A shorter, easier leg workout gives the same muscle and strength gains as a longer, harder one for beginners, even though you're doing less overall work.

A lighter warm-up exercise before heavier lifting gives the same muscle and strength gains as just doing the heavy lifting alone, even though you're doing less overall work.

For men who don't exercise much, doing regular leg press workouts with three sets at a moderate weight helps reduce overall body fat and thigh fat more than a different workout method, probably because they do more total work.

When guys who don't usually exercise try a special workout called pre-exhaustion training, they get 17% stronger in their legs—that's more than the 11% boost from regular workouts, probably because the special training targets the muscles more directly.

For guys who don't usually work out, doing a special type of leg exercise first leads to bigger strength gains than regular training over 9 weeks, probably because it targets muscles more specifically and adds extra low-effort reps.

Doing a special warm-up before lifting weights doesn't make you any stronger in chest, leg, or back exercises than just lifting weights normally during full-body workouts.