The Best Legs And Shoulder Workout

Written by Travis Halena | ACSM CPT

Fact checked by Kirsten Yovino, CPT Brookbush Institute

FACT CHECKED

Updated On: May 13, 2024

Legs and shoulders can be two of the tougher muscle groups to build, but oh-so-rewarding to see grow. In fact, developing muscle for the legs and shoulders is often the missing piece of the puzzle for a well-rounded physique. Capped boulder shoulders, tree trunk legs, and softball calves will always draw attention to your hard-earned work. Nobody wants to be the guy who looks like he exclusively trains his biceps.

Unfortunately, thanks to genetics, these muscle groups can be harder for some lifters to grow. But that doesn't mean give up and resign yourself to chicken legs! It just means they may require some extra attention. And while you're providing that extra attention to each, why not just group the two together for one muscle-building routine?

Yes, that's right. We're suggesting you try a legs and shoulder workout.

While more of an unconventional split, when you train these non-competing muscle groups together, you can make serious gains. Don't worry, we'll show you how to and explain why it works so well.

This article will discuss:

Whether you can pair legs and shoulders together
Pros and cons of leg and shoulder workouts
Programming options for leg and shoulder day
Best exercises for a leg and shoulder routine
Ultimate legs and shoulder workout for hypertrophy and strength

Ready to work those shoulder and leg muscles like never before? Let's go!

legs and shoulders

Can I Workout Legs and Shoulders Together?

Absolutely! These muscle groups do not compete with each other, which means that you can train them together without one affecting the other. When determining whether you can pair certain muscles on the same training day, it's important to think about how they'll be worked during the entire routine.

For example, your legs may be tired from those intense dumbbell leg exercises, but their fatigue will not affect your shoulder press, lateral raise, rear delt flies, or any other shoulder exercises you may choose. This means you'll be able to work both muscle groups equally hard, despite both being in the same routine. Because even if your lower body is fatigued, your upper body will still feel fresh and ready to use proper form as you target the shoulder muscles.

This opens up a world of opportunity for what you can do with a leg and shoulder workout. Let’s examine the pros and cons to help you understand if this is a good fit for you.

Pros of Leg and Shoulder Workouts

Let's first discuss the pros of performing a leg and shoulder workout. Spoiler alert: There are some great benefits!

1. Saves time:

Any time you can hit two muscle groups in a session, you're going to get more out of that workout. We will touch on this more shortly, but make sure you are advanced enough as a lifter to handle this. Pairing muscle groups together naturally makes for a more challenging routine.

Whether you are limited on training time or days or want to get a muscle group in multiple times a week, combining the two is more time effective than having an entire day dedicated to each.

2. Increases frequency:

Along with saving time, when it comes to how often to train, hitting these body parts twice weekly will get you double the shoulders and legs sessions. And lifters with some experience often see more results from hitting a muscle group twice a week¹.

legs and shoulders dumbbell workout

3. Increases work capacity:

There are many ways to structure this workout, but no matter how you slice it, training two muscle groups will be more work than one. By doing this, you are going to elevate the number of sets and reps your body can handle per workout. As a muscle grows in size with progressive overload, your body will be able to take more each session, leading to more overall gains.

4. Helps build lagging muscle groups:

If your shoulders or legs are weaker or underdeveloped, then all the benefits we just covered will help you grow them. By saving time and condensing these two muscles into one workout, you'll hit them multiple times a week, ensuring they grow, evening out your symmetry and muscular imbalances, as well as improving your gym performance.

Cons of Leg and Shoulder Workouts

The small list of cons all roll into one general concept. If you are a newer lifter, this may be too much volume for your body to handle.

Build your work capacity first by either focusing on one muscle group at a time or hitting all of your muscles with a full-body workout that doesn't focus on as much volume per muscle group. When you are ready to combine legs and shoulders into one workout, thus increasing your workout frequency and intensity, this routine will be waiting for you.

Remember, adding more sets and reps each week is proper progressive weight training, just like adding weight, so start with what you can handle. Too much isn't always a good thing.

It also may be overwhelming to decipher how to build this workout. Should you alternate? How do you prioritize moves? Do you hit one muscle in its entirety before the other?

