Beginners Leg Workout Programming: Ultimate Guide
Beginners Leg Workout Programming: How To Guide: Intro
So, you're looking for a beginner's leg workout routine to follow. Well, luckily for you, you'll be covered with that and more.
Because this article will also break down essential factors you'll want to bear in mind when it comes to creating a beginner’s lower body workout, as well as covering other questions and topics surrounding the subject, such as:
How to make a beginner's leg workout.
Considerations when creating a beginner's lower body workout.
Suggestions for compound exercises for legs.
Best warm-up for leg day.
What to do after leg day.
And more!
So regardless of whether you're reading this "Beginners leg workout" article to get started with a workout because it's leg day or because you're reading it on behalf of someone else and their journey - this will have you covered.
Coming from an online fitness coach with about ten years of experience within the industry and who has also built an impressive pair of tree trunks of his own.
Let's get stuck in.
Understanding the Importance of Leg Day for Beginners
Commonly skipped amongst newbie males and perhaps overemphasised amongst newbie females, training your lower body is crucial for various reasons, such as:
A more developed lower body will give you more strength and balance. The legs consist of large muscle groups, and building strength in these muscles will transfer into daily life and benefit various day-to-day activities and movements.
It helps prevent muscle imbalances, which could've potentially led to injuries, e.g., back and knee issues.
It helps with overall improvements in body composition since leg exercises tend to be huge compound exercises, such as squats, lunges, split squats, etc., and therefore contribute to enormous amounts of muscle building and calorie burn.
Because the lower body contains relatively big muscles, strengthening and growing muscles within them will help contribute to a faster metabolism.
Strengthening the lower body can and will significantly improve athletic performance, e.g., running, jumping, agility, etc.
Even with all that said and done, I believe anyone who skips leg day doesn't like to do hard things; it's laziness, and ultimately, a well-rounded program should address all major muscle groups. Ignoring your legs will mean you can only go so far on your health and fitness journey.
Not to mention that having a noticeably top-heavy physique can eventually make for a strange look, too - this could've perhaps been the only sentence necessary within this section of the "Beginners leg workout" article, and it would've been enough ;)
Preparing for Your Leg Workout: Best Warm-up for Leg Day
Warm-ups. Some people shockingly skip these entirely, whereas others emphasise it too much. Regardless of where you stand, you'll be pleased to know that, just like most things, there's a middle ground regarding warming up - about 10 minutes being a great sweet spot.
Warm-ups are crucial because they prime the body for exercise and help prevent injury. When muscles are warmer, they become more pliable and are more ready for strength training. It's no coincidence that injuries can often happen due to insufficient or non-existent warm-ups.
Regarding specific lower body warm-ups before a leg day for beginners, I suggest starting with a pulse raiser in light cardio, e.g., the stationary bike or maximum incline walking on the treadmill, followed by prioritising lower body mobility exercises.
Here's an example of a 10-minute warm-up you could do before your next leg day for beginners:
Two minutes of maximum incline walking on the treadmill.
90/90 Switches for 2 sets, 10 to 12 reps, with 30 seconds of rest between sets.
Ankle Dorsiflexion for 2 sets, 6 to 8 reps on each side, with 30 seconds of rest between sets.
Essential Exercises within a Leg Day for Beginners
First, when it comes to specific leg exercises or exercises for any body part, unless you're a powerlifter, none are "essential". There isn't a "must-do" exercise.
Although exercises that consist of the following will be ideal when it comes to building muscle:
Exercises that fit your structure.
Exercises with a high potential for loading, e.g. many dumbbell or barbell exercises for legs.
Exercises that have a high stability component, e.g. it's not done on a wobbly surface.
This means that exercises such as the Horizontal Leg Press, Kickbacks on the Stair Master, and Bosu Ball Squats are all poor examples of lower body exercises to include in a leg day for beginners because they lack at least one of the above.
With all of that said and done, there are a few exercises that you would do well to consider including within your workout plan, which are the following:
A hip-hinge, e.g., a Romanian Deadlift or Conventional Deadlift.
