RIRLift app icon RIRLift

Exercises

Bodyweight lower body exercises: squats, single-leg work, hamstrings, hips and calves

Published October 19, 2026

The best bodyweight lower body exercises are the squat and reverse lunge to start, the skater squat, pistol squat and sissy squat once two-legged squats get easy, the Nordic hamstring curl for the back of your thighs, the Cossack squat and Copenhagen plank for your inner thighs, and the single-leg calf raise. Without weights, the way to keep legs growing is to move from two legs to one: a single-leg squat puts nearly double the load on the working leg. Pick one squat pattern, one hamstring move and one calf or hip move per session and take each set to within 1 to 3 reps of failure.

  1. Bodyweight Squat Quads
  2. Reverse Lunge Quads, Glutes
  3. Skater Squat Quads, Glutes
  4. Pistol Squat Quads, Glutes
  5. Nordic Hamstring Curl Hamstrings
  6. Cossack Squat Quads, Adductors
  7. Single-Leg Calf Raise Calves

Two-leg squats and lunges for quads and glutes

These are where everyone starts: both feet share the work, so you can do enough reps to learn the pattern before you need more load. When you can do 25 clean squats or 15 lunges per leg with reps to spare, they stop building much on their own and become your warm-up for the single-leg section below.

Quads and glutes, two-leg squat

Bodyweight Squat

Quads

It is the pattern every other squat on this page builds on, and it is the right first exercise if you are new or coming back. Use it to learn depth and knee position; once you can do 25 smooth reps with a few to spare, it moves into your warm-up.

How to do it

  1. Stand with your feet a little wider than your hips, toes turned slightly out, arms reaching forward to help you balance.
  2. Break at the hips and knees together and sit down between your heels, letting your knees travel forward over your toes.
  3. Go as low as you can while your heels stay down and your chest stays up, ideally until your thighs pass parallel.
  4. Push the floor away through your whole foot to stand, and squeeze your glutes at the top before the next rep.

Cues

  • Sit between your heels
  • Knees follow your toes
  • Whole foot stays planted

Common mistakes

  • Stopping a few inches down: depth is what makes a bodyweight squat hard, so go as low as your heels allow.
  • Knees caving inward as you stand: push them out toward your little toes on the way up.

Swap for: Wall Sit, Reverse Lunge, Cossack Squat

Build a session with Bodyweight Squat

Quads and glutes, split stance

Reverse Lunge

Quads, Glutes

Stepping back instead of forward keeps your weight over the front foot and is easier on the knees, so it is the first single-leg move to learn. It also trains balance you need for the skater and pistol squat later. Do it with hands on your hips until bodyweight gets easy, then hold a weight.

How to do it

  1. Stand tall with your feet under your hips, hands on your hips or at your sides.
  2. Take a long step back with your right foot and lower until your back knee almost touches the floor and your front shin is close to vertical.
  3. Keep most of your weight on the front heel and your torso tall or leaning slightly forward.
  4. Drive through the front foot to bring the back leg forward to standing. Finish all reps on one side, then switch.

Cues

  • Long step back
  • Front heel does the work
  • Back knee kisses the floor

Common mistakes

  • Pushing off the back toes to stand up: the back leg is only for balance, so most of the effort comes from the front leg.
  • Taking a short step so the front knee shoots far past the toes and the heel lifts: step back far enough that the front foot stays flat.

Swap for: Bodyweight Squat, Skater Squat, Cossack Squat

Build a session with Reverse Lunge

Quads, isometric hold

Wall Sit

Quads

Holding a seated position against a wall loads your quads without any movement, which makes it useful when your knees do not like deep squats or when you want to finish a session with one more hard effort after your reps run out. Count it in seconds rather than reps.

How to do it

  1. Stand with your back flat against a wall and walk your feet about two feet out in front of you.
  2. Slide down until your knees are bent to about 90 degrees and your thighs are level with the floor.
  3. Keep your knees directly above your ankles and your back and head against the wall.
  4. Hold for the target time, then slide back up the wall to stand.

Cues

  • Thighs level with the floor
  • Shins vertical
  • Hands off your legs

Common mistakes

  • Sitting high with knees barely bent: lower until your thighs are close to parallel, or the hold does little.
  • Pressing your hands on your thighs to help: cross your arms or hold them out in front.

