How to pump up a girl’s legs at home: exercises, tips

To make your legs slim and beautiful, you don’t have to go to the gym. This task can be easily accomplished at home if you choose the right training program and exercise regularly. Find out how to pump up a girl's legs at home to bring them as close to ideal as possible. Let's look at the most effective leg exercises, taking into account individual body features.

Slender, chiseled legs are rarely achieved by nature. Most girls need training to achieve impeccable shape. It is very important to choose the right set of exercises for beautiful legs, because incorrect physical activity will not only not give the desired result, but can also aggravate existing problems.

The importance of physical exercise for the beauty of legs

Women's legs with poorly developed muscles can hardly be called beautiful. The soft tissue of the thighs and legs consists of muscle and fatty tissue. If the muscle volume is insignificant, and the layer of fat deposits is significant, then in youth it may look good, but over time, the fatty tissue loses its elasticity, cellulite, sagging, and sagging thigh tissue appear.

Legs with well-developed muscles and a thin layer of fat have a completely different appearance. They are smooth, without cellulite. Beautifully defined muscles give the legs a chiseled look and “play” when walking. In addition, legs with well-developed muscles are stronger and more tireless than limbs with weak muscles and a high percentage of fatty tissue.

The easiest way to achieve beautiful legs is by playing sports since childhood. Those who are seriously involved in choreography, acrobatics, gymnastics and many other sports develop beautiful athletic legs from childhood. But if this opportunity was missed, don't be upset. Leg training for girls will help improve their shape, strengthen muscles, get rid of cellulite and excess fat at any age.

Anatomy of leg muscles

In order for a girl to pump up her legs at home, it is necessary, first of all, to study their structure. All leg muscles can be divided into three groups: muscles of the thigh, lower leg and foot; to some extent, this also includes the gluteal muscles, the training of which we will also consider.

Often, the phrase “pump up your legs” means working the quadriceps (thigh muscles), rear biceps and calf muscles.

The quadriceps, which consists of four parts, is necessary for stretching the knee joint and bending the leg at the hip joint. The biceps femoris is responsible for rotating the knee joint; it is a short semimembranosus muscle. As for the lower leg muscles, they consist of two parts - the gastrocnemius and soleus, and their functions are limited to raising the foot while standing and sitting.

Features of training for different body types

Before you start training your legs, you need to clearly determine what the problem is. Let's consider the main shortcomings of women's legs and the measures that will need to be taken to correct them.

Legs too thin

Thin female legs are not always a disadvantage. As a rule, too thin legs look unsightly in two cases:

when they contrast with a fairly voluminous body;
when they have an ugly shape.

If thin legs have good shape - strong muscles, pronounced calves, then the problem is most likely in their inconsistency with the large upper body. Most often, this occurs in girls with an “apple” or “inverted triangle” body type. When they gain weight, fat is deposited on the shoulders, back, sides, and abdomen, while the buttocks and legs remain “dry.”

In such cases, there is no need to strive to give more volume to the legs. Instead, focus on losing weight to eliminate the upper-lower body discrepancy. Proper nutrition and regular exercise will help you lose weight and maintain a normal weight.

If thin legs have an unattractive shape - undefined calves, poorly developed inner thighs - then exercises with dumbbells will help. With their help, you can achieve a beautiful shape by increasing muscle volume in the right places. How to pump up a girl’s skinny legs, read in the “Exercises with dumbbells” section.

Too voluminous legs

Many girls are unhappy with their “heavy bottom”. Excessive leg volume can be caused by:

fatty deposits;
voluminous leg muscles.

Often both of these factors are present. This problem is typical for girls with a pear body type. Its solution must be approached in a differentiated manner.

If there are significant fat accumulations - cellulite, “ears” on the hips, “rolls” above the knees, then you need to lose weight. The main mistake of many girls is that they are sure that fat can be burned locally by loading the muscles located underneath it. This is not true. By pumping up your leg muscles, you will not get rid of the fat that covers them unless there is a calorie deficit in your body. When losing weight, fat is burned evenly throughout the body, and problem areas where it is deposited in the thickest layer are the last to lose weight.

Therefore, in order to remove excess fat and give your legs a chiseled shape, you first need to lose weight by restricting your diet and increasing your physical activity. Do not resort to diets under any circumstances, they are not effective. You can lose weight:

giving up unhealthy foods with hydrogenated fats, large amounts of salt and sugar, and chemical additives;
sharply limiting flour, sweet, fatty foods;
reducing portions to the size of a fist and increasing the number of meals to 5-6 times a day;
increasing the consumption of clean water to 1.2-2 liters per day;
by increasing physical activity (daily brisk walking plus any type of fitness 3-4 times a week).