A lunge, e.g., a Reverse Lunge or Static Lunge.
A squat, e.g., a Barbell Back Squat or Goblet Squat.
To name a few.
The reason why these are strong suggestions is that this then allows you to work your lower body from various angles, giving you increased overall strength and muscle gain.
Additional considerations for you to make whenever it's leg day, which will overlap to an extent with the suggestions above, but is good for you to bare in mind, too, are:
Including single-leg and dual-leg quadriceps exercises, e.g., a Leg Press and a Bulgarian Split Squat.
Including single-leg and dual-leg hamstring exercises, e.g., a Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift and a Single Leg Hamstring Curl Machine.
A glute isolation exercise, e.g., a Hip-Thrust or a Glute Bridge.
Different planes of motion via stepping out laterally instead of always forward or backward, e.g., a Lateral Lunge.
Doing this will help prevent muscle imbalances and allow your body to grow accustomed to moving in different ways, reducing the likelihood of injuries.
Note 1:
These suggestions don't all have to fit into one workout session, as that could be a lot. Instead, think of these suggestions being ones you'd do well to include in an overall workout plan, e.g. if you have two leg days a week, then it'll be much easier to fit these in.
If that's not possible, bear these suggestions in mind over months, or even the year, and rotate amongst them every three months.
Note 2:
Generally speaking, you'd do free weight exercises at the beginning of sessions, e.g. Dumbbell Forward Lunges, and then leave leg machine exercises towards the end, e.g. Quadricep Extension Machine.
There are a few reasons why, e.g. with free weights, there's more of an injury risk, meaning if you do them whilst you're fresher, you minimise that risk.
Beginners Leg Workout Training Volume
Training volume is a critical factor whenever it's leg day. It will undoubtedly help when it comes to growing a stronger pair of legs. This can be covered by both workout frequency via your workout routine and sets.
Let's start with workout frequency.
Workout Frequency
Workout routines, which impacts the frequency you work your legs at, will play a significant role in how much your legs grow over the long term.
Of course, whilst you're in your earlier days of resistance training, you can easily get away with following a poor workout routine and still see success, as your body will be susceptible to muscle growth - hence the term "newbie gains". Although the more experience you accumulate over time, the more a quality workout routine will matter for muscle growth, and it's better to follow a quality workout routine now rather than later.
Anyway, there are many options for picking which type of workout routine to follow. A few splits you've probably heard about are:
"Bro splits", e.g., arm day, leg day, back day.
Push, pull, legs.
Upper and lower.
Truth be told, for all levels of experience, the workout split you should go for will depend on a few things, including, but not limited to, the frequency you can work out, your experience with working out, how much time you have to work out and what you enjoy most.
Another critical factor to remember is that you'd ideally want to work each body part twice a week, making either:
An Upper, Lower, and Full Body split being a great choice if you go to the gym 3x weekly.
An Upper A, Lower A, Upper B and Lower B being an excellent choice for 4x weekly training sessions.
This is also one of the many reasons I wouldn't recommend a bro split, ironically one of the most common splits amongst males starting out.
Sets
How many sets should you use to optimise lower body muscle gain on leg day? This might differ from what you want to hear, but it depends.
It depends on you as a person because everyone is different. By this, I mean different life stressors, genetics, experiences with working out, and more. So the only way to be absolutely sure is via trial and error.
One guideline you'd do well to consider whenever it's leg day is that the research currently suggests that beginners should aim for roughly 10 to 12 weekly sets per muscle group. However, from my experience, if you have minimal experience with strength training your legs and have barely completed a beginner's leg workout, you can gain muscle and strength with even fewer weekly sets.
This nicely brings up the next point: that more set volume doesn't necessarily need to go up the more experienced you become. In fact, since you end up lifting more weight over time, that naturally increases the amount of volume you're doing.
Before moving on to the next section of this "Beginners leg workout" article, the most critical point is that the amount of volume you should aim for ultimately comes down to your goals, recovery, and lifestyle. For example, someone with a busy job and stressful life will likely not be able to recover and progress from doing a high-volume program compared to someone with a relatively stress-free life.
