7 Effective Leg Workouts for Female Bodybuilders

Do you dread working out your legs? Leg workouts can be challenging, but they're worth the suffering. Many routine functioning activities require a strong lower body. Simple movements like ascending stairs or squatting to pick up something necessitate leg strength and stability.

Many millennial women aspire to have toned legs and curvy bodies. In the era of social media influencers flooding the internet with fitness tricks, it's easy to fall for unrealistic standards. But do not worry! We have your back with effective workouts and strategies to get that muscular lower body.

Which muscles get worked out during leg workouts?

Some of the finest leg workouts incorporate moves that target all angles. Consider your legs split into 2 halves: the anterior and posterior chains.

Quadriceps, adductors, hip stabilizers, and the front of your calves make up the anterior chain. The posterior chain includes your hamstrings, glutes, back of your calves, abductors, and other hip stabilizers. Because women's hips are wider than men's, working out the lower body and legs for women is crucial.

The Q-Angle is determined by measuring the angle between our knees and the point where the femur attaches to the hip. The greater the angle, the more strain you'll feel across your knees. As a result, women are more susceptible to knee ailments such as ACL tears. However, increasing hip and posterior chain strength can aid bone support and injury prevention.

Creating a successful leg workout doesn't have to be difficult, whether you are working out at home like a hermit or sweating it hard at the gym.

Commonly asked questions

1) How often should you work your legs each week?

It is recommended that you do two sessions each week when you're just starting. You can work out your legs two to four times each week on non-consecutive days as you progress. Leg days aid in strength development and maintenance, but training them too frequently can be counterproductive because legs have dominantly large muscle groups.

2) What kind of warm-up should you do before your leg workouts?

Warm-up exercises are essential for a successful training session. Warming up your lower body helps relax joints and boosts blood flow to muscles. This will help you perform better, but it will also help you avoid injuries.

3) What kind of cool-down should you do after your workout?

Allowing your body to recover throughout your cool-down will gradually allow your heart rate and blood pressure to return to their pre-exercise levels. It also aids in normal healing and reduces the presence of muscular soreness by regulating blood flow. Jumping jacks and glute bridges are among these warm-up exercises.

Here are the 7 best leg exercises for women:

1) Bulgarian Split Squat

Don't let the name mislead you: the Bulgarian split squat is more like a lunge than a squat. This motion is particularly good for toning the legs and obtaining a cardiac workout.

The Bulgarian split squat has numerous advantages. It strengthens leg muscles such as the quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. Additionally, because this is a single-leg exercise, your core is forced to work overtime to keep you balanced.

Here's how you can do it:

Take a long step backwards with your right leg, stretching your right hip flexor and quadriceps.
On a sofa, low table, or bench, raise the top of your left foot.
Bend your right knee and lower your body straight down to the ground while erecting your torso.
Return to the beginning and repeat. Pick up a dumbbell with each hand once you've perfected your form to advance.

2) Deadlift with one leg

This unilateral exercise, which tests strength, balance, and flexibility, is one of the most effective workouts. Working the calves, hamstrings, glutes, low back, mid-back, and upper back (also known as the posterior chain) is a terrific method to repair many of the posture issues we have today.

This exercise, often known as the Single Leg RDL, gives a terrific lower-body workout and works other critical areas. You can even add a dumbbell or kettlebell to the mix if you've developed enough balance to move through the range of action safely and without falling.

Here's how to do it:

Start by placing your feet hip-distance apart.
As you work through the movement, roll your shoulders back and forth and try to maintain them there.
As the second leg extends behind you, push your hips back and shift your weight to one leg. Your working leg should have a slight knee bend and a maximum hip bend.
Return your hips to their original position until your chest is parallel to the ground.
Return to a standing position by squeezing your glute.

3) Goblet Squat

This action works the core while also developing proper mechanics for healthy knees. The quads and glutes, the main movers in the exercise, are still targeted with a dumbbell goblet squat. Aside from that, the movement is a wonderful workout for people of all fitness levels.

Here's how you can do it:

Start with your legs shoulder-width apart and your core engaged.
Take a kettlebell, dumbbell, water jug, or other similar object and place it against your chest.
The weight should be physically hitting your chest close to where your sternum meets your collar bone, with your elbows below it.
Keep your feet flat on the ground and push your knees out as you lower yourself.
Try to align your hip crease with your knee crease.
It would be best to have maximum knee and hip flexion at the bottom of a squat.
Keep your chest elevated and glutes engaged on the way back up.

4) Swinging Russian Kettlebells

Kettlebell swings engage nearly every muscle in the body, particularly the hamstrings and glutes. A complete kettlebell swing extends above your head, whereas a Russian kettlebell swing stops at eye level and allows you to concentrate on hip strength.

The Russian swing is a low-impact activity ideal for those who want to lose weight without putting their joints under stress. This kettlebell workout works the abs, shoulders, pecs, glutes, quads, hips, hamstrings, and lats with a single action.

Here's how you can do it:

Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your knees slightly bent.
Maintain a flat back and engage your core during the action.
Start with the kettlebell hanging between your thighs and arms straight and engaged, using an overhand hold with both hands.
Lean forward and swing the kettlebell up to eye level with your hips.
Return to the starting position and repeat.

5) Fire hydrants

Also known as quadruped hip abductions, fire hydrants are a sort of bodyweight exercise. They mostly target the gluteus maximus, although certain variants also target the core.

Fire hydrants may contour your glutes, relieve back pain, and reduce the risk of injury if done regularly. This motion is vital for developing powerful abductors, which are necessary for healthy hips and, as a result, healthy knees.

Here's how to do it:

Begin on all fours on the ground, bracing your core by maintaining your hips neutral and bringing your belly button into your spine.
Lift your knee out to the side of your body while keeping your knee bent.
Please continue to lift your knee away from your body and lower it.
Make sure you're completing the same number of reps on both sides of your hips.

6) Hip bridges

The rear chain stabilizers, such as your hip abductors, gluteus maximus, and hamstrings, are stretched using a basic bridge. The rectus abdominis, obliques, and quads all get a good workout as antagonist stabilizers for the bridge exercise.

Here's how to do it:

Lay on your back with your knees bent, your feet flat on the floor, and your arms by your sides.
Lift your hips using your core and glutes until they form a "bridge," a level surface from the chest to the knees.
Squeeze glutes for a second at the top of the bridge before lowering back to the beginning position.
Try this exercise with a kettlebell or dumbbell over your hips or your feet on an elevated surface to make it more difficult.

7) Skater lunges

Skater lunges target the glutes, hamstrings, and inner thighs, and because you're pushing off on one leg and landing on the other, it also helps you focus on hip and ankle mobility. This challenging exercise targets the glutes, quadriceps, and a bit of the adductor muscles and hamstrings for 360-degree sculpting, and it's a great way to prepare for all kinds of winter sports.

Here's how to do it:

Begin by standing erect and hip-width apart on the right side of your mat.
Skate your left foot over to the opposite side of your mat, bending at the hips and knees.
To steady the action, the right-hand touches down the left foot while the right foot goes behind you to lightly contact the floor.
Then, launch and repeat on the opposite side with the right foot.

Takeaway

Exercise works on bones much as it does on muscles — it makes them stronger. This is especially important for women as they are more prone to osteoporosis than men as they age. Remember to stretch your leg muscles before starting, and end your workout with a proper cool-off for the best results. It is advisable to train your legs 2-3 times a week.