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Lower Body Workout for Women: A 2-Day Gym Leg Plan
Leg day doesn't need to be a two-hour ordeal. A good lower body workout trains four areas: the quads on the front of your thighs, the hamstrings on the back, your glutes, and your calves. Train them twice a week with a few lifts you can get stronger on, and you'll feel it on stairs, hikes and every time you lift something off the floor.
Updated · 7 min read · By the HerShape team
This plan gives you two gym leg days: Lower A built around the squat, Lower B built around the hip hinge. Pair them with the two sessions in our upper body workout for women and you have a full 4-day week. If glutes are your main goal, our glute workout plan for women is the better fit. This one is for balanced leg strength.
What a balanced leg day covers
| Movement | Main muscles | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Squat | Quads, glutes, inner thighs | Back squat, hack squat, goblet squat, leg press |
| Hip hinge | Hamstrings, glutes | Romanian deadlift |
| Single-leg | Quads, glutes, balance | Reverse lunge, step-up |
| Knee bend (curl) | Hamstrings | Seated or lying leg curl |
| Knee straighten (extension) | Quads | Leg extension |
| Calf raise | Calves | Standing and seated calf raise |
Squats alone don't cover the back of your legs. In a 2019 study of 17 untrained young men (women weren't studied), 10 weeks of squats grew the quads and glutes but didn't change hamstring size, whether they squatted deep or shallow. Deeper squats did grow the glutes and inner thighs more. That's why this plan has a squat day and a hinge day, and why it asks you to squat as deep as you can control.
How you curl matters too. In a 2021 study, 20 untrained adults trained one leg with seated leg curls and the other with lying leg curls for 12 weeks. The seated leg gained more hamstring muscle. Use the seated machine if your gym has one.
Your 2-day lower body workout plan
Do Lower A and Lower B on nonconsecutive days, for example Monday and Thursday. Each takes about 45-60 minutes. Rest is listed for every exercise: longer after the big lifts, shorter on the small ones.
Effort is written as RIR (reps in reserve): how many more clean reps you could do when you stop. RIR 2 means two good reps left.
Warm-up (6-8 minutes)
- Three to four minutes of easy bike or incline walking.
- 10 bodyweight squats, 10 glute bridges, 6 reverse lunges each leg, 10 calf raises.
- Ramp-up sets for your first exercise: 8 light reps, 5 at about half your working weight, 3 at about three-quarters.
Lower A: squat and quad focus
| Exercise | Sets x reps | Rest | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Back squat, hack squat or goblet squat | 3 x 6-8 | 2-3 min | RIR 2-3 |
| Leg press | 3 x 10-12 | 2 min | RIR 2 |
| Dumbbell Romanian deadlift | 2 x 10-12 | 90 s | RIR 2-3 |
| Leg extension | 2 x 12-15 | 60 s | RIR 1-2 |
| Standing calf raise (machine or on a step) | 3 x 10-12 | 60 s | RIR 1-2 |
Lower B: hinge and hamstring focus
| Exercise | Sets x reps | Rest | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barbell Romanian deadlift | 3 x 6-8 | 2-3 min | RIR 2-3 |
| Dumbbell reverse lunge or step-up | 3 x 8-10 each leg | 90 s | RIR 2 |
| Seated leg curl (or lying) | 3 x 10-12 | 60-90 s | RIR 1-2 |
| Hip thrust or glute bridge | 2 x 10-12 | 90 s | RIR 2 |
| Seated calf raise | 3 x 12-15 | 60 s | RIR 1-2 |
As listed, that's 11 hard sets a week for the quads (squats, leg press, leg extensions and lunges), 8 for the hamstrings (Romanian deadlifts and leg curls) and 6 for the calves. Your glutes work in the squats, lunges and hinges, plus 2 sets of hip thrusts. Week 1 starts lower, at 2 sets per exercise.
A few form notes:
- Romanian deadlift: keep a slight bend in your knees, push your hips back and slide the weight down your thighs until you feel a strong stretch in your hamstrings. Stop there. Touching the floor isn't the goal.
- Calf raise: pause for a second at the bottom, then rise all the way onto the balls of your feet.
How the 4 weeks build
| Week | Sets | Effort | Goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 per exercise | RIR 3 | Learn the moves, find your weights |
| 2 | As listed | As listed | Add reps |
| 3 | Add 1 set to the first exercise each day | As listed | Add reps or weight |
| 4 | As week 3 | Last set of the first exercise can reach RIR 1 | Beat your week 2 numbers |
Use double progression: keep a weight until every set hits the top of the rep range, then go up by the smallest step available. Squats, leg press and Romanian deadlifts can usually take 5-10 lb (2.5-5 kg). On leg extensions, curls and calf raises, add reps first, then the smallest weight step. After week 4, take an easier week (half the sets, RIR 4), then start again from your new weights. The upper body plan follows the same 4 weeks, so the two run in step.
