Leg Day getting you down? We know some things that might help.
We’ve all probably come across leg day memes at some point. From barely being able to walk the next day to some hilarious examples of skipping leg day for prolonged periods of time, the commotion has been around since the internet became a mainstream commodity. Jokes aside, leg day poses a great challenge to some, with others complaining about the lack of visual results post-workout. The straightforward truth is that the only way to make leg day more bearable is to do it more often. Not only will your lower half thank you, but you’ll be blasting the gym and getting absolutely no sores the next day!
Motivation
This heavily comes down to subjectivity but gaining the right motivation to tackle leg day is probably the first step you should be taking even before you leave the house. Try and think about the fact that you’ll be breaking goals, pushing your own boundaries, and venturing into your unknown capability. Use the mindset that leg day is only as hard as you make it. This largely depends on your own inhibitions and reservations but nailing the proper motivation to get you through the workout will help not only when you exercise but can also be applied to your everyday life. What ever said and done, it is called working out, not funning out.
Active Recovery
During your exercising journey you’ll undoubtedly be taking rest days in between gym visits. While you should take a day or two off between exercise days, it may be a clever idea to start the practice of active recovery. Rather than letting your muscles go into power-saving mode during your rest days, try to give them some light exercise to keep things in check. Active Recovery also has the added benefit of helping with those sore days, as getting the blood flowing to the sore parts of your body speeds up the repair process, so you can get back and at it in the gym in no time!
Try out some of these exercises LIGHTLY, and don’t strain yourself too much:
- Body weight squats
- Calf raises
- Glute bridges
- Arm assisted Nordic curls
Just remember that the best solution is to hit the leg muscles twice a week at minimum and try to avoid skipping them at all costs!
Hydration
This one is obvious, and you really should be doing this anyway whether you exercise or not! Keeping yourself hydrated during rest days as well as right after a workout makes the muscle repair process much smoother and leads to you being able to get back into the gym and hitting the dumbbells faster than if you haven’t. One little tip is to use ice baths post-workout to chill blast the muscles and fast track the repair process.
Leg day may be one of the harder hurdles to overcome out your workout journey, but trust us, the effort is well worth it to reap the rewards!
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