The best leg exercises for building muscle in 2026, ranked with research: squats, Romanian deadlifts, leg press and leg curls, with sets, reps and a plan.
The best leg exercises for building muscle in 2026 are the deep squat, the Romanian deadlift, the leg press, the seated leg curl, the hip thrust, the leg extension, and the calf raise. Build each leg day around one squat or leg press plus one hamstring exercise. Aim for about 10 to 20 hard sets per week for quads and hamstrings, mostly in the 6 to 15 rep range, stopping 1 to 3 reps short of failure.
Your legs hold some of the biggest muscles in your body, and they need more than one exercise to grow evenly. Squats build the quads and glutes well, but research shows they do very little for the hamstrings. A complete leg routine covers the quads, the hamstrings, the glutes, and the calves.
This guide ranks the leg exercises with the best support from research, explains which muscles each one builds, and shows how to put them into a weekly plan.
The best leg exercises for building muscle are the deep squat, the Romanian deadlift, the leg press, the seated leg curl, the hip thrust, the leg extension, and the calf raise. The squat and a hamstring exercise do most of the work; the rest fill gaps or replace the squat when it does not suit you.
| Rank | Exercise | Main target | Best for | Typical reps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Squat, full depth (barbell, goblet, or Smith machine) | Quads, glutes, adductors | Heavy loading and long-term progression | 6-10 |
| 2 | Romanian deadlift | Hamstrings, glutes | The main hip hinge for size | 6-12 |
| 3 | Leg press | Quads, glutes | Heavy leg work without balancing a bar | 8-15 |
| 4 | Seated leg curl | Hamstrings | Hamstring growth at long muscle lengths | 8-15 |
| 5 | Hip thrust | Glutes | Glute growth with less quad work | 8-12 |
| 6 | Leg extension | Quads, especially the rectus femoris | Quad isolation after squats | 10-15 |
| 7 | Standing calf raise | Calves | Calf growth | 10-20 |
The squat ranks first because it trains the quads, glutes, and adductors in one heavy lift, and squatting deep builds more muscle than squatting shallow. In a 2019 study by Kubo and colleagues, 17 men trained full or half squats twice a week for 10 weeks. Quad volume rose by a similar 4.9% and 4.6%, but glute volume rose 6.7% with full squats versus 2.2% with half squats, and adductor volume 6.2% versus 2.7%.
A 2013 study by Bloomquist and colleagues found the same pattern for the front of the thigh. Over 12 weeks, 17 male students squatted either deep, to 120 degrees of knee bend, or shallow, to 60 degrees. The deep squat group showed larger gains in front thigh muscle cross-sectional area, in the range of 4 to 7%.
Barbell, goblet, or Smith machine squats all count. Pick the version you can take to full depth with good control and load heavier over time.
You need a separate hamstring exercise because squats barely grow the hamstrings. In Kubo 2019, hamstring volume did not change with either full or half squats over 10 weeks, even as the quads and glutes grew.
The Romanian deadlift is the standard hip-hinge choice: you lower the bar along your legs with a slight knee bend until you feel a strong stretch in the hamstrings, then stand back up. Pair it with a leg curl, which trains the hamstrings at the knee. Our guide to the best compound exercises for beginners shows how to learn the hinge with dumbbells first.
Yes, the seated leg curl builds more hamstring muscle than the lying leg curl. In a 2021 study by Maeo and colleagues, 20 adults trained one leg with seated curls and the other with lying curls, 5 sets of 10 twice a week for 12 weeks. Whole hamstring volume grew 14% on the seated side versus 9% on the lying side.
The seated position bends the hip, which puts the hamstrings on more stretch during the curl. The authors concluded that training at long muscle lengths promotes hamstring growth.
The leg press is a good quad and glute builder and a sensible swap if squats bother your back or you cannot get to full depth. It lets you load your legs heavily without balancing a bar or bracing as hard, and it is easy to push close to failure safely.
Treat it like a squat: use a full range of motion, lowering until your knees are well bent, and add weight or reps over time. Many lifters do squats first and leg press second, or alternate them across two leg days. For a whole week built on machines, see our ranking of the best machine exercises for building muscle.
