20 Best Leg Exercises for Strength, Size & Shape

If you want legs that are strong, sculpted, and built to move — you’ve got to mix things up.

This list of our 20 best leg exercises combines bodyweight moves with equipment like dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, bands, and even some machines. Why? Because no single exercise hits every muscle or angle your legs need. Variety is the secret sauce for building balanced strength, keeping your workouts far from boring, and making sure you actually enjoy the process.

After all, if you don’t love what you’re doing, you’ll never stick with it.

Mini Band Squat Side Steps

This move fires up your glutes and outer hips like nothing else, strengthening the muscles that stabilize your knees and hips. It’s a perfect warm-up or burnout to shape your outer thighs and keep your knees tracking safely in all your big lifts. Small band, big results.

Cable Pull Through

This is one of the best ways to directly target your glutes and hamstrings without stressing your lower back. The cable keeps constant tension, forcing your backside to do the work. Great for building powerful hips and a firm, athletic posterior chain.

Glute-Ham Raise

Few exercises challenge your hamstrings through a full range like this. It strengthens the back of your legs and your entire posterior chain, improving knee stability and sprint power. Done right, it also teaches perfect hip hinge mechanics.

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Bodyweight Curtsy Lunge

A smart way to hit your glutes and inner thighs from a new angle. The cross-behind motion fires up stabilizers in your hips and forces each leg to work independently. It’s a leg-shaping move that also boosts balance and coordination.

Bodyweight Sumo Squat

A wider stance lights up your inner thighs and places more emphasis on your glutes. Perfect for building lower body mobility and stretching tight adductors while still working your quads. It’s simple, joint-friendly, and highly effective.

Trap Bar Deadlift

This is the king for total leg and hip strength with less stress on your lower back. The neutral grip and centered load allow you to safely lift heavier, building serious power in your quads, hamstrings, and glutes. A must-have for strong legs.

Barbell Walking Lunges

Walking lunges challenge your legs one at a time, demanding balance and stability. They’re fantastic for building quad and glute size while improving real-world athleticism. Expect a serious burn and big payoff in shape and symmetry.

Barbell Front Squats

Front squats keep your torso upright, placing more load on your quads and core. They’re excellent for leg development without overly stressing your lower back. Bonus: they also teach great posture and total body control.

Dumbbell Deficit Deadlift

Standing on a plate or platform deepens your range of motion, hitting your hamstrings and glutes harder. This is a killer move for posterior chain strength and for sculpting strong, athletic legs. Just keep that back flat and let your hips drive the lift.

Dumbbell RDLs (Romanian Deadlift)

Romanian deadlifts zero in on your hamstrings and glutes, lengthening under load for great muscle-building tension. They’re also top-tier for teaching proper hip hinge mechanics, which protects your lower back in all lifts.

Kettlebell Swing

Swings are explosive and powerful, building speed, strength, and shape in your glutes and hamstrings. They torch calories while improving athletic hip drive. A perfect finisher for stronger, more resilient legs.

Bulgarian Split Squat

This single-leg killer places huge tension on your quads and glutes, forcing them to grow and stabilize. It also helps fix imbalances and builds balance and coordination. Few moves build leg shape and toughness like this one.

Dumbbell Reverse Lunges

Reverse lunges are easier on your knees while still blasting your quads and glutes. They also train each leg independently to smooth out any strength gaps. A staple move for balanced, powerful legs.

Skater Hops

An awesome plyometric exercise that builds lateral power and athletic agility. They strengthen your hips, glutes, and thighs in a side-to-side motion that’s often neglected. Great for carving out lean muscle and improving balance.

Sissy Squat

A unique move that isolates your quads like nothing else, driving intense tension into the front of your thighs. Builds that teardrop quad shape while also improving knee strength when done carefully. It’s a tough finisher for serious leg definition.

Barbell Zercher Squat

Holding the bar in the crook of your elbows forces your core and upper body to brace like crazy, shifting load forward to hammer your quads. It’s a total-body move that’s brutally effective for building lower body power and thick legs.

Lateral Lunge

This deep side-to-side squat stretches and strengthens your inner thighs, hips, and adductors while building stability in your knees and ankles. Great for improving lateral mobility and shaping lean, athletic legs.

Plie Squat

With toes turned out, this squat style targets your inner thighs and glutes from a different angle. It’s a favorite for shaping the lower body and enhancing hip flexibility. Light weights or bodyweight work wonders here.

Weighted Hip Bridges

Direct glute work at its best. Hip bridges with a dumbbell or barbell build stronger, rounder glutes and reinforce your posterior chain without loading your spine. Also improves hip stability for all your bigger lifts.

Dumbbell Goblet Squat

A front-loaded squat that hits your quads, glutes, and core in one simple move. It’s joint-friendly and helps dial in squat form, keeping your chest up and knees tracking properly. Perfect for building functional leg size and shape.

Sticking with it for the Best Legs Ever!

So, whether your goal is bigger quads, sexier hamstrings, stronger glutes, or just feeling more confident in shorts this summer, these exercises have you covered from every angle.

Keep rotating through different tools and movements — it’s the smartest way to train your legs (and your mind) for long-term success. Now go have some fun with it, and if you want more ideas, be sure to check out our full YouTube video linked above. Your best legs are just a few good workouts away.