Written by Kirsten Yovino | CPT Brookbush Institute
Fact checked by Tyler DiGiovanni, BSBM
FACT CHECKED
Is there any better accessory than strong, well-defined leg muscles?
I'm talking about the kind of well-built muscles that look amazing in your workout shorts while indicating you can squat heavy weights with the best of them.
Sounds good, right?
And if you're thinking that sounds like your #gymgoals, but you just don't know how to achieve it with your training, you have come to the right place! This article not only features two leg workouts geared toward women, but it is also going to discuss how to do each exercise, along with the key components all ladies' leg workouts should have.
If your next leg day workout is coming up and you're tired of not getting results, things are about to change.
Table of Contents:
- The Best Leg Workouts For Women
- How to Progress This Leg Workout
- Major Muscle Groups of the Leg
- 11 Best Leg Exercises For Women
- 4 Key Features All Women's Leg Workouts Should Have
- Summary
The Best Leg Workouts For Women
Let's get into the best leg workouts right away! I've included two sessions here, which you should do in the same week, with a few days in between so you can effectively rest your leg muscles.
Leg Workout Session A
|
Exercise |
Sets |
Reps |
|
Back Squat |
4 |
6 |
|
Barbell Hip Thrust |
4 |
8 |
|
Romanian Deadlift |
3 |
8-10 |
|
Goblet Squat/Plie Squat |
3 |
10-15 |
|
Leg Press |
3 |
12-15 |
|
Glute Kickback |
3 |
12-15 |
Leg Workout Session B
|
Exercise |
Sets |
Reps |
|
Back Squat |
4 |
6 |
|
Barbell Hip Thrust |
3 |
10 |
|
Bulgarian Split Squat |
3 |
10-12 |
|
Single Leg Deadlift |
3 |
10-12 |
|
Walking Lunges |
1 |
50 |
|
Leg Abduction |
3 |
12-15 |
|
Calf Raise |
3 |
12-15 |
How To Progress This Leg Workout
If muscle hypertrophy is your goal, run these leg workouts twice a week, each session once per week. Remember that the farther you get into your workout, simply training to failure becomes more important than being specific with what weight you use.
All you need to do is be persistent, focusing on progressive overload and adding weight as you go. It's crucial to really concentrate on the first exercises of your workout. As long as you do this, you will improve.
Further, this can act as a template for further leg workouts for women. All you need to do is swap some exercises around once in a while. For example, after you run this program for 8-12 weeks, swap the walking lunge for a reverse lunge to keep things fresh.
What Are The Major Muscle Groups of the Leg?
Let's briefly go over the biggest muscle groups that you'll be targeting in your leg workouts.
- Hamstrings: The hamstrings are a set of three muscles that sit on the back of the upper thigh. All three hamstrings cross the knee joint making them your primary knee flexor. However, one also crosses your hip joint, making it an essential muscle in hip extension. You'll see both of these movements in the best hamstring exercises.
- Glutes: Your glutes consist of three large muscles that sit on your buttocks. These three muscles are the body's powerhouse and are involved in just about every movement in the lower body, as well as hip extension. Examples of good glute exercises include hip thrusts, step-ups, and the deadlift.
- Quadriceps: Your quadriceps consists of 4 muscles on your upper thigh. All four quadriceps muscles cross the knee joint, making them the body's primary leg extensors. One quadriceps muscle also crosses the hip and acts as a hip flexor. Some of the best quad exercises include the barbell back squat, split squat, and Bulgarian split squat.
- Calves: The calf is a smaller group of muscles that sit on the back of your lower leg. Its primary job is ankle dorsiflexion, which is when you point your toes. This muscle is vital as it's responsible for propelling the body forward every step we take, along with jumping and landing. Don't forget your calf exercises!
11 Best Leg Exercises For Women
It's time to go over step-by-step directions for each of the best leg exercises for women. This will include all of the lower-body exercises I believe are required to meet all the needs of a woman's leg workout.
1. Back Squat:
The back squat is the foundation of your lower body workouts. It's the king of leg exercises, hitting all major muscle groups. In addition, you can also place a heavy load on the muscles.
Combined, this means the squat exercise targets the leg muscles so efficiently that if you were going to pick just one exercise for your lower body, it should be this.
Although the squat is technically a lower-body exercise, you will feel it in your entire body. This is especially true for the back and core as it must brace hard to support the weight.
