12 Week Leg Workout Routine for Men and Women w/PDF

Leg Workout Routine

If you’re looking for a workout program to build strong, defined, and sizable legs, you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, I’ll show you how you can design your own leg workout routine and share a sample of a 12-week leg workout program.

This program includes leg day twice a week. On the first day, you’ll perform moderate-weight sets to work on hypertrophy, while on the other day, you’ll do heavy-weight sets to enhance your strength.

The combination of heavy and light weight sets will help bolster your legs, improve muscle definition, and beef up mass.

This routine is suitable for all fitness enthusiats, from bodybuilders and athletes to powerlifters and typical fitness freaks.

Whether you’re a male or female, you can follow this program to build solid, defined, and sizable legs.

How to Design an Effective Leg Workout Program?

The leg workout program must include both compound and isolation exercises.

The compound leg exercises work on entire lower body muscles at once and help increase strength and mass.

While the isolation exercises allow you to put more emphasis on specific muscle groups and improve muscle definition and lower body balance.

An effective workout routine should also include high reps, medium reps, and low reps sets so you can build endurance, strength, and size.

You should also integrate a variety of equipment-based exercises, such as dumbbell, machine, barbell, dumbbell, and resistance band leg exercises.

And most importantly, you should perform exercises for each lower body muscle group every week to build symmetrical, sculpted, and firm legs.

You can design a routine by yourself with the help of the above instructions, or you can download the below workout program.

12 Week Leg Workout Routine for Strength and Mass

Instructions to Perform Exercises on Leg Day:

  • Warm-up: Perform five to 10 minutes of warm-up to increase your heart rate and activate your lower body muscles. You can run on the treadmill, do stationary bicycling, or perform some lower-body cardio exercises.
  • Progressive Overload: If you want to build strength and size, you should increase the number of reps and sets or load over time to challenge your muscles. Studies suggest increasing the load or putting more stress on your muscles helps promote strength and hypertrophy.
  • Keep yourself hydrated: Keeping yourself hydrated during the workout helps improve performance and minimize the risk of injuries, a study published by the Journal of Human Kinetics Suggested.
  • Adjustment: You can make appropriate changes in this program according to your fitness level.

Week 1

Leg Workout Routine for Men and Women

Monday (Moderate Weight)

ExerciseRepsRest
Dumbbell Front Squat20, 15, 122-3 min
Machine Leg Press20, 15, 122-3 min
DB Romanian Deadlift12, 10, 82-3 min
Machine Leg Curl20, 15, 121-2 min

Thursday (Heavy Weight)

ExerciseRepsRest
SM Back Squat10, 8, 6, 42-3 min
Dumbbell Front Lunges10, 8, 62-3 min
Barbell Hip Thrust12, 10, 82-3 min
Standing Calf Raises15, 12, 101-2 min

Week 2

leg day routine for strength

Monday (High Reps Focus)

ExerciseRepsRest
Dumbbell Pop Squat20, 15, 122-3 min
Machine Leg Extension20, 15, 121-3 min
Dumbbell Step-up12, 10, 101-3 min
Machine Leg Curl20, 15, 121-3 min

Thursday (Weight Focus)

ExerciseRepsRest
Machine Leg Press12, 10, 8, 62-3 min
Barbell Jammer10, 8, 62-3 min
Barbell Hip Thrust12, 10, 82-3 min
Standing Calf Raises15, 12, 101-2 min

Week 3

Monday (Training Hypertrophy)

ExerciseRepsRest
Bulgarian Split Squat20, 15, 121-3 min
Heavy Weight Farmer Walk20, 15, 12 (steps)1-2 min
Machine Leg Curl20, 15, 121-3 min
Cable Pull Through20, 15, 121-3 min

Thursday (Training for Strength)

ExerciseRepsRest
Barbell Back Squat10, 8, 6, 42-3 min
Machine Leg Press12, 10, 8, 62-3 min
Barbell Hip Thrust12, 10, 8, 62-3 min
Seated Machine Calf Raises15, 12, 10, 81-2 min

Week 4

Monday

ExerciseRepsRest
Dumbbell Walking Lunge15, 12, 101-3 min
Leg Extension20, 15, 121-2 min
Dumbbell Step-up20, 15, 121-3 min
Cable Pull Through20, 15, 121-3 min

Thursday

ExerciseRepsRest
Trap Bar Deadlift10, 8, 6, 42-3 min
Machine Leg Press12, 10, 8, 62-3 min
Barbell Hip Thrust12, 10, 8, 62-3 min
Glute Ham Raise15, 12, 101-2 min

Week 5

Monday

ExerciseRepsRest
Reverse Lunges15, 12, 101-3 min
Dumbbell Goblet Squat20, 15, 121-2 min
Machine Leg Curl20, 15, 121-3 min
DB Single-leg Glute Bridge12, 10, 101-3 min

Thursday

ExerciseRepsRest
Barbell Back Squat10, 8, 6, 42-3 min
Cable Pull Through12, 10, 8, 62-3 min
Barbell Hip Thrust12, 10, 8, 62-3 min
Standing Calf Raises15, 12, 10, 81-2 min