Individual context is vital here.
Note:
The caveat for the abovementioned guideline is that you want to ensure that these are hard sets and you're taking the muscle close to failure when it's leg day to provide a proper stimulus.
The Role of Progressive Overload in Muscle Gain
If you follow me on Instagram @leoalvespt, you'll know the progressive overload drum is something I beat often.
Why? It's essential and something you'll likely overlook if you're not encouraged to implement it whenever it's leg day.
It's excellent turning up to the gym and getting a workout done - but to progress over the long term, you need to implement forms of progressive overload into what you're doing and to play devil's advocate - how are you doing that right now?
A progressive overload is non-negotiable and can come in various forms, including lifting slightly more weight, doing more reps, having more control over the movement, and increasing timing in movements that permit, e.g., the plank.
I'll attach some images explaining the concept in slightly more detail.
Tracking and Monitoring Progress for Results
Tracking and monitoring your progress is crucial for long-term improvement, not just your beginner's lower body workout but your overall physical development. Moving forward, it's a great idea to start logging your workouts.
Logging can be great because if you're not logging, how can you guarantee progression in your workouts and, therefore, be sure that you'll get closer to how to look more muscular in the most efficient way possible? You can't. Nor can you solely rely on memory.
Because remembering every single weight you used, for every set, for the specific amount of reps, for every exercise you did over the past few weeks is impossible. You doing all that means you're guessing, and if you're guessing - you're missing out on progress.
Logging also allows you to ensure progressive overload and see which exercises aren't progressing that you could swap out. Allowing you to better understand what does and doesn't work for you over the long term.
Rest and Recovery: What to Do After Leg Day
If you're wondering what to do after leg day, understand that rest and recovery are crucial for growing more muscular legs. If you train your legs twice a week, which is what I recommend when aiming to grow your legs, then about two to three days of rest between leg sessions is a wise idea.
I get it, though; it's easy to say that you're going to work out every day when you're at your most motivated, but here's a promise - if you manage to go to the gym every single damn day and weight train for 45 minutes plus, then you're not training hard enough when you're there.
Think of it this way: If you were training hard enough, you'd be taking those rest days.
Plus, it's important to mention that you're tearing your muscles down when you work out at the gym, lifting weights and progressively overloading.
Outside the gym, your muscles recover and grow stronger on rest days, with adequate protein intake, sleep, and intelligent programming.
So the next time you're being super consistent at the gym, don't hesitate to take that rest day to ensure you progress over the long term. You have many other responsibilities: work, family, or friends.
Note 1:
Suppose you're struggling with workout consistency; in that case, extra rest days should be the last of your worries, as you'd already be taking rest days with all the infrequent days of working out.
Note 2:
Although rare, I've encountered individuals, potentially yourself included, who'll speak about not taking rest days like it's a badge of honour. This is a silly approach. More isn't better. Better is better.
If you could get better results by working out without any rest days, I would've done it by now and instructed some Kairos Online members to do the same thing.
The Importance of Proper Nutrition for Leg Muscle Growth
Nutrition is undoubtedly going to play a role when it comes to muscle growth within your leg day for beginner's workout sessions. Let's speak about this some more.
Calories
It's interesting because there are three common ways this calories section of the "Beginners lower body workout" article could potentially be taken down:
You're scared of consuming too many calories because you fear you will gain fat. So you often stay within a calorie deficit, where you feel safest.
You understand that consuming more calories is necessary. However, you go way overboard with it and don't have an upper limit. You associate more calories with more muscle gain.
You have no regard for your nutrition at all.
When growing more muscular legs, you'll want to be mindful of these mistakes because your nutrition plays a big role.
The ideal environment for your body to be in regarding muscle growth is a slight calorie surplus.
Here's an analogy for you;
Think of your muscles as a flourishing garden you want to cultivate and grow. Just like plants need water, sunlight, and nutrients, your muscles require the right fuel for optimal progression.