How to do the Back Squat:
- Rack a barbell on a squat rack at the appropriate height. You don't want it to be so low that you need to kneel excessively, but you also don't want to have to get on your tippy toes.
- Place the barbell on the middle of your back with hands wider than shoulder-width. The exact distance will vary for everyone but use what's comfortable for you. Use an overhand grip.
- Unrack the barbell and take two steps backward.
- Place your feet flat and slightly wider than hip-width apart. While in this standing position, you maintain "soft knees." This is when you don't necessarily keep your knees bent but don't fully lock out.
- Tighten your core and begin the descent by pushing your hips back. Your primary goal is to have the barbell drop down in a straight line.
- As you push back, be sure your knees stay in line with your feet. Continue until you are at the bottom of your squat position.
2. Barbell Hip Thrusts:
Barbell hip thrusts are almost universally agreed upon as the best leg exercise for your glutes¹.
It's a bit of a unique movement as it's technically a single-joint exercise (the hips), but it allows a considerable amount of weight. This makes it the only single-joint exercise that acts as a main exercise, as that usually goes to compound exercises.
Regardless, if you want a shapely rear end, you must regularly put barbell hip thrusts in your leg workout.
How to do Barbell Hip Thrusts:
- Set up a bench to support your back. If you need it or feel more comfortable, you can place it against a wall.
- Sit in front of the bench with your knees bent. You should have your feet hip-width apart, and your knee bent. Your shin should be vertical with your feet flat on the ground.
- Place a loaded barbell on your torso so that it sits in your hip crease. You can use your hands to help stabilize the barbell if needed.
- Let your hips drop until your butt touches the ground. Powerfully extend your hips up until your hips are straight.
- To add some variation, prioritize one leg. For example, concentrate on driving your left heel down for the left leg and then the right heel for the right side.
3. Leg Press:
I love the leg press machine, and it's basically the only machine-based exercise I utilize consistently. One of the reasons I use it so much is because of its versatility. While it's a single machine, you can alter the muscle activation by altering your foot position.
Further, you can place your feet closer together and low for more quadriceps activation or put your feet wider than hip-width and high for more posterior work.
A few feet placement options include: hip-width apart with toes slightly bent out, feet high and wider than shoulder width with toes slightly bent out, and feet narrow and high.
How to do the Leg Press:
- Set the pad for the leg press to your desired height. I prefer a basic 90-degree angle or a slightly more open one. If you have the choice, you can adjust as needed.
- Place both feet hip-width apart on the pad. Again, you can make it wider or narrower.
- Keep your feet flat on the footrest and unrack the weight. Before you begin, adjust your starting position as needed. However, always keep a slight bend in your knees. Keeping your knees soft will prevent the possibility of hyper-extending your knee.
- Let the sled come down toward your chest while keeping your knees in line with your toes. Come down as far as possible, then drive your feet upward.
- Do not let your butt come off the pad during the movement.
4. Romanian Deadlift:
While I love doing traditional deadlifts, if I could only pick one for version, my pick is the Romanian deadlift. This is primarily because the Romanian deadlift can elicit muscle activation in the glutes and hamstrings².
Further, because of the biomechanics of the Romanian deadlift, you do not need to use as heavy a load, which can be a huge plus, particularly if your weight selection is limited.
However, don't let this fool you into thinking the exercise is easy. As they isolate the hamstrings and glutes more, they will evoke a much stronger burn. Further, they're going to train the entire posterior chain.
Pro Tip: When performing Romanian deadlifts, I like to use a mind-muscle connection and focus on muscle contraction.
How to do the Romanian Deadlift:
- You can choose to either use dumbbells or barbells, but I like using dumbbells, so that's what I'm focusing on for these directions. Choose a pair of dumbbells and grab them with a neutral grip and stand with feet hip-width apart and toes pointed out in a straight line.
- Let the dumbbells hang naturally down the front of your legs.
- Begin the movement by dropping your torso and letting it fall forward. Keep your knees slightly bent throughout the movement. You want a minimal bend to allow your torso to drop while keeping a neutral spine. To help accomplish this, pull your shoulder blades to keep your scapula retracted.
- Continue dropping your torso while trying to build tension in the hamstrings. There is no minimum distance, but your hands should be able to drop to shin level.
