Leg exercises are an integral part of any weight loss program. Your lower body holds the largest muscles in your body, in this case, the quadriceps (the muscle on the front of your thigh), the hamstring (the muscle behind your thigh) and your gluteus maximus (your butt muscle).

This is because to lose weight you need to start burning more calories when you are not working out. The only way to do that is by adding muscle so that your body becomes a more effective fat burning machine. 

Sometimes women are a little scared by this. They don’t want to lift weights for fear of getting too bulky and think they can lose weight by just doing cardiovascular exercises.

Not going to happen. You need the muscle. And there is no better way to accomplish this than these leg exercises for women outlined below. Why? Because you are toning the largest muscles in your body and as a result these exercises burn more calories per repetition than any other exercise.

As with all of my exercise pages, these exercises will be designed to be done from home and little/no equipment.

Extended lunges - This is the toughest of the leg exercises on this page and we will start out with it first. I include pictures below so that the visual aid will help you better understand the descriptions.

You will need a chair or a bench for this exercise, or you could even use the stairs, but whatever you choose, the aim is to be in a lunge position with one foot resting on the chair/bench/stairs as shown. 

You will now lower yourself with the front leg and then then return to the starting position. That is one rep.

This is one of the best leg exercises for women. First of all, it targets the glutes but all works your hamstrings. And when you do your leg exercises you should work out your hamstrings first. This will fatigue your muscles more and make the remaining leg exercises in your workout more difficult.

Squats - There is no exercise that burns more calories per repetition than the squat. Even doing bodyweight squats, where you do not add any resistance, is a great leg exercise, especially if you do the balance lunge first to fatigue your hamstrings and glutes. 

Stand straight up and then lower yourself towards the floor by bending your knees while keeping your back flat. When your thighs are parallel to the floor come back up so that you are standing straight. You can add weights by holding dumbbells or placing using resistance bands (as I am pictures doing) if this isn’t tough enough.

Ready to go to the next level? Try wall squats! Lean against the squat, as I show you below. 

The important part about the exercise is that in order to get the full benefit out of it your thighs must be parallel to the ground. Otherwise you are cheating and not doing the exercise correctly.

Lunges - Lunges are terrific for your legs as well as for your cardiovascular fitness. From a standing position, lunge to your left with your leg and bend your knee until it is at a right angle. Then push up with that leg until your return to a standing position. Then repeat for the other leg.

The best part about lunges is that by doing then at different angles you can work your muscles in different ways. What I mean is that instead of going out to the side as described above, you can go out at a 45-degree angle or step straight out to use these leg exercises to work your muscles in different ways.

Deadlifts - Perhaps the best overall exercise you can do is the Deadlift. 

For this exercise, you will use resistance bands or dumbbells. Stand by making a loop of the resistance band on the floor, standing on them with your feet shoulder width apart so that the handles, when you kneel down to grab them, are only a 4-6” off the floor.

Make sure to keep your back straight and then stand up. You will feel the resistance increase as you stand.

One note of caution: You must keep your back absolutely straight through the entire exercise or you run the risk of injury.

Single Leg Deadlifts - No resistance bands or weight will be needed here. These leg exercises will work well enough with your bodyweight, especially if you have done the previous exercises.

Stand on one leg with the other leg bent behind you. Squat down, touch the floor and come back up. I will say from personal experience with this exercise and the balance lunge that it helps to do these next to a wall to balance yourself so you don’t fall over. Just don’t use the wall to support your bodyweight during the exercise. You’ll just be cheating yourself.

Step Up - These are great leg exercises for women who like to target their glutes (but you have to step high enough to get the full value for your glutes out of this exercise. To do this, place one foot on a platform, step, milk crate, chair, anything that will support your bodyweight. Then press up until you are standing on the step, platform or chair and SLOWLY lower yourself. If you do this right you will definitely feel it in the back of your leg and your butt. 

Hip raise - Great leg exercises for women, hip raises also target your abdominals, lower back and glutes.

Lie on the ground as I show you above, Bend your knees at about a 90 degree angle and keep your feet flat on the floor. Then raise yourself up, hold for 5-10 seconds and return to the starting position.

The key is at the top of the movement your shoulders, hips and knees should form a straight line. That means that you are doing the movement correctly.

To make this tougher, you can lay weights on your hips or use only one leg to raise yourself into position.

Walking - The best overall cardio exercise out there because anyone can do it. Walking is a great leg exercise provided you do it long enough and strenuously enough. You can increase the difficulty by walking with a weighted vest, doing inclines on a treadmill or walking through hilly terrain.

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