Village Gym’s Beginner Guide On Legs, Bums and Tums Workouts For Women
A legs, bums, and tums workout is popular for their ability to work various different muscle groups within the body effectively. These workouts are designed to help you tone your body and improve your muscular health, both muscular strength and endurance, to help you achieve your fitness goals.
These kinds of workouts can also be known as a full body workout, as to work the legs, bum and tum you’ll need to work your most important muscles for day to day life. This includes but is not limited to your core stomach muscles (abs), inner and outer thigh muscles, your calf muscles, and your lower/upper back muscles.
An Overview Of Popular Legs, Bums and Tums Exercises For Women
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Knee ups
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Calf raises
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Squats
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Bicycle Crunches
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Weighted Leg Press
Keep reading to discover more about these exercises!
1. Knee Ups
Knee ups are a simple but effective way to help you tone the legs; both the lower and upper leg muscles. This is a relatively easy exercise to do and has the added bonus of improving your cardio, not just your muscular endurance or strength.
Balance is an essential part of this exercise, so it may be best to hold onto a grip bar, a wall, or a bannister for this. For the best results, you’ll want to work towards not holding onto anything.
How to do knee ups:
[insert video example]
Step by step instructions:
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Position your feet a shoulder width apart to begin. If you are holding onto a surface for this, secure your hands in place.
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Begin low and push off the ground with your right leg, hinging your knee, and bringing your knee up until it’s parallel with your waist. Keep your back straight when you do this. Your leg should be at approximately a 90 degree angle when it is bent and parallel with your waist.
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Place the right leg back down onto the ground, unhinging it quickly.
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Repeat this process with the left leg to complete one knee up repetition. This should be completed as fast as you are able while keeping good balance.
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Your core should be engaged in this movement also.
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Complete the quantity of sets desired for your routine. Around 30 repetitions performed in quick succession is one set.
Top Tip: you can make this exercise harder by bringing your knee up to your chest height if the waist level is too easy. Additionally, you can use resistance bands or weights to increase the difficulty of this exercise.
For those looking to tone their legs, bums and tums at home, you should read our in-depth blog about creating a home workout routine.
2. Calf Raises
A calf raise is a low-intensity workout that is ideal for toning the lower leg muscles; particularly the calf muscles. Like the knee up, it is a fairly straightforward motion that will be hugely beneficial to your workout routine if you have a particular focus on legs.
Do be sure to check out our blog dedicated to leg workouts for a more detailed look at toning the legs and improving the fitness of your leg muscle groups.
The calf raise is a popular workout, not just for its simplicity but also because it can be completed anywhere. It is also fairly easy to scale this exercise when it gets too easy with the inclusion of weights.
How to do calf raises:
[insert video example]
Step by step instructions:
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Begin by standing roughly shoulder width apart. Do not go any narrower than shoulder width as this will decrease your ability to balance effectively. Similarly, going wider than shoulder width will not efficiently work the calf muscles.
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To do a calf raise, push down on the balls of your feet and raise your heels up off the ground. You should continue pushing upwards until you are balancing on the balls of your feet entirely.
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Hold this position very briefly.
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Gently push downwards on the balls of your feet until your heels touch the ground. You should finish a calf raise with your feet flat on the ground, just like you started.
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Repeat this process as many times as required for your workout routine.
Top Tip: for those wanting a greater challenge, you can slow your rate of ascent and descent while doing calf raises. This will require the calves to do more work and hold your bodyweight in a stress position for longer.
3. Squats
Squats are on quite a few of our workout guides, and this is for a very good reason. They are a phenomenal exercise for working the legs and all the muscle groups within the legs; from the calves to the glutes. Squats also have the added bonus of assisting with the improvement of hip flexibility and the overall range of movement in your waist.
For those looking to progress, squats offer ample opportunity to do so. With everything from sumo squats to weighted squats, you can improve at your own pace with ease using this simple but effective exercise.
How to do squats:
[insert video example]
Step by Step Instructions:
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Begin by standing with your feet a shoulder width apart. Your feet should be parallel with your shoulders. For this type of squat, do not extend your feet beyond a shoulder width apart.
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Bend at your hip joint, keeping your back straight, and squat down as if sitting into a chair. Your body weight should be even across both feet and your knees should be bent.
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If you are struggling with balancing a squat, you can use your arms to aid with your bodily balance. Reaching out forwards and bringing your arms up in time with your squat can help with stability.
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Continue the squat until your thighs are as parallel to the floor as you can make them.
