Gym Leg Workout for Women Over 40: Leg Press, RDLs, Squats

Nikkiey: What's up, you guys? Just got to the gym. Today we are going to crush a leg day. This workout I'm going to do today is customized by our incredible coaching team that specializes in helping women that are 40, 45, 50 plus years old. So today you're going to get a little glimpse of how we train our WarriorBabes.

This is one of my favorites. Usually I'd be walking forward right now, but I've got some obstacles of equipment in front of me. It's a good warm-up exercise. This will wake up the legs, and should you ask, my last leg day was about a week and a half ago, guys, thanks to travel: Phoenix, Vegas, back to Philly. So I've already deemed tomorrow an unwalkable day, where I'm using the handicap bars in the bathroom and have to use them to sit down on the toilet. Give me that type of vibe out of a deadlift, out of a squat, out of any compound movement, lunges, for your legs.

This is one of my favorite exercises to hit your legs. It helps you keep good form, yet still be able to push some heavy weight and still get the same effect of hitting the right muscles of the leg. Okay, so let's open up the workout. Leg press to start. Four sets, six to eight reps. Two-minute rest time in between. Smooth like butter.

As for my foot placement here, you'll probably notice when I'm actually doing the movement that my knees are coming over my toes. That's okay. This foot placement is actually a really solid placement to solely target your quads, because if you go a little bit higher, you're going to welcome in a little bit of hamstring. So I really just want to focus on the quads. This is a great placement for my toes and my feet to be doing that.

You'll see that between the seventh and eighth rep I took a little bit of a pause. It's okay to take a little bit of a pause. You don't want to go too far, because you're giving your muscles too much of a break there. When you're in that state and you feel that burn, go through the burn, because you're in that state of metabolic stress with your muscles. And in that state, you're going to be able to push the growth to happen. All the things are happening at that point. Obviously, the recovery and the growth come post-workout. But you get what I'm saying.

87 cents at Whole Foods. I was checking out. She's like, man, you're getting a good deal. I was like, that's just for one? I thought it was just for one. Oh my God, I got two. She pulled out the receipt. 87 cents.

Last set, best set. Ow. If it doesn't feel like you're going to shit your pants on the last rep, are you even pushing weight? It's a good question to ask yourself.

Moving on. All right, we've got some B-stance RDLs supersetted with some V-bar front squats. Four sets of the dumbbell B-stance RDL, 10 reps each leg, and then cable front squat with the V-bar, 8 reps. If doing this feels like you have some pain in your back, lower your weight, and I guarantee you that pain will go away.

You ever get really lightheaded in between a set? Yeah, that just happens. It feels great, though.

That was too easy. You always hear me say it: the last three reps of the set, if you can get through them so easily, just going through the motions, put heavier weight on the rack, on your bar, pick up heavier dumbbells. Ain't nothing going to happen if you're just going through the motions.

Let's see how Coach Emily is doing it in her video. So I could probably bring my foot back a little bit more. Thanks, Coach M. Driving through your heel activates the living life out of your hamstring.

Yeah, tomorrow is definitely an unwalkable day. And what's really good too with these, if you want to challenge yourself to go a little bit heavier with dumbbells, you can get straps. You'll be able to hold the weight a little more easily, and it also helps your forearms and arms not feel like they're about to fall off. Ouch.

Dumbbell step-ups. How do I feel about that? It's okay. It's a good workout. It's a good exercise. Three sets and ten reps to each leg. I'm getting winded. I do not recommend singing and dancing while you're trying to do a set. Take us to the next one.

Hell no, are you for real? This set is just falling apart.

Okay, dumbbell lateral lunge is what's next. We can do an exercise swap. We've got Smith machine close-stance squat, box squat, or dumbbell goblet squat. My legs are shaking right now. Dumbbell goblet squat, we already did with the V-bar, so let's go with a box squat on the Smith machine. That'll do. That'll target the same muscle group pretty well, as a lateral lunge would.

Comment below if this rattles your OCD. Calling out Coach Jess right now. That was way too late. There's a five-pounder. How much does this bother people? Coach Jess.

That felt good, that felt good, that felt good. That moment mid-set when you realize you probably forgot to put deodorant on. That happened. I'm there.

But I'm done. Again, if you need some help with your programming and you want to be able to walk into the gym and know exactly what workout you should be doing that's going to help you build some muscle, burn some body fat, and most importantly, become a stronger, more confident version of yourself, check out the WarriorBabe programs below this video, and I hope to see you on the inside.