Written by Garett Reid | NSCA, CSCS, CISSN, M.S.E.S.S
Fact checked by Sam Coleman, Co-Founder
FACT CHECKED
Leg training has (re)emerged as a significant aspect of fitness and gaining the respect it deserves in the fitness world. While some still opt to skip leg days, the majority now seek to optimize their leg training, focusing on exercise selection and loads.
But, what about how many leg exercises you should use on leg day?
There’s a lot of variables to decide such as training status and goals. Further, does the squat count as training both the hamstrings and quadriceps? Does it matter?
This article will try to help with these issues and answer how many exercises you should use on leg day.
Anatomy And Function Of The Legs
Unlike the upper body, where you can train different muscle groups on separate days, the legs present a unique challenge on leg day. It's extremely difficult to isolate your quads from hamstrings, especially when using compound movements. This is due to the fact that all leg muscles work in conjunction with one another during most movements, a result of the biomechanics of the leg.This creates the issue of what exercise trains what muscle.
Therefore, understanding the anatomy and function of your leg muscles is crucial for effective leg training. Let's break down each muscle and its specific functions, which will help us understand how different leg exercises train each muscle.
Quadriceps
The quadriceps are a group of four muscle heads on the front of your upper thigh. These muscles extend from your hips all the way down to your knee, where the tendon inserts.
The quadriceps muscle is the primary knee extensor, extending the knee from a flexed position. It also helps with hip flexion.
Your quadriceps play a major role in human performance and function because they extend the leg. Jumping, sprinting, and kicking all require your quadriceps.
Hamstrings
Your hamstrings, located opposite your quadriceps, are situated on the back of your upper thigh. They consist of three muscle heads that extend from your pelvis down your leg, where they, too, insert below the knee.
Your hamstrings are the body's primary knee extensor and will pull the leg up behind the body. This is seen when you're walking and must pull the leg up to take a step forward.
In addition, it plays a major role in hip extension. The hamstrings are part of what's known as your posterior chain, a chain of muscles that run down the back of your muscle. Technically, the posterior chain runs from your neck with the traps and runs all the way down to your ankles.
However, in terms of fitness and health, we primarily concentrate on three;
- Erector spinae
- Glutes
- Hamstrings
Together, these three muscles work to extend the hips. For example, you pull your torso up after you tie your shoes, called hip extension.
The hamstrings also help pull the leg back. Think about walking again. After you plant your forward foot, you then propel the body forward by pulling the leg back. This is where the hamstrings play a big role.
Glutes
The biggest and strongest muscle in your body – the glutes. Your glutes are involved in just about every movement, both lower and upper body. This is due to its role in hip extension and overall stability.
The glutes are actually made up of three large muscles;
- Gluteus maximus
- Gluteus medius
- Gluteus minimus
These muscles sit on the back side of the body at the pelvis. As such, together, these act to extend the hips while also holding the hips in position. For example, you may hear the cue to "squeeze your glutes" during an overhead press to keep the torso straight.
At the same time, the glute muscles work to manipulate the leg, especially abduction. Further, the gluteus medius plays a crucial role in stabilization and balance. Have you ever wondered why when you take a step, your body doesn't fall over or even sag? That's because of your glutes!
Calves
The calves sit on the back of the lower leg and work to point the toes. You use them every time you walk, as the calves must push off the ground to propel the body. Further, the calves play a major role in jumping or propulsion.
Leg Biomechanics And Movement Patterns
We reviewed some of the leg's movement patterns above as we examined the leg muscles. Now, we'll review them again in more detail and list the movement patterns. Knowing the leg's functions allows us to select the right amount of exercises to train it.
Squat
The first major movement pattern of the lower body is the squat. Discerning the squat from the hip hinge can be a bit confusing, as technically, they both contain hip flexion/hip extension.
The primary difference seen in a squat is the amount of knee flexion that occurs and the involvement of the quads. During a squat, the knee travels forward as the hips are pushed back, which generally causes the knees to reach 90 degrees with the thigh parallel to the ground.
The more important aspect is that the quadriceps will be the primary mover. This isn't always the case, as there is a lot of nuance, but that's the main gist. Therefore, squats include leg exercises in which the quadriceps are the primary driver. Exercises include;
Hip Hinge
We just went over the hip hinge a bit as we described a squat. Again, the hip hinge occurs when the hips are pushed and act as the primary mover. This makes hip extension the primary movement, meaning these target your glutes and hamstrings.