Remember that this will not be combined with your typical leg day or shoulder day. The workout will be structured differently to ensure you are getting results. Don’t stress! We'll go over that shortly.

shoulder and leg workout routine

Essential Considerations for Shoulder and Leg Workouts

If you are ready to jump into this combo workout, then there are some things you need to first consider. If you are a novice lifter, keep progressing with your single body part split or a full-body routine. You can also choose to proceed with the shoulder and leg split, but you may want to start with your body weight first.

If you are looking to maximize results or save time by combining these two muscle groups, then let’s discuss what you should consider when planning and implementing your workout.

shoulder level

Should You Train Legs or Shoulders first?

By now, you likely know that questions like this often are answered with "it depends". Here are a few considerations that will help you decide.

1. Which Muscle Group is Lagging more?

An easy way to decipher this is to look at your physique. Which of these muscle groups is lagging behind the rest of your body? Whichever one you decide needs a little more attention should be done first.

When you get in your car and have a full tank of gas, you will be able to travel the farthest distance, right? When you start your workout, your gas tank is full. This is where you decide what’s most essential and train it when you have the most energy.

If you want to build muscle in your shoulders, start with your main shoulder compound movement and so on down your list of shoulder exercises. If it looks like you’ve been skipping leg day, it’s a safe bet to set up for squats first to make sure you do them when you are fresh.

And don't worry, whichever you start with, you’ll still have some gas in the tank for your other exercises. Keep in mind that over time, you will be able to switch this up based on what works for you or if your goals change.

feet shoulder width

2. Are You Currently Training Legs and Shoulders Together?

If you have already been training legs and shoulders together and they're both fairly developed, then you've got options. If you're equally happy with your muscle mass and muscular strength for both groups, you can pick whichever you'd like to lead with.

Or, you can even alternate which muscle group you start with monthly or weekly based on preference. Just keep in mind what your ultimate goal with this split is when determining which to focus on first.

Other Leg and Shoulder Workout Options:

There are several ways you can approach a leg and shoulder workout. Depending on which you choose, you can either add some variety to your routine or save time.

Alternating muscle groups:

This can break up the monotony of doing multiple exercises in a row for the same muscle group. It also gives your muscles some extra rest time. Let's say you've just finished a brutal set of squats. Your legs are fatigued, but your shoulder muscles are ready to go. By alternating, your legs get extra rest as you jump right into your upper body.

It can be exhausting to destroy one entire muscle group and then have to go torch another, which is why alternating works so well.

A quick example would be first doing rear delt exercises before your back squats. By performing the moves in this order, your shoulders will be nice and warm, which can be helpful for people who struggle with tight shoulders and holding the barbell during back squats.

leg and shoulder combo exercises

Supersets:

If you are on a time-crunch or are someone who can’t sit still, supersets work really well in a shoulder and leg workout. This is going to allow you to keep working almost nonstop.

As we discussed, most of these exercises will not affect your ability to work the other muscle group. You'll get into your leg starting position, perform your move and then jump right into a shoulder exercise.

The only con to keep an eye on is with compound lifts. If you notice that you are running out of gas or struggling to maintain form during your squats or overhead presses (or whichever compound move you choose), you may want to select a different superset. The last thing you want is to be too fatigued to do anything more than knees slightly bent during your squats - that's not going to get you the gains you're looking for.

Listen to your body and watch your performance to see what works best for you. Keep in mind that you can superset the entire workout or just some of the isolation exercises, like the leg press, at the end of your session.

For example, quad extensions followed by lateral raises will cut down on your total workout time, and it is very doable to alternate these with little to no rest. To follow the superset method, pick a leg exercise followed immediately by a shoulder exercise, or vice versa, with minimal rest in between.

leg building

Programming Options That Include A Leg and Shoulder Day

Programming is going to have a lot of variables for each lifter. It will depend on goals, experience, and available time. Here are some options for understanding where a leg and shoulder day can fit.

