A lot of people and coaches believe that you have to do crazy advanced leg workouts in order to take your results to the next level. But when I started to simplify my clients and my own leg workouts the results were undeniable. 

When I used to train legs I would squat heavy aiming to grow my glutes and thought that if I wanted toned legs, I needed to do as many different exercises for each muscle group at high intensity. After failing to get the results I was after, I began to investigate more effective methods. It wasn't until my research led me to Bret Contreras (aka "the Glute Guy"), that I was able to really see the results I was after for both my clients and myself.

The main change I made was simplifying my leg workout by finding 2 good glute exercises that I felt really worked for me and really focused on progressively overloading them. Put simply, I worked hard getting stronger on those two exercises. After applying this to my clients I found that there were no perfect 2-3 exercises for everybody and we had to explore which exercises worked best for each individual.

I began applying this same principle for the remaining muscle groups and found that all you need for an effective leg workout are 6-7 really good exercises that you are willing to spend the time to progressively overload. The hard part is figuring out which exercises work best for you as we all move in different ways.  

A good trainer or coach will be able to draw upon their knowledge of movement, progressive overload and experience to help you find your ideal exercises much quicker and thus develop a simple yet effective program. If you're after faster results then a good trainer is a smart investment.

The best advice I could give anyone looking for better results out of there leg workouts, would be to forget the crazy, complex exercises that you think are more 'advanced'. Use that precious saved gym time on committing to getting stronger with a couple exercises at a time. Train hard but more importantly, train SMART!