Putting it in a full week
| Day | Session |
|---|---|
| Monday | Lower A |
| Tuesday | Upper A |
| Wednesday | Rest or walk |
| Thursday | Lower B |
| Friday | Upper B |
| Weekend | Rest, walk, or something fun |
Only three days a week? Rotate through Lower A, Upper A, Lower B, Upper B, one session per training day. Legs still come around every 4-5 days. If glutes matter more to you than overall leg strength, run the glute plan's two days instead of these. Don't stack all four lower-body sessions into one week. For other layouts, see the best workout split for women.
Lower body workout at home
No gym this week? Swap in:
| Gym exercise | Home version |
|---|---|
| Back squat or hack squat | Goblet squat with a 3-second lowering |
| Leg press | Split squat, rear foot on the floor or a low step |
| Leg extension | Wall sit, 30-45 seconds |
| Romanian deadlift | Dumbbell or single-leg Romanian deadlift |
| Leg curl | Sliding leg curl: lie on your back, heels on a towel on a smooth floor |
| Hip thrust | Single-leg glute bridge, or shoulders on the couch |
| Calf raises | Single-leg calf raise on a step, holding a dumbbell |
With lighter weights, push the reps up to around 15-20 and lower slowly. For a full week built around dumbbells, see our dumbbell workout plan for women.
Knee-friendly swaps
Which exercises feel fine on the knees varies from person to person. If one bothers you, try a swap before dropping leg day.
| If this bothers your knees | Try instead |
|---|---|
| Back squat | Box squat to a bench at a height that feels fine, or a goblet squat |
| Leg press | Feet a little higher on the platform, and a range you can control |
| Reverse lunge | Step-up onto a lower box, holding a rail for balance |
| Leg extension | Lighter weight and a slow 3-second lowering, or an extra set of leg press instead |
Swaps are for comfort, not treatment. If an exercise causes pain, stop doing it. If pain is sharp, lasts after training or comes with swelling, see a qualified professional, such as a physiotherapist or doctor.
Common mistakes
- Only training the front of your legs. Squats didn't grow the hamstrings in the study above. Give them their own work with Romanian deadlifts and leg curls.
- Squatting a quarter of the way down. Drop the weight and go as deep as you can with your heels down and back flat. Deeper squats grew the glutes and inner thighs more in the study above.
- Turning the Romanian deadlift into a squat. Your hips move back, your knees stay softly bent and your shins stay close to vertical.
- Letting your knees cave in. Keep them in line with your toes on squats, lunges and leg press.
- Bouncing calf raises. A pause at the bottom and a full rise at the top make light weights count.
How HerShape helps
HerShape builds your weekly workout plan around your goal, your equipment (full gym, dumbbells or bodyweight) and your schedule, alongside a weekly meal plan, and adapts it to your progress, life stage and cycle phase. Every exercise has a form video, and progress tracking lets you see your numbers week to week. With Pro, you can regenerate your plan and ask Coach Sarah (the AI coach) why it changed.
Download HerShapeYour first plan is free. Pro is $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year. See what is included
Frequently asked questions
How many days a week should I do leg day?
Twice a week suits most people. The NHS recommends strengthening activities that work all the major muscle groups, legs included, on at least 2 days a week. Two leg days with a few days between them gives you enough work to progress and time to recover.
What exercises should a lower body workout include?
A squat or leg press, a hip hinge like the Romanian deadlift, a single-leg exercise, a leg curl and calf raises. Spread over two days, that covers the quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves.
Is a lower body workout the same as a glute workout?
Not quite. A glute plan puts hip thrusts, abduction and other glute-first moves at the center. A lower body workout trains the whole leg evenly. Pick the one that matches your goal; both use the same 4-week structure.
Will leg day make my legs bulky?
Building noticeable muscle size takes a long time, consistent hard training and enough food to support it. Most women get stronger and see more shape in their legs long before anything they'd call bulky.
What if squats hurt my knees?
Start with the knee-friendly swaps above. If it still hurts, or the pain is sharp or lasts after training, stop that exercise and see a qualified professional such as a physiotherapist.
Sources: NHS, "Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64"; Kubo K, Ikebukuro T, Yata H, "Effects of squat training with different depths on lower limb muscle volumes," European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2019; Maeo S et al., "Greater hamstrings muscle hypertrophy but similar damage protection after training at long versus short muscle lengths," Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2021.