at the top of the motion and then SLOWLY lower to the starting position. Do not pause and go straight into your next rep. 

SEATED CALF RAISE
Form Tips: Do not try to use too much weight – Focus on a slow and controlled full range of motion – Big squeeze at the top. ** Your calves will respond much better to good form over using heavy weight! If you want your calves to grow, lower the weight so that you are not jerking or going too fast and can get a full range of motion.

How To: Sit on the calf raise machine with the balls of your feet on the platform and your knees under the pad. Press down with your toes in an explosive motion to get the weight to the starting position. Slowly lower your heels until your calves are fully stretched. Push (explode) the weight up. Pause to squeeze at the top. Repeat. 

THIS WORKOUT WILL TAKE YOU LESS THAN AN HOUR!
YOU DO NOT NEED TO SPEND HOURS IN THE GYM TO GET A SOLID LIFT!!

You never need to spend hours in the gym on leg day — or for any muscle group!

If you know how to properly utilize rest periods, super-sets, and the correct exercise sequence —  your lifts should never exceed 60-75 minutes!

If you like short but really effective workouts, we have tons to choose from FOR FREE on our YouTube Channel!

Check them out and subscribe for new videos weekly HERE! 

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