programming a leg session

Training Knowledge Base
Written By liam winterbottom

Muscles Worked:

  • Quads

  • Hamstrings

  • Calves

  • Adductor/Abductor

  • Glutes

General Overview when making your exercise selection:

Ready for pain? Good, keep reading!...

Training legs is the single most brutal session that should be in your plan... if you're coming away from this session feeling remotely normal then you simply have simply scratched the surface on what it takes for your legs to grow. Why is it brutal, well it's your biggest muscle group on your body therefore is going to take your biggest effort to truly demolish.

When it comes to programming the layout of a leg session, my personal preference is to start on hamstrings before moving to quads, then adductor work to finish however this isn't gospel, it works for me but depending on your goals you may split you legs across 2 two workouts such as quads & adductor & calfs / hamstring & glutes... its going to take some tinkering and depending on your training level may depend on your set up but my suggestion is to start with the basics (quads, hamstrings & calves) the add the other areas (adductor & glutes) into a split once you've nailed the fundamentals to your session.

When planning your workouts I would recommend to plan 1-2 rest days between before you next workout after legs as your central nervous system will be pretty paggered if you've trained them correctly.

Quad exercises to select from:

  • Behind the neck barbell squat (barbell, safety bar, smith machine)

  • Front of neck barbell squat (barbell, safety bar, smith machine)

  • Leg press (you'll see various angles on leg presses, if you have a choice in your gym then go with the one that feels the best for your body and movement)

  • Hack Squat

  • Leg extension (machine)

  • Bulgarian split squat (Caitlin's sworn enemy 🤣) (DB, heavy kettle bell)

... we could list lots of different machines here for quads/legs but the above covers the basics and is what you'll find in the vast majority or gyms.

Hamstring exercises to select from:

  • Lying hamstring curl (usually performed on machine but can also utilise a DB variation)

  • Seated hamstring curl (machine)

  • Single leg hamstring curl (machine) (usually standing or kneeling)

  • RDL variation - barbell, DB (heavy kettle bell - more as a warm up than working exercise)

  • Stiff leg deadlift - barbell. DB

  • Rever hyper extensions

  • Hyper extension (machine)

*take home notes... when performing RDL or deadlift movements make sure keep your spine neutral (DO NOT LET IT CURVE), chest lifted and drive though your heels... Form is key to performing this movement correctly in keeping the load through the hamstrings, but will also save you from being a cripple! (Don't be that melon ego attempting to lift the big dog weights and throwing form completely out the window, its not cool... no-one thinks you look good so just stop! 😁)

Adductor exercises to select from:

  • Adductor machine

Example split layout

Monday - push (delt focussed)

Tuesday - off

Weds - pull

Thursday - push (chest focussed)

Friday - Legs

Saturday - off

Sunday off

Calf exercises to select from:

  • Seated calf raise (machine, leg press (depending on footpad angle))

  • Standing Calf raise (machine, smith machine

Glute exercises to select from:

  • Hip thrusts (barbell, DB, heavy kettle bell)

  • Hyper Extension

  • Abductor machine

  • Sumo Deadlift

  • Glute bridge

  • Glute kick backs (machine, cable (with ankle attachment)

Blueprint:

  • 2-3 exercises with 1-2 working sets, reps ranging from 8-12 for hamstrings

  • 3-4 exercise with 1-2 working, rep ranges from 6-12 on quads

  • 1 exercise each with 3 working sets, reps ranging between 8-12 adductors

  • 1-2 exercises with 2-3 working sets, reps ranging from 8-12 for calves

* make sure you have adequately warmed up prior to starting your working sets… my personal preference is 2 warm up sets 50% max load / 70% max load 4-5 reps for large load/ compound movements and 1 warm up set around 60-70% 6-7 reps for isolation exercises like lying hamstring curls.

LEAVE KNOWING YOU'VE GIVEN ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING IN THIS SESSION


We look forward to continuing to bring you more content for our training guides & knowledge base, as always any questions, comments or things you like to discuss/topics you would like us to cover just drop a line to the article and we will reply 😀

liam winterbottom
Previous

programming a chest & triceps session
Next

programming a pull session