- Once you get to a spot where your form is about to break, you will perform the following actions simultaneously: pull your hips forward, squeeze glutes, and push your feet down (if you want more quadriceps activation.
- Continue the above actions until you're back in the standing position.
5. Walking Lunges:
I love walking lunges as they provide a unique stimulus unlike other exercises. That is, they require more activation from your lower body stabilizer muscles.
Further, the lunge is one of the few leg exercises that occur with motion. Get ready to feel the burn!
How to do Walking Lunges:
- Your starting position will be your normal standing position with feet shoulder width apart (or slightly wider).
- Start the movement by taking one giant step out with your right foot. It will take some time to find the correct distance for you. Therefore, before you start your set, take time to get a feel for the movement.
- To do this, you need to get into the lunge position. Your right leg's shin (forward leg) should be vertical, while the top of the quad should be parallel to the floor. The quadriceps of your left leg (rear leg) should be vertical, while its shin should be parallel to the ground.
- Once you feel comfortable, you can begin the movement. Take a giant step forward and come straight down into the lunge position. Drop and let your knee slightly touch the ground, then push yourself back up. Switch legs and repeat.
6. Bulgarian Split Squat:
Ouch. Ladies, your quads have never hurt so good.
The Bulgarian split squat is a split squat that's performed with the rear leg raised. This not only places all of your body weight on the front leg but the body is also pushed farther forward.
Unless you've already been using these in your training program, perform these unweighted first.
How to do the Bulgarian Split Squat:
- Find an object that allows you to raise your left foot off the ground. A regular bench for bench pressing works fine. Place the top of your left foot on the bench so it's about mid-way up the foot.
- Keep your other foot forward. It should be a few feet ahead so that your back leg is extended at about 75%. Be sure to have your right foot flat, and your toes pointed forward.
- Drop straight down until your back knee touches the ground, or your right leg bends below a 90-degree angle. Power back up by driving your right leg down. Keep your torso upright for the entire movement.
7. Goblet Squat:
The goblet squat is a great leg finisher. I like to use high reps toward the end of a session to burn my legs out. It's simple to do yet highly effective. The reason it's called a "goblet" squat is because you hold a dumbbell with your hands cupped, which looks like a goblet.
Apart from being an effective leg finisher, it hits the core hard. As you're holding the weight high on your chest, the weight will want to pull you forward, similar to a front squat.
How to do the Goblet Squat:
- Grab one moderately heavy dumbbell. You want one that allows 8+ reps.
- Hold the dumbbell by placing your forearms together in front of your chest with the heels of your hands touching.
- Cup your hands which will hold the head. The bottom part of the dumbbell will hang down in between your forearms.
- Stand with feet hip-width apart and slightly turned out. Begin squatting down, but you will keep your torso upright to offset the balance. If you don't, you will be pulled forward.
- Come all the way down until the top of your thighs break parallel. Power your body back up.
8. Plie Squat:
This is a squat variation that's very similar to the goblet squat. It's also very similar to a sumo squat, except you use dumbbells. As you train your legs two times a week, you will alternate the goblet squat and plie squat.
The primary difference is that you will use a stance with feet wider than shoulder length. In fact, you will stand about 1.5-2 times the distance of a regular squat position.
You then turn your toes out and externally rotate your thighs, which will nail the inner thighs.
How to do the Plie Squat:
- You can use one dumbbell or two. Place the dumbbell(s) between your legs and take your wide stance. Remember, your feet are turned out, and your thighs are rotated, so your left knee and right knee point out.
- Grab the dumbbells with both hands and let them hang down in the middle of your legs.
- Sit down and let your hips drop. Your hips will have less motion backward as your legs are spread. Keep your torso upright, similar to the goblet squat. Drop all the way down until 90 degrees, then come up.
9. Leg Abduction:
The leg abduction exercise targets the glutes, specifically the gluteus medius. The outer muscle on the glutes creates that rounding effect you're searching for.
When you perform these, your primary concern is getting in reps and training to or near failure. You can either use a cable machine for this move or a leg abduction machine.
How to do Leg Abduction:
- Set a cable at the lowest setting and connect an ankle attachment. Start with your right leg, meaning you'll attach the cable to your right ankle. Get in your starting position, standing, so the cable runs across your body. Your left foot should be near the cable while the right foot is away.
- Move away to get out all the slack. Let the cable draw your right leg across your body while your left foot remains planted.
