We often hear gym-goers complaining about the upcoming leg day and whining like a two-year-old. It infers that leg day is the most undesirable part of any workout routine. But why is leg day so hard to make fitness freaks and even professional athletes despise it?
We will cover the answer to this mystery in this article and suggest some tips to make your next leg day more manageable and pleasant. Read till the very end to learn some beginner-friendly leg exercises and the hardest ones if you are aiming to crush at the next leg day.
Let’s get started right away.
Contents
Reasons Why Leg Day Is So Hard
There is a deep-rooted stigma around leg workouts for being overly severe and unbearable, leaving you with sore legs. Although this statement is partially true, let’s find out why leg workouts are so complex and how we can make them acceptable using simple tips and tricks.
Here are five reasons why is leg day workout so hard:
1. You Train The Biggest Muscle Group Of Your Body.
Your legs play a significant role in your body as they carry the weight of your entire body and help you move around.
Since the legs are the biggest muscle group of your body, it makes sense why working with them isn’t all about rainbows because a more significant part of your body is under stress on a leg day than on regular days.
Furthermore, your entire body’s blood flow is directed towards your legs when exercising non-stop, making you feel nauseous and exhausted.
2. It Makes Climbing Staircases A Hassle.
Leg day workouts can seem harder when you climb stairs right after the training. It adds to the screeching pain because of muscle soreness and makes you question hundreds of times, why is leg day so hard?
3. You Are Drenched In Sweat.
People find leg days tough and unpleasant because it makes you sweat like crazy!
The sweating is similar if not worse than high-intensity cardio, so brace yourself and prepare lots of water. The key is to stay fully hydrated.
4. Post-Leg Day Hunger Is Terrible.
Another reason leg day is so excruciating is the sudden rise of hunger+anger emotions after the calorie-burning leg day routine.
When you encounter such a situation, we recommend you consume protein-rich foods instead of carbohydrates.
5. Trains More Than Just Legs
Hardest leg exercises like squats, lunges and box jump train legs, and these exercises also focus on training your abs and core muscles.
Therefore, such a gruelling workout is challenging and almost unbearable for the body.
What are the Easiest Leg Exercises?
If you find leg day extremely arduous, we recommend you to add the following exercises to your leg routine as they are comparatively easy yet equally efficient:
- Bodyweight squat
- Lying leg curls
- Goblet box squats
What are the Hardest Leg Exercises?
Below is the name of some hardest leg exercises that help you gain muscles despite being challenging:
- Barbell Front Squat
- Leg Press
- Walking Lunges
Start these exercises using your body weight and slowly add extra weights to get the most effective results.
How to Make Leg Day Easier?
Gym-goers, particularly beginners, may be intimidated by the intensity of leg workouts and find even the thought of leg day overwhelming. But don’t worry, we have got your back.
Here are three tips to make leg day easier:
1. Eat Lots of Carbs the Day Before
As mentioned earlier in the article, hard leg day workouts consume lots of energy and cause fatigue.
Therefore, we recommend you eat lots of carbs the day before the leg day so your glycogen reservoirs are full and you don’t feel much tired after the workout.
2. Shift Your Mindset
Change your mindset around leg day workouts, and you will instantly find leg days fun. Since people villainize leg day workouts, no matter how much you try, you will develop instinctive hate towards it and regard it as awful.
So, changing your mindset and tricking your mind into loving and enjoying leg workouts to get more endurable results is necessary.
3. Do A Full-Body Workout Instead.
We suggest switching to full-body workouts if you don’t enjoy the leg day. It will not only involve a hard leg day workout, but you will train your entire body.
Do only squats, leg extensions, and lunges, as it will train your legs correctly.
How Does A Hard Leg Day Workout Benefit You?
Like every other muscle group of our bodies, legs also require training but are often left unnoticed in favor of upper-body workouts.
However, solid and stable legs are required to maintain the overall body balance. Let’s take a look at the benefits of leg workouts.
Balances strength:
Working out your legs helps them fix muscle imbalances and align with your body uniformly. Furthermore, leg days ensure equal strength, mobility, and flexibility in both legs.
Stimulates hormones:
Large quantities of hormones, such as cortisol, testosterone, and human growth hormones (HGH), are stimulated by different leg workouts.
Each of these hormones has valuable functions for the body, such as:
- Human Growth Hormone (HGH) helps muscle growth and boosts immunity and metabolism.
- Cortisol enhances fat metabolism and reacts to the body when under stress.
- Testosterone assists in repairing damaged muscles and building skeletal muscles.
Other benefits:
Doing hard leg day workouts routinely also helps to:
- Get sculpted and well-toned legs
- Strengthen and stabilize your lower body
- Shape your butt nice
- Engage core muscles better
- Treat lower back pain
- Improve body posture
- Reduce joint pains
Final thoughts
Training your legs is as important as any other body part. Since the legs are the largest muscle group in our body, they must be fit and well-trained to achieve an active and robust body.
However, skipping the hardest led day exercises is okay if you are sick or injured because it is crucial. But make sure to make up for your missed training in one way or another.
That answers your question, why is leg day so hard? We hope you enjoy it!
