Weight Training for Legs

Weight training helps you achieve tight and toned legs while also increasing your strength, bone density and metabolism. Your legs have the largest muscle groups in the body, which include the glutes, hamstrings and quadriceps. Training these muscles increases your resting metabolism, making weight goals more achievable. There are many methods of weight training for many different goals, whether it's to gain size or muscle mass, become a better athlete or simply to look good in shorts.

Weights

If your goal is to gain size, then lift a weight heavy enough so that it fatigues your muscles within eight to 10 repetitions, according to The National Strength and Conditioning Association. If you are training to tone and firm your legs, lift a slightly lighter weight for 12 to 15 repetitions. If your goal is to build strength, lift a weight that makes your legs fatigued after five to eight repetitions.

Controversy

There is some controversy about lifting weights and how many repetitions will lead to tone, muscle growth and strength. The American Council on Exercise, or ACE, notes that genetics determines muscle growth, according to each person's muscle fiber number, type and testosterone levels. ACE asserts that if you fatigue your muscles in less than two minutes, you are still getting a beneficial weight training workout.

Equipment

There are many pieces of exercise equipment available for training the lower body. Weight machines are a good place to start if you are unaccustomed to exercise and need to build baseline strength. These include the leg press, leg extension and leg curl. However, if you are experienced with exercise, use equipment in addition to body weight exercises. Standing exercise recruits more muscles and the movement becomes functional. Use barbells, dumbbells and medicine balls to challenge your legs and vary the routine.

Exercises

The basic leg exercises are the squat, the lunge and the deadlift. These three exercises target all the major muscles of the legs: the glutes, hamstrings and quadriceps. For variation, work laterally by doing side lunges. Make an exercise more challenging and engage your core by doing it with one leg, like single-leg squats and single-leg deadlifts. Incorporate power exercises that burn fat, raise the heart rate and increase metabolism into your workout by doing box jumps, jumping lunges or medicine ball squat throws.

Caution

Do not work similar muscles two days in a row because muscles need between 24 and 48 hours to recover. Unless your goal is bodybuilding, avoid doing only heavy-weight workouts on the legs because this can cause muscle imbalances that lead to knee, ankle and lower-back problems. Instead, vary your leg days between heavy weights, lighter weight or body weight exercises, and power and jumping movements. Stretch after each workout to keep muscles limber.