Swap for: Bodyweight Squat, Sissy Squat, Reverse Lunge

Build a session with Wall Sit

Single-leg and knee-forward squats for when squats get easy

Standing on one leg is the bodyweight version of adding plates. The skater squat and pistol squat load one leg with your whole body, and the sissy squat leans your torso back so the quads take almost everything. Work up this list in order; each one is harder than the last.

Quads and glutes, single-leg squat

Skater Squat

Quads, Glutes

You squat on one leg while the other knee lowers behind you, which is easier to balance than a pistol and needs less ankle and hip mobility. For most people it is the first real single-leg squat, and it can keep building your quads for a long time before you need weights.

How to do it

  1. Stand on your right leg with your left knee bent so the left foot is behind you, arms reaching forward.
  2. Bend your right knee and sit your hips back, leaning your chest forward as the left knee travels down toward the floor.
  3. Lower until the left knee lightly touches the floor or a folded towel, keeping the right heel down.
  4. Stand back up through the right foot without letting the left foot touch down. Do all reps, then switch legs.

Cues

  • Arms forward as a counterweight
  • Lean in, sit back
  • Back knee touches lightly

Common mistakes

  • Dropping onto the back knee and pushing off it: lower slowly and touch, do not rest.
  • Standing too upright, which makes you fall backward: lean your chest forward as you go down.

Swap for: Pistol Squat, Reverse Lunge, Cossack Squat

Build a session with Skater Squat

Quads and glutes, full single-leg squat

Pistol Squat

Quads, Glutes

A pistol squat moves your whole body on one leg through the full depth of a squat, so it is about as much load as bodyweight leg training gets. Sitting down to a box is how you build up to it: lower the box over the weeks until you reach the floor.

How to do it

  1. Stand on your right leg in front of a box, chair or step, with your left leg lifted a little in front of you and your arms reaching forward.
  2. Sit your hips back and down on the right leg, letting the right knee travel forward, until you touch the box.
  3. Touch without resting, keeping the left foot off the floor and the right heel down.
  4. Drive up through the right foot to stand tall. Do all reps on one leg, then the other.

Cues

  • Touch the box, do not sit
  • Free leg stays off the floor
  • Reach your arms forward

Common mistakes

  • Rolling back onto the box to build momentum: pause on the touch with your weight still on the working foot.
  • Choosing a box so low that your back rounds and the heel lifts: use the lowest height you can reach with good form and lower it later.

Swap for: Skater Squat, Sissy Squat, Reverse Lunge

Build a session with Pistol Squat

Quads, knee-dominant

Sissy Squat

Quads

In the kneeling version you lean your whole body back from the knees, which puts the quads under a long stretch with almost no help from the glutes. It is the closest bodyweight move to a leg extension and a good pairing with a single-leg squat that already works the glutes.

How to do it

  1. Kneel on a soft surface knees about hip-width apart, toes tucked or flat, and your body upright from knees to head.
  2. Keep your hips pushed forward so your body stays in one straight line, and lean back slowly from the knees.
  3. Go back as far as you can control, until you feel a strong pull along the front of your thighs.
  4. Pull yourself back to upright with your quads, keeping the hips from folding.

Cues

  • Hips forward, body straight
  • Lean back from the knees only
  • Slow on the way back

Common mistakes

  • Bending at the hips to lean back: that takes the stretch off the quads. Squeeze your glutes to stay straight.
  • Going further back than you can return from: start with a short lean and increase it as you get stronger.

Swap for: Wall Sit, Pistol Squat, Skater Squat

Build a session with Sissy Squat

Bodyweight hamstring exercise

Hamstrings are the hardest part of the lower body to load without weights, because squats and lunges barely bend the knee against them. The Nordic curl solves that by making the hamstrings lower your entire body to the floor. It needs something to hold your heels down: a partner, a couch or a heavy bed frame.

Hamstrings, eccentric knee flexion

Nordic Hamstring Curl

Hamstrings

This is the one bodyweight move that loads the hamstrings hard: they slow your body as it falls forward from the knees. Most people cannot lower all the way under control at first, and that is fine, because the lowering is where the work happens.

How to do it

  1. Kneel on a pad with a partner holding your ankles, or hook your heels under a couch or a loaded bar.
  2. Keep your body straight from knees to head, hips pushed forward, arms ready in front of your chest.
  3. Lean forward from the knees as slowly as you can, resisting with your hamstrings, until you can no longer hold it.
  4. Catch yourself on your hands, push lightly off the floor, and pull back up to kneeling with your hamstrings.

