Leg Toning Exercises You Must Know

Are you looking to tone your legs? If so, you aren't alone. One of the top goals of many women is to get some toned legs. However, toning your legs can be very difficult unless you know the right leg toning exercises to perform.
If you want to make sure that you get toned legs as fast as possible, it's important that you're taking the time to learn the best leg toning exercises out there and then adding them to your exercise routine.

Let's look at the top leg toning exercises that you should perform so that you can get toned legs as soon as possible.

Leg Toning Exercise #1: Lunges 
The first leg toning exercise that's great for lengthening the legs and adding a more toned appearance is lunges. Lunges are fantastic because they work your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves.

How To Perform A Lunge
Stand with one leg forward and the other back
Lower your body until both knees are at 90 degree angles and your front thigh is parallel with the floor
Push off the ground an stand up straight
Just imagine taking one huge step and then lowering yourself. Also, when doing lunges make sure your knee doesn’t extend out over your foot.
Repeat this leg toning exercise for 10 reps each leg, doing three sets each workout.

Leg Toning Exercise #2: Squats 
Squats are the next leg toning exercise that will really help you get toned legs quickly.  Squats are a compound movement so it will workout every single muscle in the lower body. They help you build more lean muscle faster because your legs can put on the most muscle in the shortest amount of time.

By adding more lean muscle, you will increase your total daily calorie burn. One pound of muscle, at rest burns about 6 calories per day and one pound of fat burns about 2.

How To Perform A Squat
Stand with your feet slightly wider than hip width apart
Squat down until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor
Push off the ground until you're in the starting position again
If you don’t go down that far, you wont get the full benefits of this leg toning exercise. Try to make sure you don't arch your back and try not to extend your knees past your toes.
Repeat this leg toning exercise for 5 reps, doing 3 sets each workout.

Leg Toning Exercise #3: Rear Leg Raises 
Rear leg raises are perfect for any woman who wants to firm up her butt because they target the muscles specifically surrounding the butt. Since rear leg raises don’t require weights, you'll get toning benefits without any increase in size.

How To Perform Rear Leg Raises
Place yourself on your hands and knees
You should be looking forward and there should be a 90 degree angle between the calves and the hamstrings
Extend one leg up and behind you
Return leg to starting position
Repeat this leg toning exercise for 10 reps each leg, doing 3 sets each workout.

Leg Toning Exercise #4: Walking Uphill
Uphill Walking is another great leg toning exercise that you should include in your exercise routine. Walking uphill will burn off as many calories as fast paced running. It will really challenge your lower body muscles as well.
This leg toning exercise is a perfect alternative for anyone that has back pain since it will have a much lower impact than running.
You can go to the gym and find a whole bunch of machines that imitate the same motion as walking uphill. If you don’t have a gym membership just find a steep hill to walk up.

Perform this leg toning exercise for 30 minutes each workout.

Leg Toning Exercise #5: Deadlifts 
The last leg toning exercise is deadlifts. Deadlifts are great for firming your butt and will also help to strengthen the lower back, hamstrings and core muscles.
I can personally attest to this because I went to the chiropractor due to lower back pain. He told me that the reason I had lower back pain was because I had weak hamstrings. I was really surprised to hear that my hamstrings were the reason for my back pain. He told me to strengthen my hamstrings via deadlifts and long story short I haven't had back pain since.

How To Perform Deadlifts
Stand with the bar above the center of your feet, your stance should be a little more narrow than shoulder width.
Grab the bar overhand and bend your knees until your shins touch the bar and your thighs are parallel to the floor.
Flatten your back and look straight ahead.
Lift the bar off the ground by standing up and keeping a flat back
Come to a standing position with upright posture

When performing your deadlifts you really want to think of only squeezing your glutes, so that you are using the butt muscles to perform the exercise rather than using the lower back.

Repeat this leg toning exercise for 5 reps, doing 3 sets each workout.
So there you have five great leg toning exercises that you should add to your lower body exercise routine. Try to do these exercises 3 times a week. If you stick to these leg toning exercises, you are going to get that set of toned legs you're looking for.