Help……… Please tell me how to make leg day more enjoyable 😂. I dread it, I sure do love upper body day though. I am currently using Fitbod for my workouts, like today was leg press, seated leg curl, leg extension, deadlifts, cable pull through.
I'm not sure if there's such a thing as loving leg day, until after it…
One thing to consider is the possibility of built-up fatigue, especially if you are doing a lot of separate cardio work which works the legs a lot. So maybe you don't need to do as many sets as you're doing, for example. And the deadlifts, it's fine as an exercise, personally I prefer RDL and barbell row or other row, but YMMV. Anyway, it's quite tiring. Maybe lowering the volume on that or removing it entirely will help you. I see you already have a hip hinge exercise there with the cable pull through, and if you do some rows on another day you're probably covered.
Thank you I will try that suggestion.
@Retroguy2000 actually, I love leg day! Today was leg day, in fact!
@emileysmom14
Part of learning to appreciate leg day is psychological. Many/most people are significantly stronger in the lower body than in the upper; it can be an ego boost to realize that your leg day warmups are heavier than your upper body maxes!
Part is physiological. When you work a muscle, it releases hormones which help with the recovery, healing the microdamage which occurs during lifting, increasing muscle size and strength. But these hormones don't stay limited to that exact muscle; the blood stream carries them all over the body. So hormones released on leg day are available to assist all the muscles in the body as they recover from their respective workouts. Meaning: leg day will assist the upper body to become better! And since the muscles in the legs are larger, the amount of growth hormone released is also larger. (All those guys walking around with huge torsos but chicken legs who skip leg day? Think how much MORE progress they could make if they added leg day!)
Part is the workout itself. Too many people have the notion that a good leg workout means working so intensely that you literally crawl out the door after, because your legs are so completely exhausted and sore. In fact, this is a TERRIBLE way to perform leg day! Your legs shouldn't feel any more sore or tired than your upper body does after it gets worked over. If you do feel destroyed, you'll feel better (and likely get better results) if you back off the intensity a bit, at least until you work up over time.
Leg day, even more than upper body day, has a HUGE variety of exercises available to work the muscles. Don't like squats? There are dozens of options available! And even if you do stick with squats, even small changes can make a HUGE impact in how the exercise feels. Move the feet further apart/closer together, point the toes straight ahead or angled out up to 45 degrees, place the bar higher or lower on your shoulders, go barefoot or with shoes, go heavier for fewer reps or lighter for more reps, do a front squat or safety bar squat or DB squat or goblet squat or Smith squat or or or or…. Experiment with different exercises, different ways to do the same exercises, you can find a version you actually like! (Or at least no longer hate.)
Thank you, what a great way to look at it. I really appreciate that and will definitely look at leg day differently.
I used to also dread it but now I prefer it! As someone else mentioned, so many move patterns can be switched out on leg day. Strong legs = vitality.
