Leg and Butt Building Workout

This leg and butt building workout targets your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. And even though yes, super focused lower body workouts (like this one), will build you a rock solid butt, there are other perks.

When you work on building a stronger lower half, you create definition and fill out your jeans, but there’s more to it. Your quads, hamstrings and glutes are large muscles. Make them stronger and you boost your total body strength and fitness level and you burn more calories at rest.

I’ll walk you through four key factors in building strong legs:

• Exercise choice
• Exercise technique and form
• Overall intensity
• Recovery

Stop here for a sec!

I might throw around the words “build” and “grow” rather than “tone” and “shape” in this article. To be 100% transparent, toning up, shaping up, sculpting – these are trendy words that all describe some amount of muscle building and growth. Muscle has more shape than fat. As you build muscle, you see more definition, more tone and a more sculpted body. Don’t be scared of growing more of you!

Ready to dig in?

Exercise Choice

There are hundreds of lower body exercises and thousands of variations on those exercises that all target your lower half. But some are verifiably better than others when it comes to designing a leg and butt building workout.

The VIPs of Leg Exercises

Squats. Dead Lifts. Lunges. Hip Thrusts.

Why do these exercises rank highest in class? Because they are compound movements that activate more muscles than any other exercise in your repertoire. Squats and dead lifts rank top dog when it comes to building strength, growing muscle, improving total overall fitness and function, expanding mobility and changing the shape of your body.

The Supporting Cast

Like I said before, there are hundreds of exercises and thousands of variations that target the muscles in your lower body. And they all have a place in your routine, as long as you are focusing on the top dogs mentioned above.

Leg extension machines, hamstring curls, glute ab- and adductor machines, and even the leg press machine are isolated exercises. They don’t pack as much bang-for-your buck because your body doesn’t have to recruit quite as many supporting muscles to get the job done. When you use the leg extension machine, for example, you feel the burn in your quadriceps but your body isn’t moving through a full range of motion and doesn’t have to recruit core muscles, back muscles, calves, etc. to perform the rep.

Exercise Technique and Form

The way you perform an exercise is just as important, if not more important, than the exercises you choose. If you barbell squat every other day but your technique is poor, you won’t recruit the proper leg and glute muscles…which means you won’t reap the benefits the exercise could be giving you. Without proper technique, you won’t see the results that you could see. Without proper form, especially on big, compound lifts AND especially as you start to lift heavier weights, increases your risk of injury.

To perfect your form:

• Watch videos
• Practice the exercise without weight
• Slowly add weight as you get comfortable with the movement pattern
• Video yourself or watch yourself in the mirror
• Ask a personal trainer to coach you through your first reps

Intensity

When I say intensity, I’m wrapping a few variables into one package.

Challenge + Stress

To stimulate growth, you have to challenge your body beyond what it’s used to. Want results? Ask your muscles to do more.

What’s that mean?

Like all of my favorite fitness answers: that depends on you.

If you have never worked out before, body weight squats are enough of a challenge to your muscles to stimulate growth. If you’ve been working out for years, squatting with the same 20 pound dumbbell and not seeing results, it’s because your body isn’t being challenged – you aren’t stimulating growth, girl!

Variable Rep Ranges

Chang up your rep range to increase intensity and stimulate results. You grow muscle in a variety of rep ranges, from 1-5, to the beloved 8-12, to the long-workout-loving 15-20. The key here is to keep switching it up. If you always do 3 sets of 8-12, switching to 2 sets of 15-20 reps or 4-5 sets of 1-5 reps can bring results.

Frequency

Frequency affects the intensity at which you are training your lower body.

If you do a leg and butt building workout every other day, you might not be able to go as hard or lift as much weight because you haven’t had time to recover. Which brings me to…

Recovery

Rest Days

Your best bet when it comes to leg training? Focus on legs 2-3 times a week, with at least a day of rest in between. Give your muscles time to repair and recover before bringing on the burn again.

*When you strength train, you actually break muscle DOWN. It’s not until post-workout, when you feed yourself well (more on that to come), and rest, that your body starts to build new muscle and rebuild stronger tissues. If you don’t give your body time to heal, you won’t see results because your body will be trying so hard to simply mend itself.

Sleep

Ah, sleep. Sleep is an under-prioritized piece of your health puzzle. Sleep gives your body obvious time to rest – but there’s more to it than not moving.

When you sleep, your body recovers and rebuilds. A well-rested body regulates hormone production as it’s supposed to. Everything from human growth hormone (builds lean muscle), to cortisol (the stress hormone), to ghrelin and leptin (hunger hormones) is affected by how well-rested you are.

p.s. this is one of my FAVORITE podcasts – all about sleep, dreams, and effects of not sleeping well. Worth the time!

Nutrition

And finally, fuel your body well and you’ll see a pay off from your squat sessions. Prioritize protein, the building block of muscle. Eating protein 3-4 times throughout the day goes a long way in getting stronger and building a leaner, more toned lower half.

It’s not just about protein. Your body thrives on a well-balanced diet of high-quality food. Whole grains, heart-healthy fats, vegetables and fruits in all colors of the rainbow – this variety of food has a place in your healthy diet.

The 30-Minute Leg and Glute Building Workout

Now presenting the featured attraction…what you’ve been waiting for since I said “perkier butt”…a 30-minute, high-intensity, lower-body focused dumbbell workout to get stronger and tone those legs and butt.

You know the drill – before you get squatting spend some time warming up your body and activating your muscles before diving in. 

Perform 3-4 rounds of the following exercises, with little to no rest in between exercises and 1-2 minutes of rest in between rounds.

Exercise 1: Goblet Squats x 10

How to: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Hold a dumbbell against your chest with both hands. Begin the squat by hinging at the hips and knees. Lower your butt towards the floor, keeping your lower back straight, your chest high and your core engaged. At the bottom of the movement, squeeze your glutes and push through your heels to return to the start position.

Exercise 2: Romanian Dead Lifts x 10

How to: Stand with feet hip-width apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hands, palms facing your body and resting against your thigs. Keep a soft bend in your knees as you push your hips back to begin the movement. Keep your back straight, core engaged and shoulders down and back. Once you feel a stretch in your hamstrings and your back is roughly parallel to the floor, squeeze your glutes and draw your hips forward to return to the start position.

Exercise 3: Walking Lunges x 10 each legHow to: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, a dumbbell in each hand at your sides. Step forward with one leg, bending both knees simultaneously. Descend until your back knee is 1-2 inches off of the floor. Keep your chest up, core engaged and shoulders back. Drive through your front heel to straighten both legs. Bring your back leg forward to step in front and repeat the movement.

Exercise 4: Curtsy Lunges x 10 each leg

How to: Stand with feet hip-width apart, a dumbbell in each hand at yours sides. Step back and behind with your right foot until your left toe is behind and to the outside of your front foot. Bend at both knees, until your back knee is 1-2 inches from the floor. Push through your front heel to return to the start position.

Exercise 5: Dumbbell Hip Thrusts

How to: Begin by sitting on the floor facing away from a padded bench. Bend your knees. Place your feet flat on the ground, just about hip-width apart. Your upper back should be touching the bench. Hold a pair of dumbbells at your hips (place a towel on your hips for extra padding). Drive through your heels, lifting your hips up towards the ceiling as your upper back stays on the bench. Pause and squeeze your glutes at the top before lowering your butt back to the start position.

Here’s what I know: No one says no to a better butt. This is a simple leg and butt building workout routine that you can knock out with just a couple of dumbbells and a bit of focus.