Cues

  • Hips stay forward
  • Fight the fall the whole way
  • Push off the floor only as much as you need

Common mistakes

  • Folding at the hips and sticking your butt out: the hamstrings only work if the body stays straight.
  • Dropping fast once it gets hard: aim for 3 to 5 seconds on the way down, even if the range is short.

Swap for: Single-Leg Calf Raise, Donkey Kick, Reverse Lunge

Build a session with Nordic Hamstring Curl

Hips, outer glutes and inner thighs

Squats train your legs moving forward and back. These four cover the sideways directions: the Cossack squat and Copenhagen plank for the adductors on the inside of your thigh, and the donkey kick and fire hydrant for the glutes from angles a squat skips. They are good at the end of a session or as their own short block.

Inner thighs, quads and glutes, side-to-side squat

Cossack Squat

Quads, Adductors

Shifting into a deep squat on one leg while the other stays straight stretches and loads the adductors on the straight side and the quads and glutes on the bent side. It also builds the sideways hip mobility that single-leg squats and lunges do not.

How to do it

  1. Take a very wide stance with your toes turned out a little.
  2. Sit your hips back and down toward your right heel while your left leg straightens, the left toes lifting to point up.
  3. Lower as deep as you can with the right heel flat and your chest up, arms forward for balance.
  4. Push through the right foot to rise back to the middle, then repeat to the left.

Cues

  • Wide stance
  • Bent-side heel stays down
  • Straight leg, toes up

Common mistakes

  • Lifting the heel of the bent leg to get lower: stop where the heel stays flat.
  • Rounding forward to reach depth: keep your chest up and accept a shallower squat until mobility improves.

Swap for: Copenhagen Plank, Reverse Lunge, Bodyweight Squat

Build a session with Cossack Squat

Inner thighs, side plank

Copenhagen Plank

Adductors, Abs

Holding a side plank with only your top leg on a bench or couch makes the adductors of that leg carry your body. It is the most direct bodyweight move for the inner thigh and also works your obliques, and it is short: a few holds of 15 to 30 seconds.

How to do it

  1. Lie on your side next to a bench or couch, propped on your forearm, and place the inside of your top foot or knee on the seat.
  2. Lift your hips so your body forms a straight line, pressing the top leg down into the bench.
  3. Hold your bottom leg off the floor beneath the bench, or let it rest lightly as you build up.
  4. Hold for the target time, lower, and switch sides.

Cues

  • Press the top leg down
  • Hips high, body straight
  • Knee on the bench is the easier version

Common mistakes

  • Letting your hips sag toward the floor: lower to the knee version until you can hold a straight line.
  • Starting with the foot on the bench: the longer lever is much harder. Begin with the knee on the edge.

Swap for: Cossack Squat, Fire Hydrant, Wall Sit

Build a session with Copenhagen Plank

Glutes, hip extension

Donkey Kick

Glutes

Kicking one leg back from all fours isolates the glute on that side with your lower back out of the way. It does not load the glutes heavily, so use it for high reps with a squeeze at the top, as a finisher after squats or as the main glute move on a beginner day.

How to do it

  1. Get on your hands and knees with wrists stacked below your shoulders and knees below your hips.
  2. Keep your right knee bent at 90 degrees and drive it back and up so your thigh lines up with your body.
  3. Hold the top for a second while squeezing the glute, without arching your lower back.
  4. Lower the knee back under the hip without touching the floor, then repeat. Switch sides after the set.

Cues

  • Sole of the foot to the ceiling
  • Squeeze at the top
  • Back stays flat

Common mistakes

  • Swinging the leg high by arching your lower back: stop when the thigh is level with your torso.
  • Rushing the reps: the one-second squeeze is what makes this hard enough to count.

Swap for: Fire Hydrant, Nordic Hamstring Curl, Reverse Lunge

Build a session with Donkey Kick

Outer glutes, hip abduction

Fire Hydrant

Abductors

Lifting a bent leg sideways from all fours trains the glute medius, the muscle on the outside of your hip that keeps your knee from caving in on single-leg squats. That makes it a useful pairing with the skater and pistol squat.

