(Thanks to Millie Gee Photography for the best of the pictures below)

You’d be forgiven for thinking that I spend so much time hand-wringing and navel-gazing about training motivation and goals that I never get around to doing any (training). In fact I am chipping away week in and week out.

The leg focus this year = 150 chances to get them strong necessitates three leg days per week (deep maths there). This may sound a lot but it takes a surprisingly large amount of volume and intensity to get properly strong legs. We are far from pilates here and frankly I believe that while pilates is a great practise to do it is not going to cut it for legs that will keep you strong for life.

It is possible to thrive on three leg days a week, honestly. But to reduce risk of burnout and/or injury there needs to be a considered programme of load and overall volume. Going for a max big lift on session one may mean being too fried for sessions two and three, etc. Not lift heavy enough though, and there’s no progression.

This requires intelligent programming from my coach who I have been working with for three years now, plus it’s my responsibility to give feedback so that the plan can be adjusted if needed.

So, here are my ‘First 11’ leg exercises that often make up the core of the training. This is written from my point of view, preference, and experience and I am absolutely not qualified to give anyone advice!! Someone else’s list might look very different. But, for growing legs that will feel good now and hold you up even as an octogenarian and beyond, this I think, is a pretty cool starting line up.

They’re a combination of things that make you feel strong while you’re doing them, things that absolutely suck while doing them, and things that take every bit of concentration to do them….

a. Feel Strong Factor
Mood-wise these are the things I would choose to do if I wanted to remind myself that I am strong. If I had had a bit an argument with someone or was in some way frustrated – the answer would be: lift heavy.

Sumo deadlift:
Personally slightly preferable to a conventional deadlift and not only because my sumo max lift of 130kg is 2.5kg heavier than my conventional of 127.5kg. It just feels ‘nice’. Kind of a pretty feeling/looking lift if it’s done right? This one is all about feels.

Conventional deadlift
Lift it up, put it back down. The first lift that made me feel strong. Getting to 100kg for the first time as a middle-aged reformed couch potato felt amaaaazing. I also deadlifted through all of the Covid lockdowns and in freezing temperatures. In the picture below I am lifting 127.5kg at the British Master’s in Belfast in 2023.

You can also make this harder by standing on something (deficit deadlift).

RDL
My back and arms are pretty strong so I really have to concentrate to make sure I am using my glutes and hamstrings and not the rest of my body to shift the weight, and I need to keep my chest up more. I can do 100kg on these if I am really going for it but usually lift less to make sure I don’t fatigue myself too much.

Goblet squat
I believe this is a good variation for long-leggedy beasties like me. Heels raised makes this do-able and if we’re feeling brave we add a pause too. With the legs together like the picture I believe that these are also known as cyclist squats and they definitely get the quads….in fact when doing these is use in my head the famous saying from professional cyclist Jens Voight, ‘shut up legs’.

Leg Press machine
It’s not the most interesting thing to do in the gym but I couldn’t leave it out. We’ll call this one ‘boring but effective’.

b. High Suck Factor….
….does that equal big payback? Who fucking knows but in my head they do because otherwise there is no other earthly reason that I would voluntarily do any of these following four….

Bulgarian split squat
Confusing because whilst it is called a squat it seems to me to very much be a lunge. The aim for me here is control, going low and keeping my torso as upright as possible to make sure it’s my legs that are doing the work.

Box step up
I think these suffer from decades of sitting on my arse frankly, either at work or leisure. We have now ‘progressed’ to the box at its highest height which means I can no longer carry any weights. My thought process for this one is ‘feel like a granny now to not feel like a granny later’. My coach assures me that everyone finds them difficult so I don’t want to ham up the false modesty too much.

Lunge (all varieties)
There are loads of variations of these and the whole point I think is to be stepping upwards, downwards, backwards or forwards with one leg at at time. It sucks more than using both legs at the same time, which is of course, the point. There are many other explanations for why these are good which are more science-y. Good for glute development being one.

Hip thrust
These mostly just suck because I have never quite managed to make them feel natural….just not my preferred place to be, but I do them because they are effective.

c. Higher Skill, Endless Patience
These are the ones on which to really concentrate. If we were talking about the cricket team of exercises maybe the squat is really akin to being an opening batsman. Even though this is near the end of my list it’s the one I practice the most… I have probably done more squats than any of the other things on this list, possibly put together.

Back squat
This is my attempted hero’s journey to ‘master’ this lift. This isn’t really a good lift to focus on without a coach who really understands the lift. My tip would be to check out how well a coach lifts on their Instagram before trusting yourself to their expertise.

I do something called the mid-bar squat which seems to work for me. What can I say, my max is 110kg. I haven’t lifted that for years but now my squatting technique is better than that. We just need to go for it probably and I will check back in on progress in a while…. suffice to say this lift is a challenge that is always present, for me.

Pistol squat
Finally a little skill thing for fun. These are quite niche. A pistol squat is a one-legged squat and I hope that maybe with all the single leg action I might be able to do one before the year is out. I have no photo because I am yet to do one. It’s a cool aim particularly for the not wanting-to-be-doddery amongst us.

I am hoping this list will work for me for some years to come and I will report back on any personal bests that I happen to bag on the way.