You may be surprised to learn that some of the best leg workouts for women are not exercises aimed at toning the leg muscles alone but those that work the entire body.
A good example of this is the exercise an elliptical machine provides.
Always popular, elliptical machines are now the exercise equipment of choice for many people in various age groups.
This is because they deliver a low-impact workout that tones and shapes the entire body, including the legs.
Another reason for the elliptical trainer’s popularity is that workouts are customizable to the individual’s fitness level.
The best leg workouts for women don’t always involve exercise machines, though.
Depending upon your level of fitness and your goals, you may find that hiking or walking will give you the results you want.
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What are Some Good Leg Workouts for Women?
Low-impact exercise is ideal when it comes to choosing good leg workouts for 
women and also men.
This is even more of a consideration for anyone carrying excess weight or rehabilitating from an injury. The reason for this is that joint stress can result from high-impact exercise.
Joint stress can cause pain that limits our ability to exercise. It can also lead to injury.
If the damage sustained is bad enough, it can be extremely difficult to exercise at all. In such a situation, it will be impossible for you to reach your fitness goals in the short term.
Many of the best leg workouts for women target the various parts of the leg in sequence.
Such exercises will target and shape all of the muscle groups and promote calorie burn. This type of workout can, however, take time.
Walking, running, using a StairMaster, and biking or spinning are good leg workouts for women because they benefit the entire leg, with the one movement working all muscle groups.
Having used a StairMaster Gauntlet Stepmill, I can’t recommend it highly enough. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy one if I had the funds and space.
The Maxi Climber is an affordable and compact alternative that has helped me tone my legs and butt.
Some leg workouts for women use devices such as balance boards, stepping platforms, and even agility hoops and ladders.
All are great for toning and shaping. However, the latter three, in particular, also provide enough cardio to raise calorie burn into an effective fat loss range.
What are Some Other Good Exercises to Tone Legs?
If your goal is not weight loss but muscle toning, some of the best exercises to 
tone legs involve weights.
Many females avoid weight lifting because of the old myth that women who lift weights develop a bulked-up masculine physique.
The reality is, an enormous amount of dedication and effort over a long period would be needed for a woman to develop muscles to that extent.
Competitive bodybuilders lift massive weights.
They also follow a very strict diet high in protein and very low in fat and carbs to enable them to lower their BMI so that their muscles appear more pronounced.
If you decide to try weights, and I highly recommend you do, start with light weights.
If you’d like more muscle definition, gradually progress to heavier weights.
Some of the very best exercises to tone legs incorporate lifting and pushing motions involving weights and resistance.
The perfect piece of equipment for this is a weight bench. Along with toning your legs, a weight bench will tone your upper body and core, giving you a total body workout.
What are the Best Leg Workouts for Women to do at Home?
Some of the best leg workouts for women to do at home use body weight for 
resistance.
Following are three at-home leg workouts for women that don’t require any equipment. Start with one set of 10 to 15 reps, adding one or two extra sets over time.
1. Leg Lifts – These are exactly what they sound like. Lie flat on the floor with your legs extended in front of you and your toes pointed.
Alternate lifting one leg into the air, keeping the leg straight, your lower back on the floor, and your abs pulled in.
This exercise also works the abs.
2. Squats – Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and squat down, swinging your arms straight up and out in front of you to help you keep your balance.
You will work different areas of your thighs, glutes, and calves, depending on whether you point your toes straight ahead or to the sides.
To make the exercise harder, rise onto the balls of your feet as you lower your hips towards the floor.
3. Calf Raises – Stand with one foot on the edge of a stair riser with your heel hanging over the edge.
Holding onto the handrail for balance, lift your other foot into the air and slowly raise and lower yourself onto the ball of your foot.
Allow your heel to slowly dip below the level of the riser, lowering it as far as it will go. Slowly lift your heel again.
* If you don’t have access to a step, perform the exercise standing on a couple of stacked telephone books or anything stable of a similar height. If you need to, you can press the palm of your hand against a wall for balance.
Click this link for more calf exercises.
What are Some Good Exercises to Lose Thigh Fat?
There are many good exercises to lose thigh fat, and again a lot of these focus 
on the use of weights.
As mentioned above, some women are reluctant to lift weights due to concerns about becoming too bulky and mistakenly believing that weightlifting causes weight gain.
While muscle is heavier than fat, it isn’t by much. Any slight weight gain will be more than made up for because people with toned muscles burn calories more efficiently than those with a lot of fat.
Some other good exercises to lose thigh fat work the entire leg and provide cardiovascular benefits.
You can achieve this through brisk walking, jogging, running, or using any of the cardio equipment referenced above.
You may like this article containing diet and exercise tips to lose thigh fat fast.
Leg Exercises for People with Bad Knees and Hips
Working out may be uncomfortable or even painful if you have bad hips or knees.
The reality is that you really should keep moving the affected joints through a full range of motion.
Doing so will keep your mobility from deteriorating and eventually compromising your ability to walk freely.
One of the best leg exercises for bad knees and hips is Pilates.
Pilates is gentle and low-impact. It strengthens the muscles, increases flexibility, mobility, and balance, and improves muscle tone.
Another of the most effective leg exercises for bad knees and hips is the modified Squat.
To do modified Squats, lower your knees as you would when doing regular squats, but only far enough to feel a small amount of stress on the muscle above your kneecaps.
When you reach this position, very slowly shift your weight from foot to foot while pushing your hands from one side to the other, turning slightly at the hips.
Low-impact and straightforward, the above exercise is effective because it strengthens the muscles and gently stretches the tendons and ligaments. This allows for greater mobility without putting a lot of stress on any part of the leg.
Final Thoughts on the Best Leg Workouts for Women
The key to a good leg workout for women is to focus on exercises that don’t 
target only one muscle group but work the entire leg in a balanced fashion.
Your method of doing this is entirely up to you.
Whether you choose to walk, use exercise equipment or weights to achieve your goal, or a combination of these, is not important.
What is important is consistency and a commitment to sticking with your exercise plan.
While exercise alone will improve muscle tone, you should also undertake cardio activity regularly for the best result.
Cardio exercise will burn extra calories, reduce your body fat, and provide many health benefits.
Cutting your food intake if you are overweight will also help reduce your body fat. The muscle tone obtained from regular workouts will be evident with less fat.
I hope you found this article on the best leg workouts for women informative and that it helps you achieve your fitness goal.
