Leg day does not deserve the disrespect it gets

Picture this: It is a cold winter night somewhere during finals season in December. You decide to put your studying to the side to relieve some stress by hitting the gym. However, today isn’t just any regular day at the gym. Today is LEG day.

Walking in with headphones, blasting “Teen Bean” by Ken Carson,  riding the high after inhaling 300mg of pre-workout and running on two hours of sleep, is a routine that I developed while I was miserably suffering through studying for my SATs and keeping up with my piling school work. Life was rough. Leg day at the gym somehow made that all feel better.

Call me crazy, but I LOVE the soreness after a good leg workout. Though it is a known fact that soreness resides the longest in legs over any other muscle group, the feeling of walking around school the next day with sore muscles barely able to make it from one class to another happens to be the most soothing feeling possible. After an intense leg workout, I know I worked hard when my legs start shaking and I am unable to walk afterward. However, on upper body days, the soreness is minimal. Almost as if I am not putting enough energy into my workouts.  

Walking up to the squat rack and placing my headphones on top of my hoodie, my mind wanders off of any stressful tasks during my day to think about nothing other than lifting the weight in front of me. Starting at a humble 45 lbs and moving up up to 225 lbs instills confidence and strength as I continuously slide more 45lb plates onto the barbell. The soreness is just a plus.

Compound leg exercises, compared to every other muscle group, burn the most calories compared to any upper body exercise like lat-pulldowns or bicep curls. Why? The gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the human body. On leg days, it helps to provide more support during compound movements like the squat and leg press. Training the largest muscle requires the most amount of effort, henceforth burning the most calories.

During hoodie and sweatpants season, no other workout even comes close to a leg workout. Besides the serious points, people who don’t train their legs end up looking disproportionate. Seriously, it’s not a good look. You are better off putting yourself through the intense leg workout and at least looking proportional to your upper body (*cough cough* teenage boys). 

All in all, it’s certainly in your best interest to start training legs if you don’t already. And if you do already, I applaud you. At least you won’t look like a chicken!