Think of your calories as essential nutrients, providing the energy and building blocks for muscle development.
Suppose you, as a gardener, provide just enough water for the garden (maintenance calories). In that case, the plants will survive but won't experience significant growth. However, when you generously water the garden, give them the vitamins necessary, and place them in sunlight (a slight calorie surplus), the plants receive an abundance of nourishment, leading them to flourish.
It's the same way that being in a slight calorie surplus supports your muscle-building journey, promoting optimal protein synthesis, enhanced recovery, and efficient muscle growth.
So remember that just as a well-tended garden will flourish, your muscles will also blossom with strength and size when you supply them with the extra calories they need to thrive and reach their full potential.
Although, of course, you can overdo it too, because just like a skilled gardener who maintains the perfect balance for their plants and flowers and doesn't go overkill on the water, sun, and vitamins, monitoring your calorie surplus ensures that your muscles grow steadily, avoiding excessive fat gain and yielding the physique you desire.
If you need help determining how many calories to aim for when building muscle, click here for my calorie calculator.
Protein
This brings us nicely to the next section of the "Beginners leg workout" article: protein intake, which I commonly find my Kairos Online members struggle with before starting with me.
Your protein intake is crucial for building muscle in the lower body. The reason why you want to maximise protein intake whilst building muscle is due to several factors:
Protein is the building block for muscle. If you lack protein, you'll have a tough time building muscle; worse, depending on the severity of your chronic under-consumption, you may even lose muscle.
As mentioned previously, the ideal environment for muscle growth is a slight calorie surplus, and if your protein intake is inadequate whilst in a calorie surplus, this will result in unnecessary fat gain.
Protein helps with muscle recovery and growth.
Protein also helps with feeling fuller for longer, which is helpful because if you consistently walk around hungrier than necessary, this could result in excess calories, fats, and carbohydrates—likely leading to more fat gain.
This is not to mention the abundance of other health benefits protein intake provides, such as healthier skin, hair, and nails.
So overall, how much protein should you aim for? Well, you'd do well to either aim for a target of either:
0.7-1g per lb of your bodyweight
A gram per centimetre of your height
Start with whichever one feels less overwhelming.
Pro tips:
- Ensure you have a protein source at each meal - about 30g minimum is a great target.
- Front-load most protein at breakfast, so you're not playing catch up throughout the day.
- Unable to stomach some sources of protein? Opt for a powdered protein or a protein bar.
- If you get bored, then start varying sources.
Beginners Leg Workout: Step-by-Step Guide
Now that you're coming towards the end of this "Beginners lower body workout" article, here's an example of two 45 to 60-minute leg day for beginners workout sessions that you could do within the same week, implementing the bits of advice mentioned throughout.
Leg Day for Beginners A:
Warm-up:
90/90 Switches for 2 sets, 10 to 12 reps, with 30 seconds of rest between sets.
Ankle Dorsiflexion for 2 sets, 6 to 8 reps on each side, with 30 seconds of rest between sets.
Frog Pose for 2 sets, for 45 seconds, with 30 seconds of rest between sets.
Main Session:
Goblet Squat for 2 sets, 10 to 12 reps, with two minutes of rest between sets.
Static Lunges for 2 sets, 10 to 12 reps, with two minutes of rest between sets.
Glute Bridges for 2 sets, 10 to 12 reps, with two minutes of rest between sets.
Lying Hamstring Curl for 2 sets, 10 to 12 reps, with two minutes of rest between sets.
Single-Leg Seated Hamstring Curl Machine for 2 sets, 10 to 12 reps, with two minutes of rest between sets.
Leg Day for Beginners B:
Warm-up:
90/90 Switches for 2 sets, 10 to 12 reps, with 30 seconds of rest between sets.
Supine Hamstring Stretch for 2 sets, 10 to 12 reps on each side, with 30 seconds of rest between sets.
Frog Pose for 2 sets, for 45 seconds, with 30 seconds of rest between sets.
Main Session:
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift for 2 sets, 8 to 10 reps, with two minutes of rest between sets.
