If when you look in the mirror you see your mother's thighs, don't be dismayed. The upper legs were designed for strong, powerful movements, and are highly responsive to training. These top 10 tried and true leg exercises will get you there. For best results, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends you work your muscles on at least two nonconsecutive days of the week, performing eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise.
Squats and Stepups
To squat, stand erect, feet shoulder-width, chest lifted, shoulders back. Move your hips backward, as if to sit in a chair. Keep your knees over your heels as they bend to 90 degrees. Exhale and extend your knees, contract your buttocks and straighten your hips. Perform stepups on a bench a little lower that knee height. Place your entire foot on the bench with your ankle directly below your knee and push off with your heel, stepping up up down down, leading with the same leg for an entire set, then switching legs.
Traveling Lunges and Unilateral Hip Extensions
To lunge, stand erect, feet hip-width, chest up, shoulders back. Giant-step forward with your right leg, landing with your knee above your ankle. Allow the rear heel to roll off the floor and the rear knee to dip. Exhale and push off with your heel, stepping through and forward with your left leg. Continue across the floor. Begin hip extensions in a standing position with a dumbbell on the floor in front of you. Hinge forward from your right hip, lifting the left leg off the floor with a straight knee. Grasp the dumbbell with your left hand and return to standing. Repeat on the left leg, setting the dumbbell down and lifting it with your right hand.
Deadlifts and Roman Chair
For deadlifts, stand erect, feet shoulder-width, gripping a barbell in front of you. Gaze ahead and hinge forward from your hips with a flat back, keeping your chest lifted. Keep the barbell close your your body, lowering until your trunk is parallel to the floor. Contract the hamstring and gluteal muscles and extend your hips, returning to your start position. Repeat. Adjust a roman chair so the pad is at your hips in the prone position. Cross your arms over your chest. Anchor your feet under the pads and hinge forward from your hips to 90 degrees. Contract your hamstrings and return to start.
Cable Abduction and Adduction
Use an ankle cuff with a cable machine set as the lowest notch. Stand sideways to the machine with the cuff on your outside leg. Point your toes forward and lift your leg to the side. Slowly return to start, keeping tension on the cable. For the inner thigh, attach the cuff is on the inside leg. Standing erect, draw the cuffed ankle in front of the opposite leg. Return slowly, maintaining tension.
Stability Ball Lifts and Rollouts
Lie supine on the floor, knees bent 90 degrees at hip width. Plant the soles of your feet near the top of a knee-high stability ball. Push off with your heels and straighten your hips, thrusting toward the ceiling, Slowly dip the hips toward the floor, but don't rest down. Repeat. From the same beginning position, rest your heels atop the ball and extend your knees, lifting your hips off the floor. Keeping hips lifted, draw the ball toward you with your heels, then push it back to the start position.
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