I have found a few leg exercises that have become staples to my workout routines. As a personal trainer, I know that many of us want to improve our legs/butt area more than anywhere else. That’s why I want to tell you the three leg exercises that work the best for me!
The Best Leg Exercises For Women
1. Squats –
Squats are the ultimate leg exercise. If you ever have a leg day and don’t include any squats, you’re doing something wrong! This exercise will work almost all the muscles in your legs including the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, calves & also the lower back.
2. Lunges
Lunges are another exercise that is a MUST on leg day. Lunges also work the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, core and calves! If you want to tighten up your legs and lift your booty, make sure to incorporate lunges in your strength training. You can easily just pick up some dumbbells and lunge across the room.
3. Dead Lifts
Before I started weight training a lot, I didn’t even know what dead lifts were. Now, they are a staple to my leg days. This lift will target many muscle groups at the same time (similar to squats and lunges).
There are two main variations of the deadlift. One is when you bend your knees and the other involves keeping your legs straight.
Deadlift:
The regular deadlift (knees bent) works the lower back, calves, forearms, glutes, hamstrings, lats, middle back, quadriceps and traps. Talk about working a LOT of muscle groups!!
Stiff Legged Deadlift:
(Pictures from bodybuilding.com)
The primary muscle groups for the stiff legged deadlift are the hamstrings, glutes and lower back.
If you add these three exercises to your leg days, I guarantee you will start to see results!
Tips:
- Make sure to lift heavy! The legs are HUGE muscle groups on our bodies and you need to lift heavy for them to change and tighten up!
- Wear weight lifting gloves. I find that my hands hurt too bad when I try to do deadlifts without gloves. Wearing gloves allows me to lift a heavier amount.
- Add an incline walk to the end of your workout to continue to work your legs and burn torch more calories.
What’s your “go-to” leg exercise?
As a PT what would you recommend for someone who wants to build muscle in their legs but is healing from a lower back injury?
Lunges, leg extensions & leg curls! You can also do seated calves, hip abductor and adductor machines 🙂 Hope you feel better!
I really love my deadlifts. It’s all about working the booty…
I have a herniated disc (T12) and cannot do squats or deadlifts with a bar bell. Are squats with dumbbells and plie squats with a kettle bell just as effective? And are single leg deadlifts with a kettle bell as effective? Or would you recommed something else?
My inner thighs and glutes are the area I want to tighten the most. I was devastated when I hurt myself.
Thanks for all the advice you give daily! It’s a huge help!
Yes, you can do that. Kettleballs work great and plie squats are amazing for your inner thighs!
I tried doing dead lifts today for the first time, using a 35lb bar. For the most part I thought it was a great workout, but it also felt like a lot of strain on my lower back. Is that normal?
Deadlifts will work your lower back, but make sure you are keeping correct form! I try to keep my back straight and look forward and up so I can keep good form.