You do not need hip thrusts, because squats build the glutes about as well. A 2023 study by Plotkin and colleagues trained 34 untrained adults with either hip thrusts or back squats for 9 weeks with the same number of sets. Glute growth was similar in both groups, while the squat group gained more quad and adductor muscle.
Hip thrusts are useful if you want extra glute work without more quad fatigue, or as a second glute exercise on a lower day. Our guide to the best glute exercises for building muscle ranks every glute option, including hip abductions for the upper glutes.
Yes. Leg extensions grow a part of the quads that squats tend to miss: the rectus femoris, the one quad muscle that crosses the hip. In a 2021 study by Zabaleta-Korta and colleagues, a group doing leg extensions grew all three measured regions of the rectus femoris, while a group doing Smith machine squats with matched volume grew only the middle of the vastus lateralis. Kubo 2019 also found no rectus femoris growth from squats.
A 2022 study by Pedrosa and colleagues found that leg extensions done in the bent-knee half of the movement produced greater growth in some quad regions than full-range reps. Make sure you lower the weight all the way into the stretch on every rep.
Build bigger calves with calf raises taken through a deep stretch at the bottom. A 2023 study by Kassiano and colleagues trained 42 young women on calf raises in a leg press machine three times a week for 8 weeks. Partial reps in the stretched half of the movement grew the inner calf by 15.2%, versus 6.7% with full reps and 3.4% with partial reps at the top.
Pause for a second at the bottom of each rep, and do not bounce out of the stretch.
Do about 10 to 20 hard sets per week each for quads and hamstrings, spread over at least two sessions. A 2017 meta-analysis by Schoenfeld and colleagues found a graded dose-response between weekly sets and muscle growth, with each extra weekly set linked to a 0.37% larger gain in muscle size.
Use 6 to 10 reps on squats and Romanian deadlifts and 10 to 20 on leg extensions, leg curls, and calf raises. Stop most sets 1 to 3 reps short of failure. Our guide on how many sets per week to build muscle explains how to count sets from compound lifts.
A caveat for single-session muscle activation data: a 2018 review by Vigotsky and colleagues warned that conclusions about strength and hypertrophy drawn from EMG comparisons are often unsupported. That is why this ranking relies on training studies that measured muscle growth directly.
A good leg workout pairs a squat pattern with a hamstring exercise and finishes with one or two isolation lifts, for 10 to 12 total sets. Run two leg sessions a week, alternating the main lifts:
| Leg day | Exercise | Sets × reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Squat | 3 × 6-10 | 2-3 min |
| A | Romanian deadlift | 3 × 8-10 | 2-3 min |
| A | Leg extension | 2-3 × 10-15 | 90 s |
| A | Standing calf raise | 3 × 10-15 | 60-90 s |
| B | Leg press | 3 × 10-12 | 2 min |
| B | Seated leg curl | 3 × 10-15 | 90 s |
| B | Hip thrust | 3 × 8-12 | 2 min |
| B | Standing calf raise | 3 × 12-20 | 60-90 s |
This fits a push/pull/legs split or the lower days of an upper/lower split.
Keep making progress with double progression: stay at a weight until you hit the top of your rep range on every set, then add the smallest jump available. On a barbell that is usually 2.5 lb (1.25 kg) per side; on machines like the leg press and leg curl, about one pin.
Alexandros is an iPhone app that works like a personal lifting coach you talk to. You log a session in plain English, like "squat 3x8 at 185, last set hard, then seated leg curl 3x12 at 90," rate how each set felt, and it tells you the weight and reps for next time using double progression and those realistic jumps. If your squat stays flat for three sessions in a row, it plans a deload. Alexandros is in early access; its terms say certain features require a paid subscription through the App Store.
The squat, done to full depth. Kubo and colleagues (2019) found full squats grew the glutes and adductors more than half squats, with similar quad growth.
Very little. In Kubo 2019, hamstring volume did not change after 10 weeks of full or half squats, so add a Romanian deadlift or a leg curl.
Seated. Maeo and colleagues (2021) found 14% hamstring growth with seated curls versus 9% with lying curls over 12 weeks.
Three to five is enough for most lifters: one squat pattern, one hamstring exercise, and one or two isolation lifts such as leg extensions or calf raises.
About twice a week works well for most people. It splits your weekly sets into two sessions, so each one stays short enough to train hard.
