Leg day routine?

cingle87
cingle87 Posts: 717 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Just wanted people opinions on my leg day routine to see if im over working my hams and glutes.

Leg day includes:

Squats
Leg Press
Calf rises
Stiff Deadlifts

Now I vary in which order I do them, but squat I tend to do upfront so I can give them the most energy, only thing im worried about 3 out of the 4 lifts use both the hams and glutes in a big way, am I going to over train them doing this routine? and is there something I should be adding to leg day instead of one of those three.

Replies

  • stt43
    stt43 Posts: 487
    You've just reminded me that I forgot to do calves in my leg workout today!
    I don't think you're overworking them. I do similar, but I do lunges and front squats too.
  • timkane46
    timkane46 Posts: 29 Member
    How many sets of each and how many reps ? I don't think you need to worry about over training legs. You do need to rest and eat to recover is you are trying to grow, rest is when you grow. I stretch, do a 5 minute warm up on the elliptical then do a superset of leg extensions and hamstring curls 4 sets of 10 as heavy as I can go with little rest in between then move on to leg press or squat doing 7-8 sets with rep counts like 15,12,10,10,8,8,6,6 . I will do calf extensions on the leg press or do seated or standing calf raises either supersetted or as a finisher.
  • eilbeck
    eilbeck Posts: 9
    I have 2 leg days. One where i focus Quads and one where i focus hams. If i merged them:

    Leg Ext. (2 warm up sets)
    Hack Squat (feet close together to focus outer quad)
    Leg Press (quad focus - low down on the plate)
    Leg Ext. (Unilateral)
    Leg Press (ham focused - so legs high on the plate pushing from heels)
    Laying Leg Curls
    Elevated Romanian Dead Lifts
    Seated Calf Raise
    Leg Press Calf Raise (Or standing)
  • cingle87
    cingle87 Posts: 717 Member
    I do 3x10 with 2 medium weight sets of 10 as a warm up
  • SOCOLOCO87
    SOCOLOCO87 Posts: 128 Member
    I like Dumbbell Alternating Lunges
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    I generally do Squats > Deficit Deads > Leg Press > Leg Extensions for mine. Squats are as per 5/3/1, accessory 5 x 5.

    Your routine looks fine, but I would swap out of calf raises unless you're specifically looking to make them grow since they get worked alongside everything else you're doing.
  • EricaFaythe
    EricaFaythe Posts: 37 Member
    Agree with the person who recommends lunges and front squats. As far as order, you should be doing the exercises that tax the system and work the most muscles first (like you're doing with squats) and save the isolations + accessory muscle exercises for last (like calves). You don't want to exhaust one muscle doing isos and then need it for a compound movement.
  • SkrillexFan
    SkrillexFan Posts: 42
    Clockwork lunges
    Squats
    more squats
    weighted calf raises
    leg extensions
    leg curls
    and a one mile run
  • GuybrushThreepw00d
    GuybrushThreepw00d Posts: 784 Member
    Low bar Squats - Pyramid sets
    Barbell Lunges - 3 sets
    Leg extension/Leg curl - 3 supersets
    Calf raises - 2 sets
  • grantdumas7
    grantdumas7 Posts: 802 Member
    OP, are you doing low or high bar squats? What about your foot placement on the leg press? If you are doing highbar/regular squats and are not placing your feet high on the leg press, then I would say you are undertraining your hams. Regular Squats and leg press hit mostly quads. You may even want work legs 2x per week with one day quad/glute dominate and one day hammstring dominate. Here is an example of my workout.

    Hamstring dominate.
    Pull thrus 3x8-12
    One legged dumbbell deads 3x8-12
    leg curls 3x8-12
    Quad dominate movement of choice, e.g., 1 legged leg press, back squat or front squat 3x8-12
    Calf work 4-6x10-20

    Quad/glute
    Front squats 3x8-12
    Lunges 3x12-15 or step-ups
    1 legged leg press 3x6-10
    calf work 4x6-10

    I do have some lower back issues due to disc degeneration between L5/S1 and the beginning of arthritis at L5. Once I feel 100% I will begin to add deads and back squats and may lift a little heavier.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Assuming you're doing fairly typical set/rep ranges, I think you're fine.
  • just_Jennie1
    just_Jennie1 Posts: 1,233
    I do legs every other day and alternate exercises.

    One day will be squats and lunges
    Another day is one-legged leg presses, leg extensions, leg curls, calf raises
    Another day is Ab/adductor machine and donkey kick machine
    Another day can be dead lifts (or good mornings), curtsey squats, step-ups (regular) or step ups into a lunge
  • cingle87
    cingle87 Posts: 717 Member
    Squats ive been low baring, and leg press ive been pretty much dead centre of the plate, sometimes 3/4 to the top. Typical this gets done x2 a week along with my other bro splits workout, again sets are 3x10 with 2x10 50% 1rm warm up.
  • grantdumas7
    grantdumas7 Posts: 802 Member
    Low bars will be a glute/ham dominate exercise. I think they are good if you are interested in how much you squat or if you are interested in powerlifting. If your goal is leg size then regular/high bar squat would be better. You could do one day low bar and another day highbar or even front squats.
    I think you are getting almost equal ham/quad stimulation on the leg press. The higher you place you feet, the more it will work the hamstrings.
  • cingle87
    cingle87 Posts: 717 Member
    At the moment I'm not interested in size per se, im currently cutting to goal weight before I get into building size, so atm is more about strength and lbm retention, come new year might leave off the cutting and just go for bulk cut cycle.

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