“What day is it?”

I was coaching some students this week when they asked me what day it was.  I said “Tuesday”; it was!  They responded with “no is it leg day; chest day etc.?”.

I then gave my perspective on “leg day” and such body part split routines, partly expecting to hear them reply with what they had seen on the internet and social media contradicting me. Refreshingly, once I had finished they said my opinion was really interesting!

So what is my perspective on such training routines?  Obviously people have different ways of training various body parts and many use split routines. However, many appear to train legs in particular, to the point of exhaustion/injury causing a great deal of fatigue and stiffness that then lasts for days. This can result in only one training session on legs for that week. Within that training session, due to repeated exercises on the same muscle groups, the last exercise or sets can be compromised in terms of technique thus increasing the chances of injury and decreasing the benefits of the training session.

An alternative way of training and a way that works better for most people that want to get overall strength and tone in a more time efficient manner, is to train all muscles groups within one session.  Using sufficient exercises, sets and repetitions and an appropriate weight to facilitate muscle adaptations gives improvements whilst significantly decreasing the chance of injury.

Below is an example that I found of a leg day training session:

Leg Extensions
Barbell Squats
Leg Press
Hamstring Curls
Standing Calf Raise
Seated Calf Raise

Lots of repetition and pre exhausting certain muscle groups before then expecting them to work well in the next exercise that requires their engagement again along with others.

Below is an example of what could be done over the course of a week. These are just the lower body exercises within the training session and I would recommend splitting them up with upper body work to allow the legs to recover. This example of lower body exercises works all of the lower body muscle groups and due to the rest days between sessions will allow enough time for the muscles to recover as well as adapt.

An alternative to the above and a really time efficient and hugely beneficial workout would be more whole body exercises such as a push press or high pull. These exercises also have a good aerobic effect as well over a set of 10 reps.

I hope that the above helps you with your training.