What is the best day to train legs during the week?

If you divide your training by muscle groups (the most common approach), you may wonder what the best day to train legs is each week and whether this can influence your results.

So, is there a best day to train legs? The most important thing is to train legs regularly. That said, there are situations that make a specific day better for training legs. For example, if you train in a very busy gym, training legs on Monday may be more productive, since most (men) train chest on that day.

To avoid creating expectations and avoiding the obvious, it's important to understand that regular leg training—regardless of the day—in a well-designed routine is the most important factor for achieving good results. Changing the day of the week you train your legs is a "fine-tuning" that won't have much impact on the overall plan.

See, unless you work out at a very quiet gym (something increasingly rare), you're likely to find yourself in line to use certain equipment, which can be even more prevalent on leg day, since several key exercises can be done on machines.

Even though you have the option to take turns, this can still be a problem if you are using very different loads than the person you are taking turns with, or if you have multiple people taking turns at the same time.

Since the (unofficial) world chest training day is Monday, a good portion of the male audience will be far from the squat rack on that day, which creates an opportunity to train legs in a more relaxed way.

Furthermore, even if this weren't the case (with the chest being trained more on Monday), most men don't usually start the week with a heavy leg workout and will end up preferring to train their upper body, and you – whether you're a man or a woman – can take advantage of this.

Compound leg exercises often recruit a large amount of muscle mass at once, which will inevitably make the workout more difficult and exhausting.

We also need to consider that most leg workouts involve training both sides of the legs—quadriceps and hamstrings—on the same day. It's as if you were training chest and back on the same day, using the heaviest exercises available.

Therefore, it makes sense to start the week with the most difficult one, especially if you rested over the weekend. This way, you have the energy to train the most difficult muscle group and still have a clear conscience about having "paid" the greatest penance at the beginning of the week.

It's common sense: you'll train a difficult muscle group early in the week when it's fresher and ready to put in the hard work, which can allow for a more productive workout.

Furthermore, just imagine the opposite situation: training legs later in the week, when you've already pumped your entire body, worked for five days, and faced the stress of the entire week, but remember you still have a leg day to face. This can even make some people consider skipping leg training "just this once."

In any case, training legs at the beginning of the week can prevent all of this.

So far, we've seen that the most important thing is to train legs—regardless of the day—but Monday can provide a more relaxed and productive workout. However, if there's a potentially better day to train legs, what would be the worst?

Regardless of your training split, leaving leg training for the last day of the split tends to be the worst, because it will be the day where your recovery will be the worst (as mentioned in previous topics).

Also, keep in mind that training legs at the end of the weekly cycle will leave you spending your rest day possibly sore and having difficulty moving properly.

Most compound leg exercises tend to strain the lower back, such as the free squat and stiff leg squat (just to name a few).

If, for example, you trained your back the day before and it happened to be a workout with a lot of free rows or deadlifts, it's possible that you strained your lower back and, in some cases, this could affect the safety of your leg workout the next day.

In situations like this, it's best to take a day off to train your legs or train in a way (or a muscle group) that doesn't put as much stress on your lower back.

Starting the week training legs (usually on Monday) has a slight advantage compared to other days and ending the week training legs has a slight disadvantage.

However, none of this matters if your time doesn't allow you to train legs on your "best day" – this is where your priorities shift, because you no longer have the luxury of choice. The key point is that you need to train legs at least once a week – regardless of the day – since the most important factor for long-term results is regular training.