Over the years, the conventional deadlift has been the primary hip hinge in most workout programs. However, there are plenty of other high-quality leg exercises that use hip hinges.
Many believe the Romanian deadlift is the superior hip hinge movement for targeting the glutes and hamstrings. A lot happens when performing the deadlift, and it's usually performed with heavy weight. As a result, many people may have problems really targeting those muscles. However, a Romanian deadlift uses a smaller range of motion and lower weight, which allows better isolation.
The barbell hip thrust is another powerful hip hinge movement to target the glutes.
Lunge
The lunge is a unilateral leg exercise in which one leg is in front of the other, followed by the torso descending. Due to its unique biomechanics, it trains the entire lower body, and the specific muscle activation can vary depending on the version you use.
More importantly, it trains the body's stabilizer muscles to improve balance and coordination. Further, it is one of the few dynamic movements used in general training. By dynamic, we mean that you will actively step out under load and move. This quality places it near the top for being a truly functional movement.
For these reasons, every leg training session should have at least one lunge pattern. This does include split squats, but you should definitely rotate in proper lunges due to their dynamic nature.
Knee Extension
Many of the above movements already involve knee extensions, so this movement is a bit different. Think about the difference between doing a row and a bicep curl.
So, knee extensions isolate the quadriceps, with the best exercise example being machine knee extensions. These can be used to increase muscle mass in both the quadriceps and strengthen the knee joint.
With that said, including a specific knee extension exercise isn't always necessary in everyone's training program. Its inclusion could depend on your personal needs.
Related: Alternatives to Leg Extension Machine
Knee Curl
The same principles to the knee extension can also be applied to the knee curl (knee flexion). These will help isolate the hamstrings to increase muscle mass and strength and prevent injury. At the same time, most knee curls, like the lying leg curl, will also hit the glutes to some extent.
Related: Alternatives to Leg Curl Machine
Dorsiflexion (Point The Toes)
The final movement pattern of the legs is dorsiflexion. The term "dorsiflexion" can be confusing as it contains "flexion". However, it refers to when you point your toes, which would seem like an extension.
This confusion is simply due to the biomechanics of the ankle and calf muscles and how the calf tendon inserts into the ankle. Regardless, this is a crucial movement that's necessary for every step.
Related: Best Calf Exercises
Unilateral Leg Exercise
We spoke about this above with the lunge, but I wanted to make a special note. Your leg training should contain at least one unilateral leg exercise. In addition to lunges and split squats, the unilateral Romanian deadlift is another great option. Other great choices include;
- Pistol squat (assisted or bodyweight)
- Skater squat (assisted or bodyweight)
- Unilateral sit-to-stand
How Many Sets Should You Use On Leg Day?
The number of training sets you use to train a muscle is known as your training volume. Total volume has been found to be the primary indicator of muscle growth and strength.
However, you also don't want to do too much, as you could risk collecting too much volume. It's generally believed that if you keep performing sets, you'll eventually stop seeing growth and possibly even see a decrease.
That said, the general recommendation for the maximum number of sets per muscle in a session is about 10 sets. This would mean you would want to train:
- quads with 10 sets on leg day
- hamstrings with 10 sets on leg day
- glutes with 10 sets on leg day
Now, one problem when trying to directly apply this number to training the legs is that you use every muscle to varying degrees in every compound movement.
Do deadlifts count as quad training?
Do lunges count for every leg muscle or just the quads?
Well, it might not matter as much as we once thought, at least to the point of stressing over counting sets. Some new research has shown that the upper limit seems to be significantly higher when it comes to training the legs. How high? 52 sets!
So, we're obviously not going to suggest you train every leg muscle with 52 sets. The main point is that we probably don't need to stress too much about hitting the perfect number of sets.
How Many Leg Exercises Should You Use On Leg Day? My Advice as a Personal Trainer With Over 15 Years Experience
How many exercises you use on leg day will vary slightly depending on several factors. The primary issues would include;
- Training experience
- Training frequency/split (Training legs twice a week or once?)
- Goals
A new beginner training twice a week may use just 1-2 exercises per training session. On the other hand, an experienced lifter training for mass may do 10 on a leg day!
In other words, there's a lot of variance.