Leg exercises for girls who have the problem of a “heavy bottom” should be aimed at strengthening the muscles without increasing their volume. They are performed without weights, in a multi-repetition mode - at least 25-30 repetitions. A simple and effective set of suitable exercises is presented in the “Exercises without weights” section.

Sometimes it happens that there is no excess fat, but the legs are still too bulky. This may be genetically determined, or be a consequence of high force loads on the lower body. In such cases, the problem can be solved by pumping up the body and arms to bring them in line with the powerful bottom. In parallel with pumping up the upper body, the pumped-up legs of girls should not be loaded, but “burned out” - trained exclusively in a multi-repetition mode (from 30 repetitions) and at a fast pace.

How to go to the gym to lose weight in your legs

Do you want to lose weight quickly, but don’t know anything about fitness programs or can’t cope with your own laziness? Your path lies in the gym. Instructors know: a well-chosen set of exercises should combine cardio exercises (thanks to them, the pulse increases, and the body loses excess fluid) with strength exercises (with their help, it is possible to pump up muscles and increase their tone).

The main cardio machine is the treadmill. It is unlikely that you will be able to build up powerful muscles by running, but losing weight and reducing the size of your legs is possible. Pay attention to steppers and exercise bikes. When you take up strength training, do not neglect the installations on which you bend and extend your legs, perform seated and lying presses. Lunges on a Smith machine will help you lose weight without pumping up your muscles too much.

Exercises with dumbbells

Exercises with weights allow you to achieve not only strengthening muscles, but also increasing their volume. To do this, you need to choose the right dumbbell weight. It should be such that you are able to perform no more than 8-10 repetitions. The last repetitions should be difficult and accompanied by a burning sensation in the muscles.

Instead of dumbbells, you can use plastic bottles with dry or wet sand.

As your muscles strengthen, the weight of the weights needs to be increased so that you still cannot perform more than 8-10 repetitions.

After training with dumbbells, it is necessary to give the muscles time to recover, so perform this complex no more often than after 1-2 days.

Be sure to start your workouts with a warm-up to warm up your muscles and joints. The best option for such a warm-up is joint gymnastics, which consists of rotating in both directions alternately all the large joints of the body.

For muscle growth, building material is needed, so the diet should contain enough animal protein - 1.5-2 g per kg of body weight.

It is very important at the end of the workout to perform stretching exercises for the muscles being worked. Compare the legs of football players and ballerinas; they are subjected to a load of similar intensity, except that in ballet great attention is paid to stretching, while in football other qualities are a priority.

Girls with muscles that are responsive to load need to put less load on the front of the thighs - the quadriceps. Typically, these muscles sway easily and can become excessively large. There is no need to specifically pump up the quadriceps; they are sufficiently loaded when performing exercises on the buttocks and other muscle groups.

Dumbbell plie

This leg exercise thoroughly targets the muscles of the inner thighs.

Place your feet as wide as possible, with your toes turned outward as much as possible. Take a dumbbell, kettlebell or any heavy compact object in your hands.

Squat down until your thighs are horizontal. You cannot go below the horizontal, this can lead to knee injury. Keep your body straight, shoulders turned, do not lean forward. Do not move your pelvis back, as if slightly twisting it forward. Make sure that your lower back does not round or sag, but remains straight - this will protect you from injury.

As you reach your lowest point, you should feel a strong tension in your inner thigh muscles. From the bottom position, push your heels off the floor, simultaneously squeezing your buttocks, and slowly straighten your legs, but not completely. The knees should remain slightly bent - this is also one of the safety requirements.

Pushing your heels off the floor with squeezing your buttocks is an important point in the technique; until you practice this exercise to the point of automaticity, remind yourself in each repetition: “push off, squeeze.”

The load must hang freely. Don't strain your arms trying to pull it up. Its lifting should be carried out only by the effort of the buttocks.

Carefully monitor the position of the body. If you bend over, moving your pelvis back, it will be a different exercise - sumo, which does not put stress on the inner thighs.

Lunges with dumbbells

Lunges and dumbbell deadlifts are the most effective exercises for the hamstrings.

Stand straight with dumbbells in your hands. Step forward as wide as possible. The further you step, the better. The feet should not be on the same line. For stability, there should be a small distance between their axes; the toe of the front leg should be turned slightly inward. This is the starting position.

If you don't step far enough, your technique will break. The entire load will fall on the quadriceps, and this is not at all what we are looking for. In addition, in this case, when squatting, the thigh and shin form an acute angle, which has a bad effect on the knee joint.

