Now that the gyms are starting to open up more it’s time to go over one of my favorite gym days. My full leg day workout at the gym.
If you are looking for a workout that will have you limping out of the gym this is the blog post for you.
This is my push pull leg routine: full leg day workout at the gym with all the sets and reps mentioned as well.
The Equipment That I use
I also previously went over my full “push day workout at the gym” if you are interested in that too.
Before we start I will go over some of the equipment that I use.
The equipment that I use isn’t necessary but can be helpful for you if you have some pain or issues.
For me, I like to use them and they help me focus more on the movements and the muscles that I am trying to work.
One of the main things that I use for almost all of my leg day workouts is a lifting belt.
Using a belt for me helps with my lower back and helps me focus on stabilizing my core when squatting and RDL’s.
The lifting belt that I use is from amazon and it’s called “Hawk Sports Lever Belt”
The next pieces of equipment that I have are knee sleeves. Personally, I haven’t used these in a while.
But when I did it helped with keeping my knees more stable.
The knee sleeves that I use is from amazon also and are called “Modvel”
Now that we have gone over the equipment that I use now it’s time to go over the exercises, reps, and sets that I do.
Warmup and mobility work
But first I do my “warmup and mobility work” to get my body warmed up and loose so I won’t be tight when I’m lifting.
Squats
Let’s first go over the bread and butter of leg day at the gym which is squats.
I personally have a love and hate relationship with squats… but it’s a staple and do them for the most part every leg day
One tip that I have for squats is to keep your core tight the whole and if you are using a belt push out your stomach.
You also want to tighten your core at the same time to brace yourself.
Take a deep breath and start to go down slowly while controlling the weight.
And if you are having trouble trying to feel more of your glutes you can watch this video which was helpful for me. “How to feel more glutes when squatting”.
This one tip has helped me so much to get stronger and more out of my squat.
I do 1 warmup set with now weight for 15-20 reps.
Then I start to go up till I get up to my 5 rep max. So in total, I do 5 sets of 15-10-8-6-5.
Romainan Deadlifts: RDL's
Now that I’m done with my squats I go into RDL’s
I recently started doing these more on my leg day and I’ve grown to love these for my hamstring and glutes.
For this one make sure that you start the movement in your hips and push them while keeping your back straight and tight core.
Also when you’re coming up from the movement squeeze your glutes to feel more of the contraction when you are coming up.
I do 4 sets of 12 for these with a moderate weight.
Leg Press Machine
Next, I go into the leg press machine. I also just started getting more into these and when I tell you I’m limping once I’m done… you’ll definitely feel your quads ounce you’re done.
I like to have my legs shoulder-width apart with my feet in the middle of the platform to feel more quads.
If you want to feel more hamstring, raise your legs closer to the top of the platform.
Make sure that you are controlling the weight on the way down and push through your feet up to get the best contraction.
I do 4 sets of 12
Seated Calf Raises
Now I go into my seated calf raises. Again I just started doing these a couple of months ago.
And I have even been doing them on the days that I don’t do legs.
I have really been seeing great progress on the size of my calves.
If you don’t have a seated calf raise machine in your gym you can get 2 heavy weight dumbbells and place them on your thighs once you are seated.
Or you can even use a heavy plate instead.
Then you want to push down and forward on the dumbbells and start to do your calf raises.
I like to hold the contraction at the top of the movement to really feel the squeeze in my calves.
I like to do 4 sets of 20.
The one thing with calves is that they recover relatively fast so you can basically do them every day if you want to see even more growth.
Hamstring Curls Superset With Standing Calf Raises
The last exercise that I do on my leg workout routine at the gym are hamstring curls and superset with standing calf raises.
Yes, more calf raises… no small calves around here lol.
With the hamstring curl machine just like with the seated calf raises I like the hold to contraction to feel the squeeze with my hamstring and go down slowly to really feel it.
These are a great leg finishers to really kill your legs. Especially since I superset they with standing calf raises.
Just like the seated calf raises I hold at the top range of motion and go controlled.
If you want you can also put a plate under your feet and have the balls of you feet on the edge of the plate.
This will increase the range of motion in your calves and will make you have a better stretch in your calves.
And after that I’m done. Depending on how I felt during my leg day workout I will decide if I need to stretch after or not.
If I’m really feeling sore then I will stretch but if now I won’t.
If this helped you make sure to share this or if you know someone that needs help to figure out what to do for the leg day workout share this with them.
Make sure to come back next week for full back and bicep day workout.
