Leg Workouts For Women: A Guide

A myth that women can still fall for today, is the idea that lifting weights will make you bulky. Some even think leg workouts for women could be done light as well. Nowadays, you see less of that and more women hitting the weight room to achieve their goals.

As a trainer, I’m not sure how many times I’ve walked into the weight room and seen many women attacking their goals with small and insignificant exercises, such as glute kickbacks, circuit style workouts, Stairmaster for hours at a time, anything stability related or even good exercises with little effort. Although it seems that leg workouts for women are beginning to move into the right direction, it’s unfortunate that one would still see few women using the best exercises with suboptimal effort.

Yes, Stairmasters may be good as a warm up or cool down. Sure, glute kickbacks can add extra volume as a light exercise after doing a lot of heavy work. Fine, circuit workouts can be a good way to get in some cardio or a quick workout, yada yada yada. These are not the best leg workouts for women. Also, what even is functional training, anyway? When was the last time you had to walk or crawl like a bear? But none of these exercises can put on the most amount of muscle possible that truly gives the “toning” effort that most women are looking for.

In other words, none of them can or will blast some masterclass mass on that.. uh.. butt. If you want to get the body you want, you’ll have to consider the right way to train for your legs: which is heavy work according to its functions.

Why Women Should Focus on Strength Training for Building/Shaping Legs (And Any Muscle Groups)

1. If you want to see real progress in your body, you’ll have to see progression in the gym

The best type of leg workouts for women has to have some sort of progression. How many times have you and I walked into the gym and see the same people, using the same equipment, using the weight, in the same way without any variation week to week? In my case, it’s every single day without fail. You know what else is the same? Their physiques. Maybe it changed at the beginning because of a small lifestyle change, but that’s it.

This is simply due to the fact that no progression has occurred, besides the beginning. You can’t expect any changes in your body if you don’t demand it to change. If you want to see the results that you want to see, there must be a progression in your performance over time.

2. Thankfully, you won’t become the next She-Hulk, thanks to the lack of testosterone 

Many women either think that being in the weight room will make you big by osmosis, or accept that lifting weights is a human activity, but men and women should do it differently. It’s true that men and women are different, but our bodies are not different enough in bodily function, besides the fact that women do not possess that amount of testosterone that men have. Due to that fact, no matter how much effort you put in, you can be rest assured that you won’t end up looking like one of the boys. Therefore, leg workouts for women should look similar to those that guys would perform. Trust me, I wish I could wake up in the morning only to see that I’ve accidentally gotten jacked.

3. By focusing on the main functions of selective muscle groups, you can grow your target muscles

Think of yourself as an artist and your body as the canvas. With the right tools and effort, you can shape your body to your own liking and manipulate it in the way that you prefer. This is best done by doing exercises with the function that is aligned with the muscle and getting better at it, while accumulating workload. We’ll get more into this later.

4. You’ll look and feel strong

The best kinds of leg workouts for women are those that focus on gaining strength and building muscle. I have yet to meet anyone who has gotten any kind of results more lifting weights and regretted it. Most people might not care about strength and muscle initially, but once they get their first taste of it, they are addicted. This will contribute greatly to your confidence and self-efficacy. Plus, who doesn’t like to look and feel strong?

5. You’ll burn fat

Building muscle positively impacts and speeds up with metabolism. Muscle is an expensive tissue and needs a lot of energy to sustain. Therefore, if you build a great amount of muscle, you can theoretically eat more calories and maintain your frame. Don’t get excited too quickly though. This process takes a lot of time, because muscle takes a long time to grow. If you want to shape your body and lose fat permanently, focus on building muscle.

Basic Functions of the Lower Body

1. Squat 

In simple terms, you simply bend your knees (knee flexion) and push your butt back (hip flexion) until you go as low as you can into a squat position. It is the job of the quads, the muscle in the front of the leg, to straighten out your knees (knee extension), and the butt to move your hips forward out of the squat (hip extension). Getting strong at this will give you a bigger pair of legs and a bigger butt.

There is also no such thing as the “perfect” squat form, because everyone is different. What you can think of is to just imagine yourself camping in the woods and you need to poop. What do you do? Would you sit back perfectly with your knees behind your toes and push your butt all the way back? Nope. You just drop it all the way down and go.

Practice that. If it feels comfortable and natural, that is your form. Oh, and keep your chest up. Imagine a chef taking a break and smoking a cigarette in the back of a Chinese restaurant if that helps.

2. Hinge 

Keeping your knees soft, but locked in place, push your butt back (hip flexion) in a way that accentuates a deep and painful stretch in the back of your legs, as if you’re trying to touch your butt to the wall far behind you. Now reverse this movement by driving your hips forward (hip extension). Keep your chest up and shoulders back. It should not move much as you go through the movement. The only movement should be the hinging of the hips (duh!) and a small amount in the knees. If done right, this will grow the back of your legs (hamstrings) and your butt, since it is the main function of your glutes to extend your hips and your hamstrings to assist in it. And your back will get a good splash of it as well.

How to Train Legs as a Woman

1. Progressive Overload 

As I’ve mentioned before, if you want to see any kind of progress, there has to be some sort of progression in the gym, otherwise the body will have nothing to adapt to. Changes in the body will only occur if it is demanded of it and if it doesn’t need any muscle or lose any fat, it won’t happen unless you make it.