How to do it

  1. Start on your hands and knees with your back flat and your weight even on both hands.
  2. Keeping the right knee bent at 90 degrees, raise it sideways until your thigh is close to level with your hips.
  3. Pause for a second at the top without leaning your body away from the leg.
  4. Lower slowly to just above the floor and repeat. Switch sides after the set.

Cues

  • Lift the knee, not the foot
  • Shoulders and hips stay square
  • Pause at the top

Common mistakes

  • Tipping your torso to the other side to raise the leg higher: a smaller lift with a level body works better.
  • Turning it into a swing: control the lowering as much as the lift.

Swap for: Donkey Kick, Copenhagen Plank, Skater Squat

Build a session with Fire Hydrant

Bodyweight calf exercise

Two-leg calf raises are too easy to do much for most people, so do them one leg at a time off a step. Your calves already carry you all day, which is why they respond to slow reps, a full stretch at the bottom and sets taken close to failure.

Calves, standing raise

Single-Leg Calf Raise

Calves

Doing calf raises on one leg doubles the load, and standing on the edge of a step adds a deep stretch at the bottom, which is where calves respond best. Hold a wall or rail with one hand for balance, and a dumbbell in the other once bodyweight is easy.

How to do it

  1. Stand on the edge of a step on the ball of your right foot, left foot lifted behind you, one hand on a wall or rail.
  2. Lower your right heel as far below the step as it will go and pause for a second in the stretch.
  3. Rise onto the ball of the foot as high as you can and hold the top for a second.
  4. Lower slowly and repeat. Do all reps on one side, then the other.

Cues

  • Pause in the stretch
  • All the way up on the big toe
  • Hand balances, it does not lift

Common mistakes

  • Bouncing out of the bottom: pause for a full second with the heel low before you rise.
  • Cutting the range short as the set burns: the last reps count only if they go all the way up and down.

Swap for: Wall Sit, Reverse Lunge, Skater Squat

Build a session with Single-Leg Calf Raise

Put them together: example sessions

Each session below picks from the exercises above for one situation, with the sets, reps, rest and RIR filled in. Open one in the session builder to change a pick, price it from a recent set, and add it to RIRLift.

Session 1

Starting out: squats feel hard after 15 reps

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets30 a week
  • Per workout~35 min
  • EquipmentBodyweight

You are new to leg training or coming back after a long break, you train at home with no equipment, and a set of 20 squats leaves you breathing hard.

At this stage two-leg squats and lunges are enough load to build your legs, so the session is built from them, with a wall sit to add work without more reps and the two all-fours glute moves to cover the hips. Every set stops 2 to 3 reps short of failure, because your form on squats and lunges is still settling and you will recover faster between sessions. It is 15 working sets, done twice a week.

Lower Body
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Bodyweight SquatThighs past parallel if your heels stay down. 3 × 12–25 3 90 s
Reverse LungePer leg. Hands on hips. 3 × 8–15 2 90 s
Wall SitSeconds, not reps. 2 × 30–50 2 90 s
Donkey KickPer side. Squeeze 1 s at the top. 2 × 12–20 2 45 s
Fire HydrantPer side. 2 × 12–20 2 45 s
Single-Leg Calf RaisePer leg, off a step. Pause at the bottom. 3 × 10–20 2 1 min
How to run it
Do the session twice a week with at least two days between, for example Monday and Thursday. Do the squat and lunge first while you are fresh.
How to progress
Add reps until you reach the top of each range at the target reps in reserve. When you can do 25 squats and 15 lunges per leg with two to spare, move to the single-leg plan.
Open in the session builder

Session 2

Two-leg squats are too easy, small space

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets25 a week
  • Per workout~35 min
  • EquipmentBodyweight

You can already do 25 or more bodyweight squats, you train in an apartment or a bedroom with no weights, and you want your legs to keep growing.

Once two-leg squats are easy, high-rep sets of them mostly build endurance, so this plan drops them and loads one leg at a time with the skater and pistol squat, adds the sissy squat for the quads and the Nordic curl for the hamstrings, and gives the inner thighs their own work. These moves are hard at low reps, so most sets sit at 1 to 2 reps in reserve; the Nordic curl stays at 2 because a failed rep lands you on your hands. Day A has 13 working sets and day B has 12.

