Virat Kohli stresses on the importance of leg days

Don’t want to believe us when we tell you to never skip leg days? Take it from Virat Kohli instead!

Virat Kohli took to social media to talk about the importance of training your legs. Being disciplined in the gym is extremely important, and especially so on leg days. Given that the legs usually remain hidden, most people tend to skip or overlook that aspect of their training.

However, your legs support and carry the weight of your entire body and need as much dedication and care as the aesthetic and visible muscles like chest, back, and arms.

Kohli recently flaunted his toned legs in his latest social media post. He shared two pictures - one where he is performing a leg press and the other where he is working on his hamstring and calf muscles with the help of a coach.

“Every day should be a leg day. 8 years and counting,” wrote Kohli in the caption, referring to his eight-year-long journey of being consistent in the gym that has enabled him to stay on track with his health and fitness.

But why are leg workouts so important?

Training your legs can not only be necessary in building a strong foundation for the body but also helps to burn greater calories. “Our lower body holds the largest muscle in our body which is the gluteus maximus. By training in that area, the body will require more energy which essentially means burning more calories,” said certified fitness trainer Sameeran Chetia.

An added advantage of performing leg exercises is the fact that it adds to core strength and stability. As you do the conventional back squat, your core muscles work as stabilisers which helps in strengthening them. “Engaging your core during squats can give you a good ab workout as well. A few leg exercises that one should consider are the traditional squat, deadlift, lunges, step-ups, leg press, and others,” added Chetia.

In addition to deadlifting, such exercises help build strength, improve balance and coordination, and reduce the risk of injury.

As with all the other muscles of the body, the right way to grow the legs are with progressive overload. Try to increase your reps or sets or add more weight to your routine with the progress of time and as you get stronger.

Progressive overload can be done by manipulating any one of the variables in your training, such as increasing the weight, reps, sets, intensity, time under tension, or complexity of exercises. This challenges the muscles beyond what they are accustomed to, promoting further adaptation and growth.

For example, if you were performing weighted squats for three sets of 12 repetitions and it becomes easy, you can increase the weight by 10 per cent to make it more challenging. This increase in load forces the muscles to work harder, stimulating muscle growth and strength gains.