That said, I can give you a clearer answer, i'll just need to boil it down to one training day vs two training days per week. I'll also discuss it from a beginner perspective.
If you train twice a week:
These days, the most common training advice suggests you train a muscle twice a week. This means you'll have two legs a day during the week. Here's how that might look:
Every week, you should have one primary squat and one primary hip hinge. As these are both big movements, you would start each leg day with one or the other. You then want a secondary hip hinge and squat. The front squat and barbell hip thrust are good choices. After that, you could pick an accessory hip hinge and squat, such as the Hack squat and Romanian deadlift. Finally, you could finish both days with a leg curl, leg extension, and calf raise. If you wanted, you could run these as a superset or even a tri-set.
This would result in seven exercises on two leg days, as such:
Leg Training Day 1:
- Back Squat 4X4
- Barbell Hip Thrust 3X6-8
- Hack Squat 3X8-10
- Walking Lunge 100
- Leg Curl + Leg Extension 3X10-12
- Calf 2X15-20
Leg Training Day 2:
- Deadlift 4X4
- Front Squat 3X6-8
- Romanian Deadlift 3X8-10
- Bulgarian Split Squat 3X8-10
- Leg Curl + Leg Extension 3X10-12
- Calf 3X8-10
This would be an awesome, complete leg training program for your average lifter or intermediate lifter (6+ months of training) who trains legs twice a week.
If you train legs once a week:
Now, let's look at what this might look like if you trained the legs once a week. One of the biggest questions when it comes to exercises on leg day is if you can train both the back squat and deadlift on the same day. You can find a variety of answers and all could be right depending on the rationale.
With that said, we feel that after a person starts using heavier loads, training both the deadlift and squat on leg day is tough.
You could if you trained one with a strength load and then one with lighter weight for hypertrophy. You could then alternate them weekly or monthly. I.e.
- Week 1- Squat (heavy), Deadlift (light)
- Week 2- Deadlift (heavy), Squat (light)
- Week 3- Squat (heavy), Deadlift (light)
- And so on.
Regardless, here’s what your leg training might look like:
Leg Day Training
- Squat 4X4
- Barbell Hip Thrust 3X6-8
- Hack Squat 3X8-10
- Barbell Romanian Deadlift 3X8-10
- Walking Lunges 100
- Leg Curl + Leg Extension (Super) 2X12-15
- Seated Calf Raise 3X10-15
This would likely be the max amount of exercise for your average lifter, even an intermediate with a couple years of training. Even though it’s 22+ total working sets (depending how many sets you need for 100 lunges), we could try to break down the sets for the quads and hamstrings (the glutes are used in everything)
- Quads: Squat (4) + Hack Squat (3) + Leg Ext (2) + Lunge (~3) = 12 sets
- Hamstrings: Barbell Hip Thrust (3) + RDL (3) + Lunge (~3) + Leg Curl (2) = 11 sets
As you see, when we break down the muscle, we’re near that 10 set range. Regardless, the most important aspect is that we hit the primary movement patterns which we do.
Related: The Ultimate Leg Day Workout
If you are a beginner:
If you're a beginner trainee on leg day, you're not going to need as many exercises. Your main focus should be your big, compound movements and getting strong on these. If you look at Starting Strength, one of the most popular beginner strength programs, you ultimately train the back squat and deadlift 3 days a week.
In reality, this could be your only two exercises on leg day. With that said, we think there's a lot of value to adding a lunge, as these movements provide benefits you can't get from other movements.
This means we would say a beginner's leg training day should include at least 3 exercises, one from each of the movements.
- Primary Squat: Back Squat, Leg Press, Front Squat, SSB Squat
- Primary Hip Hinge: Deadlift, Deadlift (Elevated Below Knee), Barbell Hip Thrust
- Lunge: Lunge, Walking Lunge, Split Squat
If you just use these three exercises and focus on getting as strong as possible, that is all you need. You could add more if you wanted, but it wouldn't be necessary.
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Leg Day Training Volume Conclusion
Leg day training can be bittersweet. We all know it's probably the most painful day, but there's nothing better than seeing your squat and deadlift increase and the width of your thighs.
The amount of exercises you use will depend entirely on your circumstances but most people will use anywhere from 3-8 leg exercises. The primary variable is that you hit the major movement patterns to ensure you load every muscle and your legs are going to grow!
Garett Reid
Author