Tempted to miss leg day? We can totally relate. Leg workouts are the most meme-worthy routine for one reason — they cause excruciating pain and leave you limping the next day. But, a proper leg workout is priceless. They’re necessary for building muscle, toning calves, and preventing injury. That said, finding the willpower to commit to a leg day workout can be a tall order (pun intended). Unless you have this cheat sheet — a 30 day leg challenge chart that you can use to tone your limbs in a month. Combining 5 different moves with increasing intensity, this workout challenge is just what you need to get lean legs. And if you’re one of those folks who has blacklisted leg day altogether because of its reputation for being a painful exercise in futility, we have some tips to help reduce the discomfort as you embark on this 30-day leg challenge.
What Makes A Good Leg Workout?
Simplicity is the main ingredient of this 30 day leg challenge. Keeping the workouts simple makes the challenge easier to stick to, and guarantees results after a month.
Leg workouts can be split into two sections: quads (front of thighs) and hamstrings (back of thighs). Quads are large muscles that give your legs their strength while hamstrings do more to increase flexibility. Mixing these up with squats, lunges, and leg curls will allow you to gain size as well as flexibility. All of these exercises should be done with weights unless otherwise specified. It’s important to master the moves first so that your form is correct. Then, you can increase the intensity using different variations of each exercise.
The workouts in this challenge start with squat movement progress to a hip-hinge movement and end with a single-leg movement. The reps increase with each day. You also have rest days to allow for muscle recovery.
Why Leg Day Hurts So Much, And What You Can Do About It
Working out basically means tearing down muscles and building them back up. This causes a considerable amount of pain. But leg workouts come with even more pain because: the leg has the largest muscle groups in your body, and delayed muscle soreness can be brutal on large muscle groups.
Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is the aching, painful feeling you get in your muscles a day or two after working out. It gets its name from the fact that it “starts” a few hours (or even a day) after exercise. The pain can be pretty serious and sometimes limits any subsequent workouts because your legs are simply too sore to even try.
When your body tears apart muscle fibers, tiny tears form along the fibers that are basically little “holes.” The body then rebuilds the area to have more healthy muscle tissue. This process of degrading and then building up takes a lot of energy because it’s such heavy work. It also causes intense pain. Being sore the day after a workout is normal and actually healthy, it’s part of your body’s natural process to build muscle back stronger. But there are some things that can make your legs sore faster and more severely.
Working out with improper form or overtraining is the main culprit. It’s normal for your body to have those initial aches and pains when you start working out. If you continue to push yourself too hard and overtrain without proper rest periods in between sessions or workouts, then the soreness will only get worse over time.
You can still build muscle by doing low-weight high rep workouts where you don’t push yourself too hard or move incorrectly. Apart from rest days, and correct form these other tips may help you reduce leg soreness during this 30-day challenge:
- Warm up your body before starting a workout, and cool down after
- Foam roll your legs after workouts and on rest days
- Do some light bodyweight exercises to get blood flow to your legs
- Do yoga on rest days to relax your muscles
30-DAY LEGS CHALLENGE: THE WORKOUT PLAN
This plan starts off gentle and ups the intensity day-on-day. You may not feel much after the first day or two, but trust us – once you get to the end of the first week and beyond, you will! If you’re keen to up the intensity further, add some other leg-focused exercises into the mix over the course of the 30-day leg challenge. Jump rope is great for working out legs, or else knock out some squats or lunges while waiting for the kettle to boil.
Finally, don’t forget to stretch before and after your workout to avoid injury. The plan also factors in rest days to encourage muscle growth – don’t skip these! Instead use a foam roller to do some recovery exercises, focusing specifically on your leg muscles. OK – let’s do this!
Day 1
5 x Standing calf raise
5 x Squat
5 x Single leg lift
Day 2
7 x Standing calf raise
7 x Squat
7 x Single leg lift
Day 3
9 x Standing calf raise
9 x Squat
9 x Single leg lift
Day 4
REST DAY!
Day 5
11 x Standing calf raise
11 x Squat
11 x Single leg lift
Day 6
13 x Standing calf raise
13 x Squat
13 x Single leg lift
Day 7
15 x Standing calf raise
15 x Squat
15 x Single leg lift
Day 8
REST DAY
Day 9
17 x Standing calf raise
17 x Squat
17 x Single leg lift
Day 10
19 x Standing calf raise
19 x Squat
19 x Single leg lift
Day 11
21 x Standing calf raise
21 x Squat
21 x Single leg lift
Day 12
REST DAY!
Day 13
23 x Standing calf raise
23 x Squat
23 x Single leg lift
Day 14
25 x Standing calf raise
25 x Squat
25 x Single leg lift
Day 15
REST DAY
Day 16
5 x Calf raises with dumbbell
5 x Squat with dumbbell
5 x Romanian deadlift
Day 17
7 x Calf raises with dumbbell
7 x Squat with dumbbell
7 x Romanian deadlift
Day 18
9 x Calf raises with dumbbell
9 x Squat with dumbbell
9 x Romanian deadlift
Day 19
REST DAY
Day 20
11 x Calf raises with dumbbell
11 x Squat with dumbbell
11 x Romanian deadlift
Day 21
13 x Calf raises with dumbbell
13 x Squat with dumbbell
13 x Romanian deadlift
Day 22
15 x Calf raises with dumbbell
15 x Squat with dumbbell
15 x Romanian deadlift
Day 23
REST DAY
Day 24
17 x Calf raises with dumbbell
17 x Squat with dumbbell
1 x Romanian deadlift
Day 25
19 x Calf raises with dumbbell
19 x Squat with dumbbell
19 x Romanian deadlift
Day 26
21 x Calf raises with dumbbell
21 x Squat with dumbbell
21 x Romanian deadlift
Day 27
REST DAY
Day 28
23 x Calf raises with dumbbell
23 x Squat with dumbbell
23 x Romanian deadlift
Day 29
25 x Calf raises with dumbbell
25 x Squat with dumbbell
25 x Romanian deadlift
Day 30
REST DAY
