Leg day question

Jumpropegirl5467

Hello,
In my fitness routine I have two leg days (weight training) one Monday and one Friday. I do the same exercises on both days. However I was wondering if I could change my Friday to HIIT with a stepper. Will it still work (strengthen) my legs enough to count as a leg day ? Or will it be more of a cardio day rather than a leg strengthening day. Thoughts ? Thanks.

Retroguy2000

I don't know what "HIIT with a stepper" means.

If you're doing enough volume, doing steps or lunges etc. with bodyweight will challenge your legs similar to fewer reps with higher load. It's like ten reps of chest press with dumbbells might be similar to 50 pushups, for example. I'd probably count it as a cardio session. The thing is, if your CV system gets fatigued faster than your leg muscles, then it's maybe not equivalent to a proper leg day.

Really, it depends what your goals are. Burn calories, aka "tone"? HIIT will do that more than weights. Build strength? Do heavier weights with about 5 reps. Build muscle? Maybe you'll get enough weekly volume with one leg day and a HIIT stepper day, along with progressive overload, enough protein, etc.

nossmf

You don't have to hammer legs until they are wobbly and barely keeping you upright for it to count as a productive leg day. If by "HIIT with a stepper" you mean you place a raised platform before you, place your foot on it and push yourself higher, then back down and repeat, it can indeed count as leg work. But if you're only doing this for 10 seconds at a time, rest 20 seconds, and repeat for a total of 5 minutes, then that's likely not enough volume to get the benefit you're wanting.

Now, if you want to do all the same exercises, just maybe with a lighter weight and/or fewer sets, reserving time to add in this HIIT stepper phase, wow, you just hit that leg day out of the park!