Week 6

Monday

ExerciseRepsRest
Dumbbell Curtsy Squat15, 12, 101-3 min
Hack Squat20, 15, 121-3 min
Leg Extension20, 15, 121-3 min
Prone Frog Lifts20, 15, 121-3 min

Thursday (Weight Focus)

ExerciseRepsRest
Machine Leg Press12, 10, 8, 62-3 min
Barbell Jammer10, 8, 6, 42-3 min
Barbell Lunges12, 10, 82-3 min
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift10, 8, 6, 41-3 min

Week 7

Monday

ExerciseRepsRest
Dumbbell Front Squat20, 15, 122-3 min
Machine Leg Press20, 15, 122-3 min
Single-leg Deadlift12, 10, 82-3 min
Machine Leg Curl20, 15, 121-2 min

Thursday

ExerciseRepsRest
Manual Back Squat10, 8, 6, 42-3 min
Cable Pull Through10, 8, 6, 42-3 min
Barbell Hip Thrust12, 10, 8, 62-3 min
Standing Calf Raises15, 12, 10, 81-2 min

Week 8

Monday

ExerciseRepsRest
Dumbbell Pop Squat20, 15, 122-3 min
Machine Leg Extension20, 15, 121-3 min
Dumbbell Step-up12, 10, 101-3 min
Machine Leg Curl20, 15, 121-3 min

Thursday

ExerciseRepsRest
Machine Leg Press12, 10, 8, 62-3 min
Barbell Jammer10, 8, 62-3 min
Barbell Hip Thrust12, 10, 82-3 min
Standing Calf Raises15, 12, 101-2 min

Week 9

Monday

ExerciseRepsRest
Bulgarian Split Squat20, 15, 121-3 min
Heavy Weight Farmer Walk20, 15, 12 (steps)1-2 min
Machine Leg Curl20, 15, 121-3 min
Dumbbell Frog Pumps20, 15, 121-3 min

Thursday

ExerciseRepsRest
Barbell Back Squat10, 8, 6, 42-3 min
Machine Leg Press12, 10, 8, 62-3 min
Barbell Hip Thrust12, 10, 8, 62-3 min
Seated Machine Calf Raises15, 12, 10, 81-2 min

Week 10

Monday

ExerciseRepsRest
Dumbbell Cluster15, 12, 101-3 min
Hack Squat20, 15, 121-2 min
Dumbbell Step-up20, 15, 121-3 min
Long Leg March20, 15, 121-3 min

Thursday

ExerciseRepsRest
Trap Bar Deadlift10, 8, 6, 42-3 min
Machine Leg Press12, 10, 8, 62-3 min
Barbell Hip Thrust12, 10, 8, 62-3 min
Glute Ham Raise15, 12, 101-2 min

Week 11

Monday

ExerciseRepsRest
Reverse Lunges15, 12, 101-3 min
Dumbbell Goblet Squat20, 15, 121-2 min
Machine Leg Curl20, 15, 121-3 min
DB Single-leg Glute Bridge12, 10, 101-3 min

Thursday

ExerciseRepsRest
Machine Leg Press12, 10, 8, 62-3 min
Barbell Jammer10, 8, 6, 42-3 min
Barbell Lunges12, 10, 82-3 min
Romanian Deadlift10, 8, 6, 41-3 min

Week 12

Monday

ExerciseRepsRest
DB Curtsy Lunges15, 12, 101-3 min
Hack Squat20, 15, 121-3 min
Leg Extension20, 15, 121-3 min
Prone Frog Lifts20, 15, 121-3 min

Thursday

ExerciseRepsRest
Manual Back Squat10, 8, 6, 42-3 min
Cable Pull Through10, 8, 6, 42-3 min
Barbell Hip Thrust12, 10, 8, 62-3 min
Standing Calf Raises15, 12, 10, 81-2 min

Download The Leg Workout Plan PDF

The Bottom Line

Working out your legs will also help you improve endurance, shed significant calories, enhance cardiovascular health, and boost athletic performance.

However, you need a good workout routine to train your legs effectively and achieve maximum results.

I’ve shared some instructions that will help you design a workout program for yourself. But if you need a ready-to-use leg workout routine, you can follow the above plan.

You can do this leg workout routine for 12 weeks to see progress. I hope it will make a difference.

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Picture of Murshid Akram

Murshid Akram

I’m a personal trainer, fitness blogger, and founder of thefitnessphantom.com. I help people achieve their best shape through my science-based and practical workout programs.
Picture of Murshid Akram

Murshid Akram

I’m a personal trainer, fitness blogger, and founder of thefitnessphantom.com. I help people achieve their best shape through my science-based and practical workout programs.

About Me

Murshid Akram, Author at The Fitness Phantom

I’m Murshid Akram, a personal trainer, fitness blogger, and founder of thefitnessphantom.com. I primarily design workout plans and share science-based and practical information that can help you become stronger, functional, and healthier.

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