Remember, the human body is not as fragile as many people think it is, otherwise we wouldn’t be here. It is highly adaptive and will respond to imposed demands, but that is entirely up to you. This is the cornerstone of any good leg workouts for women, or any workout programs in general. A fool proof strategy of making progress is coming into the gym with micro progression goals and doing more than what you did last week or workout in some way, shape or form. Anyways, here are some ways to progressively overload:

• Add weight: when you first begin it is possible to add weight weekly, but that will slow down. Take advantage of this in your beginning phases
• Add reps: if you can’t add any more weight, focus on adding reps
• Add sets: add another set if you can’t add anymore weight or reps
• Pause at the bottom (or top): introduce a pause between each rep to eliminate any momentum. This can be a brand new variation or a way to master a weight before adding more weight
• Use progressive range of motion: this is especially helpful if you’re limited by mobility. Use exercises or a range of motion in an exercise that you’re comfortable in and progressively get deeper before you add weight. This will automatically provide a better stimulus with a deeper stretch.
• Add frequency: do the movement or muscle group more often in the week, either by breaking up each workout, adding more workload with less intensity, or just adding another day if you’re not doing enough
• ‘Master the weight’: if you’re at a really heavy weight that you can still do with good form, but you can’t do more of either with weight, reps or sets, stick with it for a while and try to master it by controlling the weight more (slower eccentric), pausing it if possible, cleaning up the form, get a better mind muscle connection, etc.
• Regression is progression (bonus): if you are unable to progress, whether it is total load on the bar or volume, drop it, switch variation, or regress the movement. Progression is everything, but you won’t progress if you force a movement you can’t perform. For example if you can’t bodyweight lunge, perform step ups. If it’s too high, lower it. If that’s too difficult, just squat or box squat until you have adequate leg strength. Either way, you must start in a place that you can progress from, pain free, and get better every week

2. Focus on the stretch (and also mind muscle connection)

There are some studies that show that a ‘weighted stretch’ (stretch mediated hypertrophy) is the most powerful stimulus for muscle growth, as well some anecdote. Most people will say that Romanian deadlifts are a better exercise than a leg curl, yet there is no ‘peak contraction’ of the hamstring in a Romanian deadlift. There is just a stretch and hip extension. When you stretch you split the muscle cells apart and create new ones, so you get the most amount of muscle growth.

To apply this, you’ll want to simply go as deep as possible, without hurting your joints, and feeling a deep stretch on every exercise possible. That means squatting ass to grass if you can and grazing the floor with the plates on Romanian deadlifts, if possible.

3. Focus on heavy compounds/ focus on the basics

The most important thing that you can get out of this article is this: women also need to train to get big and strong, because that is a human endeavor and it will get you the best results. And nothing will do that better than the old boring fundamental movements and adding weight to it.

I think Bruce Lee once said, “I fear not the (wo)man that practiced 10,000 different squat variation, but I fear the (wo)man that squatted ass to grass 10,000 times.” That wasn’t just true in the 70’s. It’s true today. Especially when it comes to leg workouts for women. Don’t let social media sway you into thinking that a magical exercise is going to give you the results you want.  Also, notice how it’s always an easier exercise. And don’t elevate a small tip that won’t yield the majority of the results. In any endeavor in life, it’s always the fundamentals and plain old time and consistency that will bring you the farthest. The other stuff might be the cherry on top. It’s probably just the coconut shavings that you don’t even notice though.

Actual Leg Workouts For Women

Here’s the part you’ve actually been waiting for:

Workout A:

1. Back Squat
2. Romanian Deadlift
3. Bulgarian Split Squat/ Walking Lunges/ Reverse Lunges (each leg)
4. Leg Curls (Optional)

Workout B:

1. Deadlift
2. Squat Variation (Or Bulgarian Split Squat/Walking Lunges/ Reverse Lunges)
3. Hip Thrusts
4. Hyperextension (Optional)

Notes:

• These workouts can be standalones, replace the leg workout in your routine, or be apart of a full body routine– (I’d recommend full body if you don’t want to live in the gym)
• Squat and deadlifts can be done with 3/5×5 OR 3/4×4-8; squats can go up to 6-10 (These are not the only volume options, as they can be done with more reps, however this is not the point of the article)
• Romanian deadlifts and the single leg exercises can be done with 3/4×8-15, however 8-12 can be done if you want to go heavier
• Other exercises can be done with 3/4 sets of 10-20, but you can do 10-15 with heavier weight
• If you don’t know where to start, begin your program with the lower end of the sets and higher rep ranges to get accustomed to the weight. Once you begin to feel more confident, go heavier and add an extra set for more work
• For “squat variations,” you can choose any leg press machine, goblet squat, heel elevated squat, or any heavy and loadable squat variation you enjoy. If you can’t think of one, you can do a lighter back or front squat, or just do any of the single leg exercises listed above
• Pick a weight that is challenging in the given rep range and do it to the best of your ability. The idea behind the rep range is that you should not be able to replicate the top rep if you go hard enough the first time
• Example: 3/4 sets of 8-15 on Bulgarian split squats. On the first set, I will choose a weight that I can barely do for 15 with and do it. After I rest , I should not be able to do 15 again, and maybe get 13 or 14, hence the range of reps.