- Now swing your right leg across so it crosses your body and then swings upward. Come down slowly.
10. Glute Kickback:
The glute kickback is another cable exercise that isolates the hamstrings and glutes. This will simply use hip extension to kick the leg back.
Again, it's a simple exercise that's very effective. Like leg abduction, focus on getting high reps and training to or near failure.
How to do the Glute Kickback:
- Set a cable on the lowest setting and use an ankle attachment. Stand back to pull out the slack with both feet hip-width apart.
- Choose a leg to start with (we'll say the right leg). Keeping your left leg planted, slowly kick your right foot back, keeping your leg extended. Pull as far back as you can until you reach your max. Next, allow your right foot to move forward, slow, and controlled. Repeat as necessary.
- Do not set your foot down between reps, at least at first.
11. Calf Raise:
The great thing about the calf raise is you can play with different foot positions, including pointing forward or feet turned out or turned in.
You can also alternate between using a standing calf raise and a seated calf raise in your workouts.
How to do the Calf Raise:
- Sit down or stand at the calf raise machine and adjust as necessary.
- If you're sitting, place the front part of your foot on the foot pads and knees under the knee pads. For either machine, raise the weight to unrack the weight.
- Allow the weight to come down by allowing your heels to drop. Then slowly, raise the load by performing dorsiflexion.
- Come up as high as you can on your toes and hold.
4 Key Features a Leg Workout For Women Should Have
So, what exactly makes a good leg workout for women? These 4 features.
1. Use Heavier Weights:
I believe everyone needs to have some training with heavier loads. More and more research has shown that heavier loads provide benefits not seen with lighter weights³.
Some of these benefits include:
- Greater strength gains
- Stronger bones
- Improved neuromuscular control
Further, in strength training, "heavy" has a specific meaning. The word is often thrown around a lot to mean anything challenging. In reality, "heavy" refers to using loads equal to or greater than 85% 1RM.
2. More Focus On the Glutes And Outer Thighs:
I'm making a broad assumption here, but a women's workout should have more emphasis on the glutes and upper thighs. This is solely because these areas are of particular interest to most women.
As long as you're including your primary leg exercises and big compound lifts, I think giving certain areas special attention is perfectly acceptable.
3. Include Load Bearing Exercises:
As mentioned above, heavy loads can strengthen bones.
The excessive weight causes a slight bend in the bone that causes tiny holes. When you go home and eat the proper nutrients (vitamin D and calcium!), these holes are filled with bone cellular material known as osteoblasts. Once repaired, you have a thicker, stronger bone.
This is vital for women as they are more prone to osteoporosis as they age.
4. Use Free Weights:
Free weights create greater activation in the stabilizer muscles due to a greater need to support the limbs. When talking about leg exercises, this means your outer and inner thighs, such as the gluteus medius.
This muscle sits on your outer thigh, which means you would have greater activation in the trouble area. In addition, free weights create a greater demand on the abdominal muscles and the entire core.
For more great tips, check out out guide explaining How To Build Muscle For Women.
Leg Workouts For Women: Final Takeaways
Don't make your training more confusing than it needs to be. A great leg workout for women is one that includes the best leg exercises there are and focuses on progressive overload.
A few final pieces of advice: Don't be afraid to lift heavy as this is what is going to build your major leg muscle groups. Also, consistency is key.
Think of weight training as something you're in for the long haul. Gains and muscle definition will happen, but in order for them to occur, you need to hit the weights hard every single training session.
Ladies, looking for more great workouts? Check out our articles on the Best Workout Programs For Women, The Ultimate Full Body Workout For Women, and the Best Workout Splits For Women!
References:
- Neto WK, Vieira TL, Gama EF. Barbell Hip Thrust, Muscular Activation and Performance: A Systematic Review. J Sports Sci Med. 2019. Published 2019 Jun 1.
- Martín-Fuentes I, Oliva-Lozano JM, Muyor JM. Electromyographic activity in deadlift exercise and its variants. A systematic review. PLoS ONE. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0229507
- Schoenfeld, Brad J.1,2; Ratamess, Nicholas A.3; Peterson, Mark D.5; Contreras, Bret4; Sonmez, G. T.1; Alvar, Brent A.2. Effects of Different Volume-Equated Resistance Training Loading Strategies on Muscular Adaptations in Well-Trained Men. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. October 2014. | DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000480
Kirsten Yovino
Author