Why I Love Leg Day

When I first signed up for a gym membership, they threw in a couple of free personal training sessions, which was perfect, because I like a kid on the first day of kindergarten, walking in to a room of third-graders: uncool and unsure. He put me on what he called a Two Day Split: upper body one day, lower body the next, and showed me the ropes.

So over the course of the next couple months, I followed his routine, expanded the routine to include other exercises, started to love the treadmill, and got so comfortable at the gym I thought I owned the place. Fast forward two years, I'm working out in my basement, and even though I know fun new workouts are out there, I still find myself doing leg day, arm day, run. Leg day, arm day, run.

I put up with this (somewhat) monotony because I love leg day so much (conversely, I despise upper body day).

Look at that form. Source: No idea, but seriously, props.

I've heard a couple people say they hate leg day, and I can understand why, its tough. I once had to run out of the gym mid-conversation because I thought I was going to puke on the poor guy's shoes. But then you just learn not to do legs on an empty stomach.

Anyway, without further ado and preamble, my top five reasons why I love leg day:

1. Stiff-Legged Deadlifts are my absolute favorite move. I love the way they feel. I love the stretch they give. The weights are really big too, which is also very satisfying. I'm getting to the point now my grip isn't strong enough to hold all the weight. 


2. Shorter workout time. Upper body days take a much longer time since there are much more muscle groups on upper body day (a lot divide upper body into chest/back/arms days for this reason). Lower body day is more short, more simple. Don't let short and simple fool you though. Those are big muscles you are working on, it takes a lot of energy and can drain you pretty fast.


3. I appreciate the transformation. Lifting weights, as opposed to running or pilates, more drastically changed the shape of my legs. Running and other cardio will shrink you, but you'll still be the same shape - just a smaller version. Pilates or yoga will give you long lean muscles, but won't result in anything drastic. Weights are what you need to reshape.


4. Stiff-Legged Deadlifts.


5. Stiff-Legged Deadlifts. 

And there's the list! For those interested in trying it out, here's a link to a good Stiff-Legged Deadlift tutorial. 

happy deadlifting.