Reverse Lunges for 2 sets, 8 to 10 reps, with two minutes of rest between sets.
Hip-Thrusts for 2 sets, 8 to 10 reps, with two minutes of rest between sets.
Leg Press for 2 sets, 8 to 10 reps, with two minutes of rest between sets.
Lying Hamstring Curl for 2 sets, 8 to 10 reps, with two minutes of rest between sets.
Note 1:
If you're going to try these workout sessions, feel free to swap out individual exercises that you may be having a challenging time with, e.g. you could swap the Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift for some Rack Pulls if you're having a tough time hip-hinging.
Note 2:
I wouldn't recommend adding more sets as a beginner. As long as you're taking sets close to failure, this will undoubtedly be sufficient for lower-body muscle and strength gains. This is also of the assumption that your form is good throughout.
Note 3:
The sets mentioned within the leg day for beginners only include your working sets and exclude your warm-up sets.
When to Progress to Intermediate Leg Workouts
With the above said and done, you're probably wondering…
"But Leo, if that's a beginner's leg workout, then when and how would I progress to intermediate leg workouts?"
This might surprise you, but more advanced programming will look similar, e.g., generally speaking, there may be no need to do more sets or exercises. The extra volume tends to come through additional weight lifted over time due to the extra strength gains and a heightened ability to push yourself as you become better at performing the skill, e.g., the skill of squatting.
The only potential adjustments that a more advanced individual may make is they could start to introduce exercises that put more stress through the knee joint as they'll be better trained for it, e.g., Bulgarian Split Squats or Forward Lunges, as well as potentially adding training methods such as Drop Sets, DC Rest Pauses, etc.
Avoiding Common Leg Workout Mistakes: Tips for Safety
A few common workout mistakes you'd do well to avoid within your beginner's leg workout sessions are the following:
Doing too many sets with the assumption that more automatically means better.
Rushing through each rep is a common mistake. Ensure each rep is slow, controlled, and performed correctly.
Be mindful of not locking out on the leg press. There's a risk element with this, especially for a beginner.
Not treating compound exercises for legs, such as the Deadlift and Squat, as skills. You must practise and get good at these skills before progressing to relatively heavy weight.
Not giving the hamstrings or glutes the attention they deserve compared to the quadriceps, and instead, solely prioritising the quad-focused leg day.
Are a few, but not all, common beginner lower body workout mistakes you'll want to be mindful of.
When to Seek Professional Guidance
While embarking on a fitness journey and trying to grow your legs, knowing when to seek the assistance of a fitness expert, e.g., myself, can be a game-changer for achieving your health and fitness goals.
Now, you could potentially think something along the lines of…
"Leo, of course, you'd say that. You're a coach. We're not falling for that sales tactic."
To that, there are two things I can say;
I know the value of what a personal trainer can do, so much so that I've hired personal trainers and online coaches to educate myself and help me continue making progress. I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't do otherwise. That's how I know my service is a long-term investment.
Good personal trainers possess knowledge, experience, and expertise in designing personalised workout plans and nutrition strategies and addressing specific challenges.
If you are new to exercise, have specific fitness goals, or face obstacles in your progress, a coach can provide valuable guidance and motivation. Coaches can also assess your fitness level, tailor workouts to your abilities, and ensure proper form and technique, reducing the risk of injuries.
Embracing the support of a coach can empower you to make the most of your fitness journey, unlock your full potential, help keep you accountable and achieve long-lasting, sustainable results for a healthier and fitter lifestyle. Not reaching out to one could be what's ultimately going to keep holding you back.
Click here to enquire about working together and becoming a Kairos Online member.
Conclusion
I hope you found this "Beginner's leg workout" article helpful.
If you enjoyed reading this, then I'd recommend following me on one of my social media channels, such as Instagram, Twitter or TikTok, all of which are @leoalvespt
Speak soon,
Coach Leo
P.S. If you found this "Beginner's leg workout" article to be helpful, then please consider sharing it with a friend who'll take value from it too.