You can check whether the step width is sufficient in this way - in the lower position of the squat, the thigh should be parallel to the floor and form a right angle with the shin. The correct execution can also be checked by feeling - when moving, the buttocks and back of the thighs should be as tense as possible, and not the quadriceps.

From the starting position, lower yourself down, keeping your body straight and your shoulders turned. At all stages of the exercise, the spine must maintain a vertical position; the back must not be rounded. At the same time, the back leg should bend, the foot should rise to the toe, the knee should almost touch the floor.

When the thigh of the front leg reaches a horizontal position, push off with the heel while squeezing the buttocks and return to the starting position. The feet remain in place.

After you complete the required number of repetitions, change the position of your legs. One approach involves working both limbs.

Deadlift with dumbbells

This exercise, like the previous one, works well and stretches the back of the thighs.

Stand up straight, legs apart, foot-width apart, dumbbells in your lowered hands in front, their axes on the same line. We look straight ahead.

Our task is to bend over, lowering the dumbbells as low as possible. However, keep in mind that the goal of this exercise is not to reach the dumbbells to the floor. Under no circumstances should you round your back. The following requirements must be strictly observed:

the back remains straight at all stages of the exercise;
bending over, “slide” the dumbbells along the front of your thighs;
when bending, the knees bend just a little, and the pelvis is pulled back to the maximum;
When you reach the maximum possible tilt with a straight back, squeeze your buttocks for a couple of seconds, feeling the tension in the back of your thighs;
return to a straight stance using the strength of your buttocks, not your back muscles. The push of straightening should be the force of the buttocks.

Working out the shins

Ideal female legs should have sufficient volume of calf muscles. It is considered beautiful when, when connecting the feet, the calves touch each other, and then smoothly taper towards the knees. Pumping up your calves is quite difficult, since these muscles are accustomed to constant loads. However, persistence and patience will definitely have an effect.

You will need dumbbells or other weights, as well as a platform 7-8 cm thick. This can be any elevation - a threshold, a curb, a fixed block.

With dumbbells at your sides, stand straight with your heels on the floor and the front of your feet on the platform. The knees at all stages of the exercise are slightly bent, “soft”. Maintaining a vertical body position, slowly rise onto your toes as high as possible and lower until your heels touch the floor. Hold in the lower and upper positions for a couple of seconds.

By bringing your heels together and spreading them apart, you can increase the load on the outer and inner parts of the calf muscles. If you need to add volume to the inside of your calves, then turn your socks outward; if you need to add volume to your outside calves, connect your toes and spread your heels to the sides.

All these exercises with dumbbells must be performed in 4-5 approaches.

How to run correctly to lose weight in your legs and thighs

Is sport within four walls not to your liking? Take up running – and the question of how to lose excess weight and lose weight in your thighs will disappear by itself. Running on a home exercise machine is effective, but the ideal option is to exercise outdoors. A couple of months dedicated to training coupled with proper nutrition will give you strong muscles and minus 10-15 kilograms. Tempting? How can you lose weight in your legs without pumping up your muscles with the help of exercise machines, without exhausting yourself with exercises, but by doing only jogging?

Exercise every day.
Starting with 10-15 minutes, increase the time allotted for running to 1-1.5 hours.
To lose weight healthy, run at the speed that is optimal for you, without being equal to others.
Professional sports shoes and clothing are not necessary for a beginner, but running in comfortable sneakers and a suit is much more comfortable.
Start training in the spring so that you have time to harden yourself before the cold season arrives.

Exercises without weights

A set of exercises that you can do at home, lying on the mat, will help you tone your legs and at the same time burn off excess fat.

Rifles

Lie on your back with your toes pointed up and your arms extended above your head.
As you inhale, straining your buttocks and drawing in your stomach, turn, without changing the position of your arms, onto your right side.
As you exhale, return to the starting position.
Perform a similar turn in the other direction, remembering to squeeze the muscles of the abdomen and buttocks.
30 turns must be performed in each direction.

Rise

Lie on your right side, support your head with your right hand, rest your left hand with your palm in front of your stomach.
The stomach and buttocks are tense. We bring the left leg forward to a right angle with the body, then return it back and, without lowering it onto the right one, lift it as high as possible.
We lower our left leg and again, without putting it down and without relaxing our abs and buttocks, we bring it forward.
Continue to alternate lifting up and forward, keeping your leg suspended at all times. With just one leg you need to perform 30 cycles (forward - return - up - return).
Turn onto your left side and perform 30 similar cycles for your right leg.