3-Day Split:

A 3-day split is best for a newer lifter who cannot handle as many days or someone with limited availability for workouts looking to save time. For those interested in this split, your 3 days and muscle pairings would look like this:

Legs/Shoulders
Chest/Back
Arms/Abs

4-Day Split:

The 4-day split is great for intermediate lifters or anyone looking for more frequency and volume for their legs and shoulders. Here's an idea of how you could split up your muscle groups and training days:

Legs/Shoulders
Chest/Tris
Back/Bis
Legs/Shoulders

5-Day Split:

A 5-day split is typically more of a bodybuilding style split for advanced lifters who want even more frequency. Here's what this split could look like:

Quads/Shoulders
Arms
Chest
Glutes/Hamstrings/Shoulders
Back

leg and shoulder day

Best Exercises to Include in a Leg and Shoulder Routine

There are endless exercises that are ideal for both of these muscle groups. To narrow it down so you're not trying to choose from a long list of barbell shoulder exercises, we've included the moves that will give you the most bang for your buck. The workouts we'll get into in a moment follow a simple yet effective method of focusing on order of importance.

Compound exercises that work multiple muscles are first, and isolation movements will round out the workout toward the end.

Leg Exercises:

Barbell Back Squats
Front Squats
Conventional Deadlifts
Romanian Deadlifts
Dumbbell Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats
Dumbbell Walking Lunges
Isolation Accessory Machine Movements (Quad Extensions, Hamstring Curls, Leg Presses)
Standing or Seated Calf Raises

Shoulder Exercises:

Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press
Standing Barbell Shoulder Press
Seated Dumbbell Arnold Press
Lateral Raises (Dumbbell or Cable)
Dumbbell Shoulder Shrugs
Dumbbell Bent-Over Rear Delt Flies

legs and shoulders workout at home

THE BEST LEGS AND SHOULDER WORKOUT ROUTINES

We've got three great routines for you. If you're trying to gain strength, the strength-focused plan is for you. If you're trying to build muscle, the muscle hypertrophy program will get you best results.

And for gym goers short on time, the superset focus is exactly what you're looking for. If you're performing the superset routine, start with exercise 1, follow immediately with exercise 2, and then take the recommended rest before repeating each move again for the specified number of sets.

Strength Workout:

Exercise	Sets/Reps	Rest time
Barbell Back Squats	4x6	2 minutes max
Barbell Romanian Deadlift	3x8	2 minutes max
DB Walking Lunge	3x10 each leg	1 minute max
Barbell Shoulder Press	4x8	2 minutes max
DB Arnold Press	3x10 each arm	1 minute max
DB Lateral Raise	3x15	1 minute max

Hypertrophy Workout:

Exercise	Sets/Reps	Rest time
Front Squats	3x8	2 minutes max
Barbell Romanian Deadlift	3x10	2 minutes max
Bulgarian Split Squats	2x10 per leg	1 minute max
Quad Extensions	2x20	45 seconds max
Stability Ball Hamstring Curl	2x20	45 seconds max
Standing DB Shoulder Press	3x10	1:30 max
Cable Lateral Raises	2x15	30 seconds max
Plate Overhead Raises	2x15	30 seconds max
Push-Ups and Bodyweight Squats Ladder	1 rep of each, continuously up to 10 of each	No rest

Time Saver Superset Workout:

Exercise 1	Exercise 2	Sets/Reps for each	Rest Time
Goblet Squat	Standing DB Shoulder Press	3x10 for each exercise	1:30 max
DB Romanian Deadlift	DB Lateral Raises	3x8 and 3x12	1 minute max
DB Step Ups	DB Front Raises	2x8 each leg and 3x12	1 minute max
DB Back Lunge	DB Shrugs	2x8 each leg and 2x10 slow tempo reps	1 minute max
Quad Extension Machine	Band Shoulder Press	2xFail for each exercise	No Rest
Lying Hamstring Curls	Push Ups	2xFail for each exercise	No Rest

Legs and Shoulders: The Muscle Pairing Dream Team

Whew. That went as fast as supersetting legs and shoulders. You now have the knowledge, exercises, workout split options, and programs to safely and effectively combine these muscle groups for outstanding results. Just remember your intentions for combining these moves into one routine, and you’ll be able to pick the best plan for you.

Related:

SFS Hypertrophy Program

Prepare to maximize your gains with our exclusive 12-week hypertrophy training program. Choose between a 4 or 5 day training split and gain 2-12 pounds of muscle over 90 days...

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References:

Dankel SJ, Mattocks KT, Jessee MB, et al. Frequency: The Overlooked Resistance Training Variable for Inducing Muscle Hypertrophy? Sports Medicine. 2016;47(5):799-805. doi:10.1007/s40279-016-0640-8

Travis Halena

Author

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