Can I Train Legs and Shoulders Together?

By combining leg and shoulder exercises in a single workout, you can effectively target multiple muscle groups, improve overall strength and endurance, and enhance balance and stability.

It is essential to carefully design your training program to achieve optimal results and allow for proper muscle and nervous system recovery time.

Benefits of Leg and Shoulder Workout

Training your legs and shoulders in the same workout can offer many benefits. First, it can save you time and increase efficiency by targeting both muscle groups in a single session.

In addition, combining leg and shoulder exercises can provide a full-body workout, improving overall strength and endurance. Also, working out these two muscle groups together can increase the intensity of the workout and help burn more calories.

Finally, you have many options for how to design a leg and shoulder workout based on your fitness goals.

• Increase efficiency
• Full-body workout
• Burn more calories
• Can modify for your fitness goals

Leg and Shoulder Workout Split

Your workout split refers to how you schedule weekly workouts to train each muscle group. And designing your workout split effectively ensures each major muscle group gets worked entirely without overtraining.

There are a couple of different ways to program a leg and shoulder workout into your routine, depending on your experience level and schedule.

Option 1: Beginner Leg and Shoulder Split

If you’re new to working out, you can try a leg and shoulder workout as part of a 3-day training split where you focus on two muscle groups per workout.

This approach is great for those who have limited time and can’t commit to the traditional 5-day bro split workout, where you work on each muscle group separately.

To give you an idea, here’s an example of a 3-day leg and shoulder workout split for beginners:

• Day 1 – Legs and Shoulders
• Day 2 – Back and Biceps
• Day 3 – Chest and Triceps

Ideally, you would have a rest day between each workout to allow ample time for your muscles to recover before training again.

Option 2: Advanced Leg and Shoulder Split

Incorporating a leg and shoulder workout can benefit those seeking to train each muscle group twice per week. This modified bro-split is ideal for intermediate to advanced lifters who exercise 5 to 6 times a week.

It’s wise to further break down larger muscle groups, such as the legs, to avoid overtraining. A good example would be dividing leg day into two separate days, focusing on the quads on one day and the glutes and hamstrings on the other.

Here is an example of an advanced 6-day leg and shoulder workout split:

• Day 1 – Quad-focused Legs and Shoulders
• Day 2 – Mid/Lower Chest and Triceps
• Day 3 – Upper Back and Biceps
• Day 4 – Shoulders and Upper Chest
• Day 5 – Glute/Ham Legs and Lower Back
• Day 6 – Biceps and Triceps

As you can see, the arms and legs are broken out into their individual muscle groups, allowing them to be paired with other smaller muscle groups. This approach allows twice-weekly training without putting as much stress on your body as you would with two full leg days.

Remember, this is just one example, and you can pair muscle groups in many different ways based on your recovery and training goals.

Leg and Shoulder Workout Examples

Now that you know how to program your leg and shoulder workout into your training split, let’s get into what an actual workout might look like. This includes the exercises, sets, reps, and rest periods.

Should I Do Legs or Shoulders First?

When deciding which muscle group to train first during a workout, there are a few different approaches. The most common one is to train the largest muscle group first, which is the legs. This way, you have more energy available for exercises that require the most intensity, like squats.

Another approach is called priority training. This involves training your lagging muscle group first to give it the best chance of responding to the workout. For example, if your shoulders are weaker than your legs, you might choose to train your shoulders first.

Finally, you could also alternate between muscle groups with each exercise. This allows each muscle group to rest and recover before you begin the next exercise.

Example 1: Leg and Shoulder Workout (Legs First)

In this workout, you train your legs first with quad-focused exercises. Then, you train your shoulders in the second half of the workout since they are a smaller muscle group and generally require less energy.

• Front Squats or Heel Elevated Squats
  • 4 sets, 6-10 reps
• Leg Press (Feet Low & Close) or Hack Squats
  • 4 sets, 8-12 reps
• Leg Extensions
  • 3 sets, 10-15 reps
• Lunges
  • 3 sets, as many reps as possible (AMRAP)
• Arnold Dumbbell Press
  • 4 sets, 8-12 reps
• Lateral Raises
  • 4 sets, 8-12 reps
• Barbell Shrugs
  • 3 sets, 10-15 reps

I’ve incorporated alternative exercises into this workout to give you more flexibility. But feel free to substitute similar exercises if you don’t have a particular piece of equipment.

Example 2: Leg and Shoulder Workout (Shoulders First)

In this workout, you prioritize your shoulders by training them first when your energy levels and intensity are highest. Legs are trained second in this case, using exercises for the glutes, hamstrings, and quads.

• Overhead Press
  • 4 sets, 6-10 reps
• Landmine Lateral Raise
  • 4 sets, 8-12 reps
• Rear Delt Fly
  • 3 sets, 8-12 reps
• Dumbbell Shrugs
  • 3 sets, 10-15 reps
• Leg Press (Feet High & Wide)
  • 4 sets, 8-12 reps
• Goblet Squats
  • 3 sets, 10-15 reps
• Hamstring Curls
  • 3 sets, 10-15 reps

Again, feel free to use equivalent alternative exercises if you need to.

Example 3: Leg and Shoulder Workout (Alternating)

For this workout, you will alternate between leg and shoulder exercises to give your muscles a brief recovery period between each movement. This is similar to the superset concept, allowing you to do more work in less time.

• Smith Machine Squat
  • 4 sets, 6-10 reps
• Seated Military Press
  • 4 sets, 6-10 reps
• Sissy Squats
  • 3 sets, AMRAP
• Lateral Raise
  • 3 sets, 8-12 reps
• Romanian Deadlift
  • 3 sets, 8-12 reps
• Rear Delt Fly
  • 3 sets, 10-15 reps
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 3 sets, 10-15 reps

If you don’t have all the necessary equipment, that’s okay. You can click on any exercise to see my recommended variations and alternatives.