Legs A
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Pistol SquatPer leg. To a box or chair you can touch with control. 4 × 4–8 1 2 min
Nordic Hamstring Curl3 to 5 s lowering. Heels under the couch. 3 × 3–6 2 2:30 min
Copenhagen PlankSeconds per side. Knee on the couch edge to start. 3 × 15–30 1 1 min
Single-Leg Calf RaisePer leg. 1 s pause at the bottom and top. 3 × 12–20 0 1 min

Open Legs A in the session builder

Legs B
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Skater SquatPer leg. Back knee touches a towel. 4 × 6–12 1 2 min
Sissy SquatKneeling. Hips forward the whole set. 3 × 8–15 1 90 s
Cossack SquatPer side. Bent-side heel flat. 3 × 6–12 2 90 s
Fire HydrantPer side. Pause at the top. 2 × 15–25 1 45 s

Open Legs B in the session builder

How to run it
Alternate Legs A and Legs B, twice each per week if you can recover, or once each. Leave a day between them. Anchor your heels under a couch for the Nordic curl.
How to progress
Lower the pistol box one step whenever you hit 8 reps per leg at the target. For the skater squat, add reps until 12, then hold the bottom for two seconds. For the Nordic curl, add a second of lowering each week before adding reps.
Open in the session builder

Session 3

Twice a week alongside running or a sport

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets22 a week
  • Per workout~30 min
  • EquipmentBodyweight

You run, play a field or court sport, or hike, and you want two short leg sessions that make your legs more robust without leaving them too sore for your main training.

Sport loads your legs going forward, so this plan spends its sets on what running and cutting stress but do not train: single-leg control with the reverse lunge and skater squat, sideways strength in the Cossack squat and Copenhagen plank, a low dose of Nordic curls for the hamstrings, and calves. Sets stop 2 to 3 reps short of failure and the volume is low, 11 sets per session, so you stay fresh for practice or your long run.

Sport Legs
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Reverse LungePer leg. Slow on the way down. 2 × 8–12 2 75 s
Skater SquatPer leg. 2 × 5–10 2 90 s
Cossack SquatPer side. 2 × 6–10 3 1 min
Nordic Hamstring CurlControl the first half, then catch yourself. 2 × 3–5 3 2 min
Copenhagen PlankSeconds per side. 1 × 15–25 2 1 min
Single-Leg Calf RaisePer leg. 2 × 12–20 2 1 min
How to run it
Do the session twice a week, at least two days before a race or game, and never the day before a hard run. It takes about 25 minutes.
How to progress
Add reps within each range while keeping the reps in reserve. Add one Nordic rep every two weeks at most, and keep the plank holds under 30 seconds and the effort steady rather than all-out.
Open in the session builder

Make it fit you

Questions

What are the best bodyweight exercises for the lower body?

The squat and reverse lunge if you are starting out, then the skater squat and pistol squat once those are easy, the Nordic curl for hamstrings, the Cossack squat for the inner thighs and the single-leg calf raise. Together they train every muscle from your hips to your ankles with no equipment except a step and something to anchor your heels.

Can you build leg muscle with only bodyweight?

Yes, as long as each set is hard. Two-leg squats stop being hard quickly, so the key is moving to single-leg squats, slower reps and pauses that keep a set in the 5 to 20 rep range and end within a few reps of failure. Hamstrings are the slowest to respond without weights, which is why the Nordic curl is in every plan here.

Are 4 exercises enough for leg day?

Four is enough if they cover a squat or lunge, a hamstring move, a hip or inner-thigh move and calves, with 3 to 4 hard sets each. The single-leg plan on this page uses four exercises per day. What drives growth is the number of hard sets per muscle each week, not the number of exercises.

How do you tone legs without weights?

Toned legs are muscle you can see, so the goal is to build some muscle in the quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves. Use the exercises on this page two or three times a week, take sets close to failure and add reps or harder variations over time. How visible that muscle is depends on body fat, which comes down to food more than to the choice of exercise.

What are the big 3 leg exercises without weights?

A single-leg squat (the skater or pistol squat), the reverse lunge and the Nordic hamstring curl. The squat and lunge cover the quads and glutes from two different stances, and the Nordic curl covers the hamstrings, which the other two barely reach.

How many times a week should I do bodyweight leg exercises?

Two or three times a week works for most people. Two sessions with 10 to 15 hard sets each is a good starting point; add a third only if your legs are not sore by the next session. The Nordic curl causes the most soreness, so start it with one or two sets.