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Hold the squat for around a second.
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Return to the starting position by hinging the knees and pushing downwards through your heels.
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Repeat as many times as desired.
Generally, a set consists of 10 repetitions and for a workout routine you’d want to include around 3 sets.
4. Bicycle Crunches
Bicycle crunches are a more intermediate exercise for those new to working out, but they are excellent for beginners to workout various muscle groups collectively at the same time.
They will keep your core engaged during the full exercise, more so than the other exercises listed on this guide, so will require more work per repetition. This may not seem like much at first, but this effect will be felt exponentially the longer you perform bicycle crunches for.
Another great thing about these is that they can also be completed anywhere so are ideal for home workout enthusiasts.
How to do bicycle crunches:
[insert video example]
Step by Step Instructions:
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Get comfortable by lying on your back, either on an exercise mat or the floor. Stretch your legs straight out in front of you, and gently place your hands behind your head with elbows out to the sides to protect your neck.
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To start the exercise, lift both your legs and shoulders off the ground simultaneously. Bend your knees at a 90-degree angle, making sure your thighs are upright and your shins are parallel to the floor. Engage your core muscles to keep your lower back firmly pressed against the ground.
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As you lift your legs and shoulders, twist your upper body slightly to the right. Bring your right elbow towards your left knee, crossing your torso to reach it.
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Moving on, as you twist to the left, straighten your right leg by kicking it out in front of you. At the same time, pull your left knee in closer to your chest. This movement will make your left elbow point towards your right knee.
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Uncoil your body and reverse the action, bringing your left elbow to your right knee.
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Keep up the flow, alternating sides with smooth and controlled movements. Remember to breathe in as you twist and bring your knee closer to your chest, and breathe out as you extend your leg and twist to the other side.
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Repeat as many times as desired.
Generally, 20-25 repetitions in each set is good for a beginner, with 10-12 twists per side.
5. Weighted Leg Press
The final exercise for legs, bums, and tums that we’re going to focus on is the weighted leg press. Unlike the other exercises on this list, this exercise requires access to a leg press machine which can be easily found at your local Village Gym.
The leg press, while it primarily works the thighs and calves, does indeed work the core too - just to a lesser degree. Your lower back muscles in particular are responsible for helping you push the leg press. This makes the leg press a great addition to any workout aiming to work the tummy and leg areas.
How to do weighted leg presses:
[insert video example]
Step by Step Instructions:
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Before doing any workout on the leg press machine, you’ll likely need to adjust the seat to your height. To correctly use the machine your feet should be flat against the feet panels with your knees at approximately a 90 degree angle when sitting.
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Select a weight that is appropriate to you and your skill level.
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Place your feet on the footplate, and grip the handles provided at either side of the seat. Ensure your back is straight and core is engaged when you go to press.
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Press the weight until your legs are fully extended and no longer hinged. Hold at the top of the press when your legs are fully extended very briefly.
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Slowly lower the weight back to its resting point.
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Repeat as many times as desired.
One set is usually around 10 repetitions. For a workout, you’ll want to perform 3 sets.
Be The Best You Can Be
For legs, bums and tums workouts, it can be a challenge to know what works best and how to approach working out for the first time. For those looking to start off in a home environment, the above guide will provide you with plenty of options for tailoring your workout to your needs and fitness goals.
For those wanting to take a more holistic and curated approach to their fitness, Village Gym has everything you’d need to get and stay fit - from personal trainers to state-of-the-art machines.
Our membership options are designed to cater to beginners and veteran workout enthusiasts alike. Exploit our impressive facilities and achieve your personal fitness goals with ease.
Find your closest Village Gym and book a tour now!
FAQs About Legs, Bums And Tums Exercises
Does Legs, Bums And Tums Work?
Yes. However, the effectiveness of a workout routine relies on persistence, determination, and discipline to maintain your workout commitments to achieve your workout goals.
How Many Calories Do You Burn In A 45 Minute Legs, Bums And Tums Workout?
How many calories you burn depends upon how hard your work and how difficult your workout is. However, on average, you could burn anywhere between 250 - 350 calories per workout.
What Kind of Exercise Is Legs, Bums And Tums?
A Legs, bums, and tums workout is classified as a full body aerobic workout. The aim of this kind of workout is to help you tone your full body and improve your overall fitness levels.
How Many Times A Week Should Do Legs, Bums And Tums?
Ideally, you should aim to complete two legs, bums, and tums workouts per week.
